Lai Enjue
Lai Enjue (1795-1848), also known as Jian Ting(简廷) was a late Qing military general from Dapeng Fortress, Xin'an County, Guangdong, with ancestry from Zhijin, Guangdong. Lai was credited for defeating the British during the Battle of Kowloon, First Opium War, 1839 and was given the title of Baturu and an equivalent rank of Lieutenant General. On 25 December 1843, he was appointed as the Admiral (水师提督) of the Guangdong Navy. He served in this post until 1848 when he died of illness.
Just before Lai died, he told his family clan that his wish was to see the return of Hong Kong to China. Ten days before the return of Hong Kong on 1 July 1997, more than a hundred of the Lai clan descendants from different parts of the world returned to their ancestral home to mark the event.[1]
Lai worked directly under the orders of Emperor Guangxu and Lin Zexu, both prominent figures in the First Opium War. The current Kowloon Walled City's "Dapeng Association House" forms the remnants of what was previously Lai's garrison. His tomb is under the maintenance of the Shenzhen Cultural Protection Division.
References
- Draft History of Qing
- 中華書局 胡禮忠/戴鞍鋼新撰 二十五史新編 晚清史 第56頁 ISBN 962-231-938-6
- 香港華籍名人墓銘集 鄧家宙編著 百度、知網 及 林公案一書有關九龍尖沙咀之海戰，及官涌海戰述說，九龍寨城描述等
- The Taking of Hong Kong, by Susanna Hoe and Derek Roebuck; 香港大學出版社, ISBN 978-962-209-988-3