Page 79 - An Overview of Penghu

Although locking down Taiwan and the Penghu Archipelago was a great feat, the French did not
seem to have done it thoroughly enough, as a British ferry named Weberen continued to sail back and
forth between China and Taiwan; it still managed to carry 650 Qing soldiers within four hours during its
last sailing. Noticing the loopholes, Admiral Courbet extended the lockdown to the sea around Penghu
and reinforced the defense. An extra 35 ships were deployed to the lockdown area, including four
ironclad warships, 16 patrol ships, seven gunboats, two dispatch boats, two transportation boats, and two
torpedo boats. A British ferry named Pingan attempted to carry 500 to 600 soldiers from Xiamen to
Taiwan at the end of April, but was caught at sea near Taiwan and was deported to Penghu. Its captain and
Qing soldiers were later sent to Saigon. From the incident, it is not difficult to see how hard a lockdown is
to enforce. Meanwhile, antiwar ideologies were brewing back in France, and the French army lost the
manifesto to fight as a result. Besides, the number of soldiers getting sick due to turbulent waves and bad
weather at Keelung Port and Tamsui Port was also rising, forcing the dejected Admiral Courbet to plan a
withdrawal to Penghu and wait for orders from the French government.

On February 13, 1885, Courbet led seven ships to invade Penghu from Fengguiwei Peninsula,
landed Yuanding Bay in the south. The French army occupied Magong and established its base there.
Unfortunately, a vicious plague started spreading in the army, causing more and more soldiers to die, and
Courbet himself also perished in Magong due to the disease. Not long after, the government in France
had changed hands, and the new government decided to stop fighting. A deal was reached on May 8th,
and Taiwan was liberated.

The Mass Grave of
Ten Thousand

A stele commemorating the
deceased French soldiers was
erected in Fengguiwei, a nautical
mile from the south of Magong
Town, or the spot close to where
the French army landed. Soldiers
who died on the battlefield or from
the disease were buried there.

The tomb, widely referred to
a s “ T h e M a s s G r a v e o f Te n
Thousand”, is attached with a
frustum-shaped stele inscribed
with the following text:

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