The
Hushenying were a unit of 10,000 Manchu
BannermenThe Eight Banners were administrative divisions into which all Manchu families were placed. They provided the basic framework for the Manchu military organization...
under the command of Zaiyi during the
Boxer RebellionThe Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
.
Summary
Hushenying can be translated as "Tiger and Divine Corps", "Tiger Spirit Division", or "Tiger Spirit Battalion".
It had 10,000 troops in it. It was one of the three modernized Manchu Banner Divisions. Zaiyi was plotting to kill all the foreign diplomats in the legations. Zaiyi created it in June 1899, to prepare for war against the foreigners in the
Boxer RebellionThe Boxer Rebellion, also called the Boxer Uprising by some historians or the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in northern China, was a proto-nationalist movement by the "Righteous Harmony Society" , or "Righteous Fists of Harmony" or "Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists" , in China between...
. The other two Manchu Divisions,
Wuwei TroopWuwei Troop was the first modern army of the Qing Dynasty consisted of infantry, cavalry and artillery, formed on June 1899 and trained by western military advicers, responsible for security of Peking City and the Forbidden City, with Ronglu as the supreme commander...
and
Shen Ji yingDivine Engine Division was one of the three elite military divisions of the Ming Dynasty stationed around the capital Beijing. Established in the reign of the Yongle Emperor , its main purpose was the research and training in the use of firearms...
were commanded by Zaiyi's political rivals, Prince Qing and
RongluRonglu was a Manchu statesman and general during the late Qing dynasty. Born into the powerful Guwalgiya clan of the Plain White Banner in the Eight Banners, he was cousin to Yehenara Lan, who later became Empress Dowager Cixi...
.
Most of the Hushenying was destroyed in the
Battle of PekingThe Battle of Peking, or the Relief of Peking, was the battle on 14–15 August 1900 in which a multi-national force relieved the siege of foreign legations in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion...
.
Several Chinese works of fiction were written about the Hushenying, or Tiger Spirit Battalion.
The Hushenying had a rivalry with Prince Qing's
Shen Ji yingDivine Engine Division was one of the three elite military divisions of the Ming Dynasty stationed around the capital Beijing. Established in the reign of the Yongle Emperor , its main purpose was the research and training in the use of firearms...
. The Hushenying was named because Hu means tiger, and Yang, the word for lamb, was a nickname for foreigners, who were also called Yang in Chinese. and the "Divine" (shen) name came from the fact that gui, another term for foreigners, meant devil, and the divine counteracted the devils.
It besieged the foreigners in the
Siege of Beijing Legation QuarterThe Siege of the International Legations occurred during the Boxer Rebellion in the Chinese city of Beijing . Nine hundred military personnel and civilians, largely from Europe, Japan, and the United States, and about 2,800 Chinese Christians took refuge in the Beijing Legation Quarter and survived...
, and clashed against Prince Qing's bannermen.