Ministers › Provincial Governors
Li Hongzhang
Late Qing official from Hefei who raised the Huai Army, governed Zhili for a quarter century and signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki and the Boxer Protocol
Mural of the event “First Sino-Japanese War”, which this person took part in.
By the late nineteenth century, Qing China and Japan increasingly competed for political and strategic influence on the Korean peninsula. After the Donghak Peasant Movement in 1894, both states sent troops to Korea; diplomacy broke down and war followed.
Also known as Shao Quan · Yi Sou
Li Hongzhang, courtesy name Shaoquan, came from Hefei in Anhui and passed the metropolitan examination in 1847, later joining the staff of Zeng Guofan. In 1862 he raised the Huai Army, shipped it by steamer to Shanghai and, as acting governor of Jiangsu, fought the Taipings, winning an earldom. In 1870 he succeeded Zeng as governor-general of Zhili and commissioner for northern ports, and over the years he set up the Jiangnan Arsenal and a steamship company and built the Beiyang fleet, formally established in 1888. After the fleet was destroyed in the war with Japan, he went to Shimonoseki in 1895, was wounded in the face by a gunman during the talks, and signed a treaty ceding Taiwan and the Penghu Islands and paying 200 million taels. In 1901 he and Prince Qing signed the Boxer Protocol; he died in Beijing two months later and was given the posthumous name Wenzhong. Liang Qichao published a book-length study of him that same year.
Life and times
- 1823 CEBorn
Qing - 1861Self-Strengthening Movement
Took partage 38Self-Strengthening officials founded arsenals, shipyards, and technical schools to introduce machine production, modern weapons, translation, and naval training.- Self-Strengthening Arsenals and Beiyang FleetFounding Jiangnan Arsenal & Beiyang Fleet in Modernization Drive
- Self-Strengthening Arsenals and Beiyang Fleet
- 1894First Sino-Japanese War
Took partage 71Qing forces lost on land and sea to Japan; the Treaty of Shimonoseki imposed cession and indemnity and accelerated reform movements.- Treaty of Shimonoseki Signed1895age 72On 17 April 1895, Japan and Qing China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, formally ending the war.
- Treaty of Shimonoseki Signed
- 1901 CEDied
Works
Literature · Prose3- Complete Works of Li WenzhongQingLi Hongzhang's memorials, letters and telegrams in 165 juan, edited by Wu Rulun
- Complete Works of Li Wenzhong: Memorial DraftsQing
- Complete Works of Li Wenzhong: Memorial Drafts: Memorial on Coastal Defence (excerpt)Qing
- Literature · Sayings1
- A Change Unseen in Thousands of YearsQingLine from Li Hongzhang's 1874 memorial on coastal defence: a change unseen for millennia
Family tree
- Direct kin
Li HongzhangSon-in-law
