Abstract
<p class="1Body">This paper focuses on Li Hung Chang (1823-1901)’s visit to England and America in 1896, to rethink and revaluate the importat role Li played at that historical time. Li Hung Chang toured Europe and America in 1896 as an imperial envoy of the first rank. Although some aspects of Li’s career and evaluation have been given monographic treatment, there is yet little study on his comments on his attitudes toward Western science and technology. This paper augues that if modernization is a matter of modern state power as an army, navy, or diplomatic corps, then Li was certainly a modernizer. But if modernization is a deeper process of organizational and institutional change, Li was not a determined modernizer. In fact, Li relied heavily on patronage even when he could exercise legitimate political power, in order to adovocate Self-Strengthening Movement.</p>
Highlights
As Liang Qichao 梁启超, author of the Li’s first Chinese biography, said: “I respect Li’s talent; I bemoan Li’s insight; I regret Li’s destiny
Since as early as 1899, some biography and several monographs have been published in English, and the reports in Western print media such as newspaper and periodicals were interested in Li
While touring in Europe and America, Dianshizhai Pictorial printed two portraits of Li in succession, titled respectively “Portrait of Prime Minister from Hefei” and “Portrait of Prime Minister Li at 74 years old”. These portraits presentedthe rise of Chinese government officials as public figures to be respected or even worshipped by the common people. Through his visit to Europe and America, Li Hung Chang gained a more profound knowledge of the state of the world and the strength and weakness that China had at the time
Summary
As Liang Qichao 梁启超, author of the Li’s first Chinese biography, said: “I respect Li’s talent; I bemoan Li’s insight; I regret Li’s destiny. Vol 8, No 2; 2016 suppression of the Taiping rebellion (1850-1864), and faulted by Chinese nationalists for his failure to curb Japanese expansion and vilified for allegedly selling out China to foreigners (Liang, 1951) These derogatory evaluations were perpetuated by twentieth-century Chinese historians (Hu, 1981). Based on original sources, the essay will focus on Li’s comments on the western policy and technology recorded in English and American newspaper and periodicals These description and records about Li in English mainstream print media have not received enough attention yet. Li wanted to learn from the foreigners, especially as a pragmatic diplomat aware of the complex realities of international power While his reliance on traditional administrative arrangements, lax political morality, and tendency to work for short-run success must be considered against his very real accomplishments. Since Li undertook defensive modernization and pursued innovation to preserve the traditional core rather than to change it, the policies were narrow in space and scope, but open the paths for China to follow into the modern world
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