between locals, police and Ding's sailors, six sailors were killed and 45 wounded, along with five Japanese policemen killed and 16 wounded. The riot resulted in a diplomatic incident, but Ding was able to make a second trip to Japan with the Beiyang Fleet in 1891. Ding was promoted to admiral and commander of the Beiyang Fleet from 1888 to 1894, and was promoted to the position of vice naval minister in 1894. Sino-Japanese War During the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95, Ding pushed for a direct confrontation with the Imperial Japanese Navy, but was ordered by Beijing not to operate east of the mouth of the Yalu River, for fear that China's prized modern warships would be damaged or destroyed. However, this is what happened at the Battle of the Yalu River on 17 September 1894, during which Ding lost five of the ten ships in his fleet. He also became a casualty of the battle from the opening shot of his own vessel, Dingyuan, which had a construction defect, along with a number of officers also present on the bridge. An alternative theory is that the incident occurred due to the deliberate misfiring of the ship's main battery by the commanding captain. Death During the Battle of Lushunkou, Ding was ordered to withdraw his ships to the safety of Weihaiwei without giving battle to the Japanese. During the subsequent Battle of Weihaiwei, his ships were kept within the protective confines of the harbor, but the situation proved hopeless once the Imperial Japanese Army had seized the shore fortifications and lowered the boom enclosing the harbor to permit attacks by Japanese torpedo boats. Ding refused offers of political asylum by Japanese admiral Itō Sukeyuki and committed suicide by an overdose of opium in his office at his Liugong Island headquarters. His deputy, Admiral Liu Buchan, after ordering that his warship be scuttled by explosives, also committed suicide. The remnants of the Beiyang Fleet surrendered to the Japanese. After his death, Ding was blamed by the Qing government for the defeat, and posthumously stripped of all ranks and positions. However, the manner of his death earned him the respect of the Japanese as well as of many members of the Chinese military. At the request of surviving generals in 1911, he was restored to all of his ranks, and his family was able to give him a proper burial in