Seven thousand soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Guard, under the command of Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa, embarked Port Arthur on 22 May, with a fleet of fourteen transports.

On 26 May the transports, escorted by the warships Matsushima and Naniwa, reached the Japanese-owned Ryukyu Islands to the northeast of Taiwan, and anchored off the port of Nakagusuku on the eastern coast of Okinawa.

[3] The first engagement took place on 2 June, at Sui-hong (Ruifang, 瑞芳), between the Japanese 2nd Infantry Regiment and 500 Chinese soldiers of the Keelung Division, led by General Chung.

[4] The first major battle of the invasion took place on 3 June around the Shih-ch'iu-ling battery (Traditional Chinese: 獅球嶺砲台) overlooking the port city of Keelung.

Keelung was occupied on the afternoon of the same day, after the Qing commanders fled the city and left the garrison force leaderless.

The bright banners and gaily uniformed Chinese troops could be seen here and there; and with the knowledge that modern guns of large calibre were mounted in the different forts, it appeared that the day’s fight would be a memorable one.

Since early morning, the Japanese squadron, led by the flagship Matsushima with Admiral Arichi in command, had been cruising off Kelung.

Later in the day steam pinnaces had carefully reconnoitered the enemy’s positions, and returning had reported that many Chinese soldiers in white uniforms were crossing the small channel to Palm Island and occupying the fort there.

Upon perceiving this, the men-of-war all formed in line of battle, and at about 10.30 o’clock, by taking a circular course, the vessels approached one by one to a position some 6,000 metres distant and bombarded the fort, firing some fifty rounds altogether.

Palm Island fort with its fine modern guns (one 12-inch Armstrong, two 10-inch and two 7-inch Krupps) made but little effort to defend itself, and after firing some 12 rounds ceased altogether.

Under ordinary circumstances this would have exposed him to a strong fire, but fortunately it began to rain so heavily that the onward movement was quite concealed.

Its very high elevation, commanding a positions with steep slopes on all sides, made it impossible for the Japanese infantry to effect any damage upon it.

From Chinese sources it would appear that prior to the capture of the village, the Cantonese troops occupying a battery on the hill over the old railway tunnel, made the best fight, but oddly enough it was against their own countrymen instead of the Japanese.