Yang Yuke (杨玉科; 1838–1885) was an ethnic Bai warlord from Yingpan village in Yunnan province. During the Muslim Uprising (1856–73) he raised a private army and fought on the Chinese side against the rebels, under the mentorship of general Cen Yuying. It was Yang’s forces that finally captured the Muslim capital, Dali, and executed their rebel leader Du Wenxiu in …
Warlords and Rebellions: Dali, 1877
On his 1877 journey across southwestern China with Gill, Mesny spent about ten days at the historic town of Dali. It’s in a beautiful location in western Yunnan, on a richly farmed plain between the dark green Cang Shan range to the west and “Ear-Shaped” Er Hai Lake to the east, but they arrived in pouring rain to find the …