When Sikh soldiers stood guard in Tianjin, China

India Today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Tianjin for the SCO Summit — his first China visit in seven years. But did you know this Chinese city has an Indian story buried in its past?

Transcript

00:00Today it's a stage for global diplomacy but rewind 124 years and you'd have seen

00:10sick soldiers marching down these same streets. Here's the story. In 1900 China

00:16was in turmoil. The Boxer Rebellion had erupted an uprising against foreigners

00:21and Christianity backed by parts of the Qing dynasty. To crush it eight global

00:26powers joined hands from Austria to America Britain to Japan and Britain it

00:31pulled heavily from its colony India. Over 23,000 Indian soldiers were shipped to

00:36North China many of them Sikhs. Among them the Mazavi Sikhs, men who faced caste

00:41prejudice at home but carved a name for courage on battlefields abroad. They had

00:45already proven the mettle in the Anglo-Sikh Wars and the 1857 Rebellion. Now

00:50they were deployed in regiments like the Firozpur 6, the Rajputs, the Punjabis and

00:54the Bengal Lancers. Imagine their journey from ports in Calcutta and Bombay

00:59across the seas to a land they had never seen. To fight a war they barely

01:03understood. In July 1900 these men fought in the Battle of Tianshin. Street to

01:08street combat, rifles and bayonets clashing against swords and spears. The

01:12fighting was brutal. The casualties high by August Sikh and Punjabi units marched

01:17from Tianjin to Beijing even guarding landmarks like the Temple of Heaven. Their

01:21turbans and beards made them an imposing sight. British officers claimed that

01:25sometimes their presence alone was enough to keep order but not all of them

01:29returned. Many died of wounds, disease or exhaustion. Buried in Chinese soil their

01:33graves are now mostly erased by time. Some accounts say Indian officers carried home

01:37looted relics like golden bells from Beijing's temples. A dark side of the

01:41campaign that history rarely dwells on. Today when leaders gather in Tianjin

01:45there's little trace of this past. But if you listen closely you can almost hear

01:49echoes of boots and cobbled streets. Of men from Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala

01:54marching under a foreign flag. Their stories scattered, their legacy half forgotten.

01:58This is the hidden chapter of Tianjin's ties with India. Did you like the story? Tell us

02:02what you think in the comments and follow more our channel for more no fluff

02:06explainers like this and share this video with as many people as you can. I'm Manish

02:10Adhikari. Thank you for watching the Culture Project on more.

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