The following day, his body was claimed by his family and a salute of minute-guns was fired from HMS Blenheim in his honor.Guan Tianpei was born in 1781 in Shanyang county (now Huai'an city) in Jiangsu province.

In the eighth year of the Emperor Jiaqing (1803), he passed the imperial examination for military service, and he was successively assigned to the Bazong (把总), Qianzong (千总), Shoubei (守备), Youji (游击), Canjiang (参将) and vice general (参将), and these were the military ranking system during the Qing dynasty.

In the sixth year of the Emperor Daoguang (1826), he was assigned to the vice-general of the Taihu camp for naval of Qing in Jiangsu province.

[5] In the fourteenth year of the Emperor Daoguang (1834), Guan was assigned to the navy commander of the southern Guangdong province.

In the nineteenth year of the Emperor Daoguang (1839), Lin Zexu was assigned to imperial commissioner to prohibit the use of opium in Guangzhou.

Before the battle started, he dispatched a soldier to take his old clothes and tooth back to his hometown to give to his relatives.

Guan used his money for army food supplement, and he encouraged his soldier to fight the British forces.