Born in
Fuzhou, he graduated from the
Nanjing naval college in 1902. In July 1911, Du was appointed the commander of a vessel. His crew followed orders from
Yuan Shikai to sail up the
Yangtze and help put down the
Wuchang Uprising later that year. However, when he saw that the Qing empire was collapsing, Du and his sailors mutinied, joining the Republican government. The uprising was what forced the Qing naval minister
Sa Zhenbing to resign his post. After Yuan became the head of the government in
Beijing, Du continued to serve him. In 1922, he was made chief of the navy and helped the
Zhili clique defeat
Zhang Zuolin. In the spring of 1923,
Shanghai's fleet rebelled and Du took responsibility by resigning but was recalled in November. In 1924, he commanded the
Yangtze fleet of
Jiangsu and defeated the
Anhui clique's
Zhejiang fleet led by
Lin Jianzhang. Several ships defected to his side giving him control of Shanghai's waters. In 1926, Du served concurrently as
acting president,
premier, and minister of the navy. In 1927, with Du's backing, the Chinese navy defected to the Kuomintang; however Du lacked
Chiang Kai-shek's trust and subsequently resigned from active service. The Nanjing
Nationalist government later employed him and sent him on an inspection tour of foreign navies. He returned to China in 1930, becoming head of the naval academy in Fuzhou. When the
Fujian Rebellion broke out, Du declined to offer support and instead moved to Shanghai, where he died on 28 December 1933. ==Gallery==