Li Hongzhang
15 February 1823 – 7 November 1901
Li Hongzhang (1823-1901) was a leading Qing dynasty statesman, general, and diplomat who dominated Chinese foreign policy and modernization efforts in the late nineteenth century. He helped suppress the Taiping Rebellion, championed the Self-Strengthening Movement's arsenals, shipping lines, and the Beiyang Fleet, and negotiated major treaties including the Treaty of Shimonoseki and the Boxer Protocol. He served for decades as Viceroy of Zhili, one of the empire's most powerful posts.
Lived at the same time
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Life events
Li Hongzhang was born on 15 February 1823 into a gentry family in Hefei.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIn 1847 Li passed the highest imperial examination and entered the Hanlin Academy, where he was mentored by Zeng Guofan.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIn 1862 Li raised the Huai Army from his native Anhui and led it in the campaigns that recaptured the Shanghai region and helped crush the Taiping Rebellion.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgFrom 1870 Li held the empire's most important regional post for a quarter century, controlling foreign relations and military modernization in north China.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIn 1872 Li established China's first major modern shipping enterprise, a flagship project of the Self-Strengthening Movement.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThrough the 1880s Li directed the creation of the Beiyang Fleet, purchasing foreign warships and founding naval academies and the Port Arthur and Weihaiwei bases.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgOn 17 April 1895 Li signed the treaty ceding Taiwan and recognizing Korean independence; during the negotiations in Japan he survived an assassination attempt by a Japanese gunman.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgIn 1896 Li made a celebrated world tour, attending Tsar Nicholas II's coronation, concluding the secret Li-Lobanov treaty with Russia, and visiting Western capitals.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgOn 7 September 1901 Li, as chief Chinese plenipotentiary, signed the protocol ending the Boxer crisis and imposing a large indemnity on China.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgLi Hongzhang died on 7 November 1901, exhausted by the Boxer Protocol negotiations, and was posthumously honored by the Qing court.
Source: en.wikipedia.org