Zhang Zhidong

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Chang Chih-tung (1837-1909) was a Chinese official and reformer. A brilliant Confucian scholar, he was convinced of the peerless quality of China's traditional culture. However, to preserve it, he introduced Western-type industry, education, and military techniques.

During the 19th century China became progressively aware of the necessity of borrowing increments of Western civilization if the country was to remain independent of foreign domination. By the 1860s officials such as Tseng Kuo-fan favored only the manufacture of Western armaments. At the end of the century K'ang Yu-wei and others advocated even the adoption of Western political institutions. Chang Chih-tung stood between these two extremes, making significant economic and even educational innovations, but only as a means of preserving what he regarded as the essence of Chinese culture.

Chang Chih-tung was born on Sept. 2, 1837, in northern China near Peking. His family had served as government officials for generations, and he received a superb classical education in preparation to continue this family tradition. He began his official career in 1863 after passing the third, or metropolitan, civil service examinations with unusual distinction.

Early Conservative Career

In 1879 Chang became famous as a result of his vigorous defense of the empress dowager Tz'u-hsi for her choice of Kuang-hsü as the new emperor following the death of the T'ung-chih emperor. For his support Chang won Tz'u-hsi's undying gratitude, which partially accounted for his subsequent meteoric climb in the official hierarchy. In foreign affairs he became a leader of the "war party," which hated the foreigners and preferred to go to war rather than to encourage the imperialist powers by giving evidence of weakness. His belligerent memorials significantly affected the formation of China's foreign policy in the lli crisis with Russia (1879-1880) and in the conflict with France over Vietnam (1884-1885).

Chang's Reforms

In 1882 Chang became governor of Shansi Province, and 2 years later he reached the pinnacle of the provincial bureaucracy when he was appointed governor general at Canton. He was transferred in 1889 to the governor generalship at Wuchang in central China, where he served for 18 years, except for two brief interludes (1894-1896 and 1902-1903) as acting governor general at Nanking.

Chang possessed great drive and imagination as a provincial administrator. In 1887 at Canton he founded a modern arsenal and military academy, for the war with France had convinced him - despite his xenophobic tendencies - of the need of borrowing from the West. Two years later he instituted at Canton the first modern mint in China.

Chang's most far-reaching attempts to modernize China occurred during his tenure in Wuchang. In 1890 he opened the iron foundry that subsequently evolved into the huge Han-Yeh-P'ing iron and steel works. He also established cotton mills, silk factories, and tanneries - industrial enterprises that have caused the area around Wuchang to be known as the "Chicago of China." Chang was one of China's leading proponents of railroad and telegraph construction, and the Peking-Hankow Railway was completed largely as a result of his extended efforts from 1889 to 1906. Chang was also China's leading educational innovator, and in Hupei he set up an experimental school system consisting of a teachers' college and a series of primary, technical, and high schools.

Rationale for Reform

In 1898 Chang wrote Exhortation to Study, which is one of the most significant pieces of reformist literature in China during the 19th century. Chang presented this treatise to the emperor Kuang-hsü during the midst of the Hundred Days Reform movement, and the Emperor was so pleased that he ordered it to be distributed throughout the empire.

Chang's basic reform philosophy was summed up in the famous phrase, "Chinese learning for the essential principles (t'i); Western learning for the practical applications (yung). " Chang meant that Western technology and learning (yung) should be adopted, but only to the extent that they helped preserve China's culture, morality, and sociopolitical system (t'i). In Exhortation to Study, therefore, Chang advocated the adoption of Western-style industries and modification of the traditional educational and examination system. But he vehemently opposed the adoption of Western democratic institutions or concepts of social egalitarianism.

Later Career

In 1900 Chang helped prevent another full-scale war with the foreign powers when he restrained the provinces of central China from participating in the Boxer uprising. Between 1901 and 1906 he played a key role in instituting a coherent, nationwide system of schools teaching both traditional Chinese and Western subjects. Perhaps regretting the spread of Westernization in China, he was instrumental in 1906 in having the sacrifices to Confucius raised to the unprecedented dignity of being on a level with sacrifices to heaven and earth.

In 1907 Chang left the post of governor general at Wuchang to fill the posts of grand secretary and director of the new Ministry of Education at Peking. He died on Oct. 4, 1909, 2 years before his beloved Ch'ing dynasty fell to the revolutionaries.

Further Reading

Chang's Exhortation to Study was translated by Samuel I. Woodbridge as China's Only Hope (1900). William Ayers, Chang Chih-tung and Educational Reform in China (1971), is an important study of Chang's career that also touches on aspects other than his educational reform. A short biographical sketch is in Arthur W. Hummel, ed., Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, vol. 1 (1943). For his role in the modernization of China see Albert Feuerwerker, China's Early Industrialization (1958), and John L. Rawlinson, China's Struggle for Naval Development, 1839-1895 (1967). For his place in Chinese intellectual history see Joseph R. Levenson, Confucian China and Its Modern Fate (1958). See also Samuel C. Chu, Reformer in Modern China: Chang Chien, 1853-1926 (1965); Yi C. Wang, Chinese Intellectuals and the West, 1872-1949 (1966); and Mary Clabaugh Wright, ed., China in Revolution: The First Phase, 1900-1913 (1968), and her own work, The Last Stand of Chinese Conservatism: The T'ung-Chih Restoration, 1862-1874 (1957).

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zhang.

Zhang Zhidong
Zhang in official robes
Viceroy of Liangguang
In office 1884 – 1889
Preceded by	Zhang Shusheng
Succeeded by	Li Hanzhang
Born	September 4, 1837
Died	October 5, 1909
Occupation	Politician

Zhang Zhidong (simplified Chinese: 张之洞; traditional Chinese: 張之洞; pinyin: Zhāng Zhīdòng; Wade-Giles: Chang Chih-tung; Courtesy Xiàodá (孝達); Pseudonyms: Xiāngtāo (香濤), Xiāngyán (香岩), Yīgōng (壹公), Wújìng-Jūshì (無竟居士), later Bàobīng (抱冰); Posthumous name: Wénxiāng (文襄)) (September 4, 1837 — October 5, 1909) was an eminent Chinese politician during the late Qing Dynasty who advocated for controlled reform. Along with Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, he was one of the "Four Famous Officials of the Late Qing" (四大名臣). He served as the Governor of Shanxi, the Viceroy of Huguang, Viceroy of Liangguang, the Viceroy of Liangjiang, and also served as a member of the Grand Council. In 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, his tomb was destroyed by the Red Guards and his bones were rediscovered in 2007.

Contents 1 Early life 2 First Sino-Japanese War 3 Taiwan 4 Later life 5 References

Early life

A native of Nanpi, Hebei, Zhang Zhidong earned a Jinshi degree in 1863 and was elevated to the Hanlin Academy in 1880. In 1881, he was appointed the Governor of Shanxi. The Empress Dowager promoted him to the Viceroy of Huguang in August 1889.

First Sino-Japanese War

Zhang Zhidong became involved in the First Sino-Japanese War, although not on the frontlines. He initially advocated for foreign aid from European forces near Tianjin in fighting Japan. In October 1894, he telegraphed Li Hongzhang, the Viceroy of Zhili, proposing the purchase of naval equipment, and loans from foreign banks. He further advocated this, and in addition the purchase of arms, alliance with European powers, and the "clear division of rewards and punishments" for troops, once the Japanese crossed the Yalu River into China in late October, threatening the Manchurian provinces. In early 1895, the Japanese had begun an assault on Shandong, and Zhang telegraphed Li Bingheng, the Governor, in an emergency that suggested fast civil recruitments, the building of strong forts, and the use of land mines, to prevent further Japanese advance. He had also sent arms and munitions to aid the campaign.

Taiwan

Zhang held a strong opinion on the issue of Taiwan, and in late February 1895, he made clear to the Court in Beijing his complete opposition to Taiwan being ceded to Japan. He further offered several methods to prevent such an event. Zhang suggested that huge loans be taken from Britain, who would in turn use its strong navy to protect Taiwan. In addition, Britain would be given mining rights on the island for "ten to twenty years". Developments in May, however, became disappointing to Zhang, as the Qing Court ordered all civil and military officials out of Taiwan. He counted on defence by the people of Taiwan themselves. A request for aid by the troops in Taiwan was refused by Zhang, facing an increasingly hopeless situation after Keelung fell and Taipei became the only stronghold remaining. On October 19, 1895, Liu Yongfu, the last of Qing generals in Taiwan, was defeated and withdrew to Xiamen.

Later life

In 1898, Zhang published his work Exhortation to Study (劝学篇, Quàn Xué Piān). He insisted on a method of relatively conservative reform, summarized in his phrase Chinese learning for fundamental principles and Western learning for practical application(中学为体，西学为用, Zhōngxué Wéi Tǐ, Xīxué Wéi Yòng). In 1900, he advocated for the crackdown of the Boxers. When the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing, Zhang, along with Li Hongzhang and others, participated in the "Mutual Defense of the Southeast" (东南互保) plan. He quelled local revolts, and defeated the rebellion army of Tang Caichang. He succeeded Liu Kunyi as Viceroy of Liangjiang in 1901, transferring to Nanjing, where he laid foundations for the modern University of Nanjing. He was appointed the Minister of Military Affairs in 1906, and worked in Beijing for the Qing Court.

He died from illness in 1909.

References

• Ayers, William. Chang Chih-tung and educational reform in China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971.
• Teng, Ssu-yü (鄧嗣禹) and Fairbank, John K. China's Response to the West: A Documentary Survey, 1839-1923, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1954 & 1979.

Government offices
Preceded by Zhang Shusheng	Viceroy of Liangguang 1884-1889	Succeeded by Li Hanzhang
Preceded by Yulu	Viceroy of Huguang 1889-1894	Succeeded by Tan Jixun
Preceded by Liu Kunyi	Viceroy of Liangjiang 1894-1895	Succeeded by Liu Kunyi
Preceded by Tan Jixun	Viceroy of Huguang 1896-1902	Succeeded by Duanfang
Preceded by Liu Kunyi	Viceroy of Liangjiang 1902-1903	Succeeded by Wei Guangtao
Preceded by Duanfang	Viceroy of Huguang 1904-1907	Succeeded by Zhao Erxun

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