True Western Tales:
Every story
of the old west in this series is true. While many western stories have the
ring of campfire tall tales you will find none here. Every story is based on
fact whether about a mighty warrior humbled by flickering lights or a sea
serpent said to live in a desert lake. Or this one about blood spilled in
defense of a lost Imperial dynasty.
THE CRASH OF GONGS
By
Michael A. McKeever
Hi Long Chang, warlord of the
Canton Tong, glared across the field at the men in red.
At his
command over six hundred Cantonese warriors formed their battle line. They
brandished the fearsome weapons of medieval China : three-pronged spears and
fifteen-foot-long pikes. Black tassels fluttered from sword hilts and spear
tips. A flag emblazoned with the dragon of Imperial China swirled above them in
the warm summer breeze.
The
red-turbaned men watched carefully from the far side of the field. Their leader
raised his kwan doo, the long sword favored by the god of war Kwan Kung. Around
him the Yangwas of Hong Kong, even though outnumbered two to one, roared their
defiance.
Insults were flung back and forth
like stones. Horns blared, drums thundered, brass gongs crashed. Suddenly,
shouting their war cries, both sides charged. Swords clanged off shields and
pikes stabbed viciously. In China
such battles are recorded in the faded ink of ancient chronicles.
But this was not medieval China . Instead
this battle was fought on a patch of weedy ground called Five-Cent Gulch
outside Weaverville , California
The men of both tongs had much in
common. Most came from Kwangtung
Province
But the conflict was inevitable for
the seeds had been planted centuries before. In China an emperor of the northern
Manchu sat upon the Dragon Throne. It had been so since the Ming Dynasty had
ended in 1644. However the anti-Manchu Red-Turbans still plotted ceaselessly to
overthrow the northerners and restore the Ming emperors.
Even as they worked the mines and
streams outside Weaverville the Hong Kong Yangwas continued to honor the Ming.
Meanwhile the black-turbaned Cantonese remained steadfastly loyal to the
Manchu. The non-Chinese citizens of Weaverville found all this mysterious and
even a little amusing. The Chinese on the other hand were deadly serious.
Historians debate what actually led
to the battle. But the Chinese decided that a battle there would be. A time and
place were agreed upon. It was also agreed that they would fight with the
traditional weapons of old China .
There would be no guns, ironic since gunpowder itself was a creation of Chinese
ingenuity. .
Weaverville Sheriff Sam Lowe,
fearing a bloodbath, tried to prevent the approaching battle but to no avail.
Others in the town gleefully anticipated it, making bets on which side would
win. Blacksmith John Carr’s forge glowed far into the night as he hammered out
the weapons on his anvil.
On the appointed day, July 14,
1854, everyone assembled at Five-Cent Gulch. At first there was no battle, much
to the frustration of the onlookers. Instead, to the wailing of flutes and the
crack of firecrackers, the two factions marched to and fro yelling insults at
each other. Then abruptly the battle was on.
The outnumbered Yangwas charged
through the center of the Cantonese, splitting them in half. Then the Hong Kong warriors turned back and attacked the rear of
the now-divided black turbans. Out-flanked, the men of Canton surrendered the field to the
red-turbaned Yangwas.
The battle was a short brutal
affair of only a few minutes. Ten Chinese lay dead. They were buried with
proper ceremonies, their courage honored. The men of Canton
and Hong Kong returned to work in the gold
fields, sometimes side-by-side.
Their anger had been spent and a
hatred born in the ashes of a lost dynasty in a far-off land, faded at last in
the California Gold Rush.
--The End—
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