From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Taku Forts (Chinese: 大沽炮台; pinyin: Dàgū Pàotái; literally "Taku batteries"), also called the Peiho Forts (Chinese:白河碉堡; pinyin: Báihé Diāobǎo) are forts located by the Hai River (Peiho River) estuary, in Tanggu District, Tianjin municipality, in northeastern China. They are located 60 km southeast of Tianjin City.

The first fort was built during the reign of the Ming Emperor, Jiajing, between 1522 and 1527. Its purpose was to protect Tianjin from foreign invasions. During the Opium Wars, it was expanded and five big forts and 20 smaller ones were built.

Most of them were dismantled when the Eight-Nation Alliance Forces invaded China during the Boxer rebellion (1899-1901). Two forts remain today, one on the southern bank and the other on the northern bank of the Hai He. Dagu Fort (on the southern bank) was repaired in 1988 and opened to the public in June 1997. Land reclamation has left it some considerable distance from the modern shoreline. Its restoration has not returned it to anything like the appearance it would have had when it was an active gun battery (see photo of the aftermath of the 1860 attack), but a number of cannon have been placed in the reconstructed gun embrasures to hint at its former use. An exhibition in Chinese recounts the history of the Opium Wars and the forts' role in them. Unrestored forts are visible to its north from Haifang Road.

Interior of Angle of North Fort Immediately after Its Capture, 21st August, 1860

In 1856, Chinese soldiers boarded The Arrow, a Chinese-owned ship registered in Hong Kong flying the British flag and suspected of piracy, smuggling and of being engaged in the opium trade. They captured 12 men and imprisoned them. Though the certificate allowing the ship to fly a British flag had expired, there was still an armed response. The British and French sent gunboats under the command of Admiral Sir Michael Seymour to capture the Taku Forts in May 1858. In June 1858, at the end of the first part of the Second Opium War, the Treaties of Tianjin were signed, which opened Tianjin to foreign trade.

In 1859, after China refused to allow the setting up of Foreign legations in Beijing, a naval force under the command of British Admiral Sir James Hope attacked the forts guarding the mouth of the Peiho river. It was severely mauled and forced to withdraw under the cover of fire from an American naval squadron commanded by Commodore Josiah Tattnall.

In 1860, an Anglo-French force gathered at Hong Kong and then carried out a landing at Pei Tang on August 1, and a successful assault on the Taku Forts on August 21. On September 26, the force arrived at Beijing and had captured the city by October 6.

• Nathaniel Burslem - August 21, 1860
• Andrew Fitzgibbon - August 21, 1860
• Thomas Lane - August 21, 1860
• John McDougall (VC) - August 21, 1860
• Robert Montresor Rogers - August 21, 1860
• Edward Hobart Seymour - August 21, 1860
• John Worthy Chaplin - August 21, 1860

• TAKU FORTS 1860