li hung chang biography

Dromo's Den

Li Hung Chang Biography

li hung chang, (1823-1901). A Chinese statesman, born in Luchow, Ngan-hwei Province, Feb. 16, 1823. He was well educated and passed through the various grades of scholarship, receiving the highest degree (Tsin-shi) in 1847. In 1849 he entered the Hanlin College. As early as 1853 he distinguished himself in the field against the Taipings at the head of militia he himself raised. Passing through several minor offices, he became in 1864 Governor of the Kiang Provinces, in which capacity he was intrusted with the task of putting down the Taiping rebels who had continued to hold their own. With the assistance of the "Ever-Victorious Army" under Charles George Gordon (q.v.) Li Hung Chang was successful in suppressing the rebellion. When Nanking was captured, Gordon promised that the lives of the rebel leaders should be spared; but they were all killed by Li's orders—a treacherous act, which so angered Gordon that he resigned his command. Li now became successively commander of the Chinese Imperial forces, an earl, head of the naval administration, and Viceroy of the capital Province of Chi-li. This last appointment placed him practically next the throne, and he held it for the exceptional period of 24 years, from 1870 to 1895. During the entire period the foreign policy of China was under his control. Without becoming a partisan of the Western civilization, he recognized the necessity of reorganizing the fighting forces of China on a modern basis, in order to meet the threatening encroachments of the European Powers and the rising influence of Japan, whose interests in Korea were coming into conflict with those of the Chinese. Under Li's supervision the army and the navy were greatly strengthened. The war with Japan found him in a position of great responsibility. He had been instrumental in bringing on the war, and he had to bear the brunt of the defeat which followed, although the inefficiency of the Chinese forces was largely due to the way in which his plans for military and naval improvement had been hampered by Chinese court methods. It was equally a part of these methods that he should be made a scapegoat by the Emperor, and accordingly before the close of the war he was removed from office, deprived of the insignia of his rank, and sent into retirement. He was, however, recalled and invested with full powers to negotiate a peace with Japan after the fall of Wei-hai-wei. He was received in that country with respect and obtained terms which, hard as they were, were probably better than could have been obtained by any other person under the circumstances. In 1896 he represented China at the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and then made a tour of the world, passing through Germany, France, England, and the United States, and was received everywhere with high honors. Upon his return to China he became the virtual head of the Tsung-li Yamen, or Foreign Office. He returned to the governership of the Kiang Provinces in 1900, but was soon recalled to the governorship of Chi-li and his former extensive powers, because he was the only man who could be relied upon to meet the emergency in the foreign relations of the Empire produced by the Boxer outbreak. His last public task was the settlement with the European Powers and the United States of the issues raised by that trouble. He died Nov. 7, 1901. Li Hung Chang was able, crafty, and, according to European morals as well as the best teachings of the Chinese moral code, unscrupulous. He accumulated a colossal fortune in the public service. He was not a friend to the foreigner, but he believed in the value of the material civilization of the West and wished China to profit by its lesson and strengthen herself thereby. It was commonly believed that Li was not incorruptible, and it was asserted that he had accepted retainers from Russia. He certainly sought to maintain a good understanding with that Empire, though this may well have been only what he regarded as a necessary policy under the circumstances. In internal policies he was generally identified with the party of the Dowager Empress, though he was too shrewd to go all lengths with her radical advisers. Li Hung Chang could not, however, have been the statesman he unquestionably was if he had not preserved a certain rugged integrity of purpose. While he sought his own advantage, he served his country sincerely and was one of her few statesmen of commanding ability. He was a man of powerful physique and great capacity for work. Consult: R. K. Douglas, Li Hung Chang (London, 1895); R. E. Lewis, "The Machiavelli of Chinese Diplomacy," in the Forum, vol. xxxi (New York, 1901); D. C. Boulger, "Li Hung Chang: Statesman or Impostor," in Fortnightly Review, vol. lxxvi (London, 1901); W. F. Mannix (ed.), Memoirs of Li Hung-Chang (Boston, 1913). See China.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XIV (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 144.