Author: Wang Zhigang

In the second section of China's Military and Civilian Struggle to Safeguard National Sovereignty, there is a saying: "In September, 1894, beiyang fleet and China escorted the Qing army to North Korea and were attacked by a Japanese fleet flying the American flag on their way back." After investigation, "the Japanese fleet flies the American flag" is a controversial issue in the history circle. Then, whether the Japanese fleet flies the American flag, I personally think this question is debatable, and my humble opinion is as follows:

Those who hold the view that "the Japanese fleet flies the American flag" are based on the statement made by Mr. Lin of Zhong Wang in the book "Sino-Japanese War" in 1930: "When beiyang fleet returned from Dadonggou, he saw a bunch of black smoke coming from the southwest. Looking around, all the ships are flying the American flag. By noon, the boats were getting closer and closer, and all twelve boats had wiped out the Japanese flag. " Moreover, this statement is accepted by most historians, so many works after liberation follow this statement. Mr. Zheng Changwei's The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Mr. Zheng's Modern History of China, Mr. Qi's beiyang fleet, Mr. Zheng's Eighty Years of Modern China, and the fifth volume of the middle school textbook History of China all think that the Japanese fleet disguised itself with the American flag in order to "paralyze our officers and men". So, is this really nothing suspicious?

First, when discussing these languages, there are questions: by what means did the Qing army learn that "the Japanese fleet was flying the American flag"? They know that the American flag is raised by observation. Observing things through human eyes is not scientific practice in itself. After all, the range that the human eye can see is limited, and it is not very accurate to observe the enemy through the eyes in the war. Moreover, it is a naval battle, and the distance between the two sides is relatively long. It is even more difficult to grasp the accuracy of observing the enemy's situation with eyes. Second, some people think that this is a camouflage means to "paralyze our officers and men." Since Japan wants to do this, it shows from one side that the Qing government had a good relationship with the United States at that time. When the Qing army saw the American flag hanging on the fleet, it stopped attacking. However, in historical materials, there is no saying that the Qing government had a good relationship with the United States. On the contrary, before the start of the war, when discussing the background of the war, the attitude of the United States towards Japan's invasion of China at that time was mentioned: it attempted to use Japan to contain Russia's development in the Far East and adopted a supportive and acquiescent attitude towards Japan's invasion of China. So according to these statements, it cannot be proved that the Japanese fleet was flying the American flag at that time.

Secondly, some foreigners who experienced the war and the reports of beiyang fleet's main generals did not mention it. Von Hanneken, a foreign member, reported: "At the beginning of the discovery of steam and smoke, it was discovered that it was a Japanese warship, that is, ten ships were dispatched to meet the enemy." Taylor's Notes on the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 has no record of Japanese ships flying the American flag. In the naval battle, Philip Mante, commander of the British Far East Fleet, who was "watching the battle" in the nearby waters, recorded: "When the Chinese ship anchored in the southeast of Dalu Island and saw the smoke of Japanese ships, Ding Junmen immediately followed the Taixi Art of War, raised the flag and ordered the ships to anchor and prepare for battle." In these records, there is no record of Japanese ships flying the American flag. More importantly, Ding's statement about this matter in the Report on the Naval Battle of the Yellow Sea is that "from a distance, there is smoke coming from the southwest, and it is known that it is a Japanese ship". It can be seen that Ding found that the other side was a Japanese fleet at a long distance, and it was impossible for Japanese ships to fly the American flag. The accounts of these people, including the report of beiyang fleet's main commander-in-chief, made no mention of the Japanese fleet flying the American flag. This also proves that beiyang fleet has not found any Japanese ships flying the American flag. It is doubtful that Japanese ships fly the American flag.