Taiping (steamer)

Taiping was a Chinese steamer that sank after a collision with a smaller cargo ship, Chienyuan, while en route from mainland China to Taiwan on 27 January 1949.

With an estimated death toll of over 1,500 people, it ranks as one of the ten deadliest maritime disasters in history.

[1] After midnight on 27 January 1949, Taiping was steaming at night with her lights out, owing to a curfew, when she collided with the smaller cargo ship Chienyuan near the Zhoushan Archipelago.

[3] She has also been compared to RMS Titanic, which sank in 1912, owing to the similar loss of life in her sinking.

[4] A memorial to the ship and those who died aboard her was established at Keelung Harbor naval base on Taiwan.