Bringing together heritage professionals, community and cultural organisations, and academics from China and the UK, the 'Bridging Seas and Centuries: Beiyang Sailors Legacy' symposium at Newcastle University will discuss how maritime legacies are remembered, governed, interpreted, and reimagined within changing urban, social, and geopolitical landscapes.

The focus of the event is the Beiyang Sailors memorial in St. John’s cemetery in Elswick, Newcastle. The memorial marks the graves of six Chinese sailors: Yuan Peifu, Gu Shizhong, Lian Jinyuan, Chen Shoufu, Chen Chengkui, and Gan Zhaogong, who were part of a visiting crew that came to Newcastle in 1887 to collect two new warships from the Armstrong-Whitworth shipyard, located on the banks of the River Tyne.

During the Beiyang sailors’ visits to Newcastle, some of them became ill and died, and were buried by the crew in St. John’s cemetery. Over time, the graves fell into poor condition and following their re-discovery more than a century later, a campaign was launched in 2016 to restore the damaged gravestones.

The symposium, which takes place on 21-22 July, will explore broader questions of heritage, memory, museums and urban transformation in both the UK and China. It will also look at opportunities for international collaboration, improving cross-cultural dialogue, and developing heritage tourism.

The event will be led by Dr Yin Liang, Lecturer in Human Resource Management, Newcastle University Business School, and has been organised in collaboration with the Confucius Institute at Newcastle University.

It will include representatives from Newcastle City Council, North East Museums and a range of other organisations with shared interests in heritage. It will also involve Yongqiang Qi, Head of the Beiyang Fleet Heritage Foundation UK, and Consul General Tang Rui, from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, in Manchester.

Dr Liang said: “This is more than just an academic symposium – hopefully it will mark the beginning of a meaningful effort in collaboration between the UK and China for heritage preservation. I am delighted that such a wide range of organisations will be present.”

Keynote speakers at the symposium include Professor Jiande Lu (Xiamen University), Dr Siyu Wang (Peking University), Dr Jeremy Aroles (University of York), and Professor Zhibin Lin (Durham University).

It is hoped the symposium will lead to further initiatives, including collaboration with local museums on research and exhibitions, and developing a digital archive to preserve the legacy of the Beiyang Fleet sailors memorial.

Although the six sailors lost their lives in Newcastle, their comrades sailed the cruisers - Zhiyuan and Jingyuan - back to China successfully. These Armstrong-produced ships joined the Battle of the Yalu River in 1894 where the Zhiyuan was hit and sunk, while the Jingyuan suffered considerable fire damage and was scuttled six months later.