When Li Hongzhang visited the United States in 1896, it caused a huge reaction, and the New York newspapers even advertised Li Hongzhang's popularity in the United States: "Li Hongzhang never missed the Sunday newspaper. ”
The following is a transcript of his interview with reporters in the United States, and his insights are still admirable even today...
At about 9 o'clock in the morning on September 2, Li Hongzhang was interviewed by reporters at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York:
American Journalist: Your Excellency, do you approve of the education of ordinary people in your country? Li Hongzhang: Our habit is to send all boys to school. We have very good schools, but only the children of rich families who can afford the tuition fees can go to school, and the children of poor families do not have the opportunity to go to school. However, we do not have as many schools and academies as you have, and we plan to build more schools in the country in the future. American Reporter: Your Excellency, are you in favor of women's education? Li Hongzhang: (pauses) In our Qing Kingdom, girls hire female tutors at home to provide education, and all families with financial means hire female tutors. We do not yet have public schools for girls, nor do we have higher educational institutions. This is because our customs are different from those of you (including Europe and the United States), and perhaps we should learn from your education system and introduce into our country the one that best suits our country, which is exactly what we need. American Reporter: Your Excellency Governor, do you expect any changes to the existing Chinese Exclusion Act? Li Hongzhang: I know that you are going to have elections again, and the new government will inevitably have some changes in governance. Therefore, I do not dare to make any remarks calling for the repeal of the Geary Act before the bill is amended, but I just hope that the American press will help the Qing immigrants. I know that the newspaper has a lot of influence in this country, and I hope that the entire press will help the Qing diaspora and call for the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act, or at least a major change to the Gurley Law. American Reporter: Your Excellency, can you explain the reasons for choosing the route back to China via Canada instead of the western United States? Is it not that your compatriots are not treated well in some areas of the western part of the continent?
Li Hongzhang: I don't want to go through the western states of the United States for two reasons. First, when I was a high-ranking official in the northern port city of the Qing Dynasty, I heard a lot of complaints from the Qing expatriates in California. These complaints show that the Qing people there have failed to obtain their rights under the U.S. Constitution, and they have asked me to help them have their U.S. immigration status fully recognized and enjoy the rights they are entitled to as U.S. immigrants. And your Gerley Act not only does not grant them the same rights as immigrants from other countries, but also refuses to protect their legitimate rights, so I do not wish to pass through places that treat my compatriots in this way, nor do I intend to accept petitions from local Chinese representatives asking for their rights and interests in the western states. Second, when I was a good sailor, I knew that I had to learn to take care of myself. I'm a lot older than the others, and the flight back from Vancouver is shorter than from San Francisco. I now learned that the "Queen" of the Qing Kingdom had a wide and comfortable hull, and it was difficult to find such a good ocean-going passenger ship in all the ports of the Pacific. The Chinese Exclusion Act is the most unfair bill in the world. All political economists acknowledge that competition energizes markets around the world, and that competition applies to both goods and labor. We know that the Gurley Law was influenced by the desire of Irish immigrants to dominate the labor market in California, and because the Qing were their strong competitors, they wanted to exclude the Chinese. If we boycott your products, refuse to buy American goods, and cancel the concession to sell your products to the Qing Kingdom, how will you feel? Don't think of me as a high-ranking official of the Qing Dynasty, but as an internationalist, not as a high-ranking official, but as an ordinary citizen of the Qing State or other countries in the world. Let me ask, what do you gain by expelling cheap Chinese laborers from the United States? Cheap labor means cheaper goods, and customers can buy high-quality goods at a low price. Aren't you very proud of being Americans? Your country represents the highest modern civilization in the world, and you are proud of your democracy and freedom, but is your Chinese Exclusion Act free for the Chinese? It's not freedom! Because you forbid the use of cheap labor and don't let them work on the farms. The statistics from your patent office show that you are the most creative people in the world, and you have invented more things than any other country combined. In this respect, you are ahead of Europe. Because you don't limit your development in manufacturing, and the people who do agriculture are not limited to agriculture, they also combine agriculture, commerce, and industry. You are not like the British, they are just the workshop of the world. You are committed to all causes of progress and development. In terms of process technology and product quality, you are also ahead of European countries. Unfortunately, you can't compete in Europe because your products are more expensive than theirs. This is all because your labour is too expensive to produce products that are too expensive to compete successfully with European countries. Labor is too expensive because you exclude Chinese laborers. It was your mistake. If you let labor compete freely, you will be able to get cheap labor. The Chinese were more thrifty than the Irish and the rest of the working class in the United States, so workers of other races hated the Chinese. I believe that the American press can help the Chinese people and abolish the Chinese Exclusion Act. American reporter: Is there any way out for US capital to invest in Qingguo?
Li Hongzhang: Wealth can only be generated by organically combining money, labor, and land. The Qing government is very pleased to welcome any capital investment in the mainland. My good friend General Grant once said to me that you must ask European and American capital to enter the Qing country in order to establish modern industrial enterprises and help the Qing people to exploit the rich natural resources of the country. But the management of these enterprises should be in the hands of the Qing government. We welcome you to invest in China, and you will provide you with funds and technicians. However, when it comes to railways, telecommunications, etc., it is up to us to control them. We must protect the sovereignty of our country and not allow anyone to jeopardize our sacred rights. I will keep in mind the legacy of General Grant. All capital, whether American or European, is free to invest in China. American Reporter: Your Excellency, are you in favor of introducing American or European newspapers to your country? Li Hongzhang: The Qing State has a newspaper, but unfortunately the editors of the Qing Dynasty are unwilling to tell the truth to their readers, because they do not tell the truth like your newspapers, but only tell the truth. The editors of the Qing Kingdom are very stingy when it comes to telling the truth, they only tell part of the truth, and they don't have as much circulation as your newspaper. Unable to tell the truth honestly, our newspapers lose the noble value of journalism itself and fail to become a way to widely disseminate civilization.
——This article is excerpted from "Memories of the Empire - Observations of the Late Qing Dynasty in The New York Times"