Ding Ruchang
During the First Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang Fleet suffered a crushing defeat and in the spring of 1895, the island was occupied by Japanese forces. Ding Ruchang committed suicide. The Japanese occupation lasted for about three years. In 1898, the United Kingdom bought the island (along with the rest of Weihaiwei) from the Japanese and agreed to hand it back to China after 25 years of use or when the Russians left the nearby Port Arthur. Local Chinese were recruited into a British regiment but the island was not fortified. The Royal Navy established a base on Liugong Island occupying and extending the existing facilities. Residences, hospitals, churches, tea houses, a sport ground, a post office, and navy cemeteries were constructed as part of the British development of the area. When the Russians left Port Arthur in 1905, the terms of the lease meant Britain should return the island to China. Britain re-negotiated the lease with the Chinese to counter a new German presence in the area. Weihaiwei was returned to the Republic of China in 1930, after which it was a special administrative region. The Chinese government allowed the Royal Navy to continue to use the naval base for another ten years under a lease. Japan invaded Weihaiwei in 1938, so after that there was a withdrawal of most British forces and supplies from Liugong, and finally a Japanese military landing and occupation of the island on 1 October 1940 (a day after Japan considered the lease expired, although Britain did not agree that their rights had lapsed since a new lease had been negotiated). In 1949, the island was occupied by the People's Liberation Army.