A troubled diplomat who does not seek fame and fame - Huang Zunxian

　　In 1884, the election year in the United States, the late Qing dynasty poet Huang Zunxian, who was serving in the United States, witnessed the confrontation between the two factions of the then president, Republican Chester Arthur and Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland, which stunned the Qing Dynasty official with his big pigtails, and he wrote a poem describing the scene of the two factions canvassing, "opening like a hanging river, rolling waves." Laughter stirs up the roof and the pillars of the court are cracked"; the two factions of candidates unveiled each other's speeches, "the other party praises this party, and the leader of the party is indecent." Surprised and puzzled, he concluded that "the republican form of government must not be applied to our country today," but also said in other poems that there was no need to follow the ancient law.

　　As a literati living in turbulent times, his unique life experience, combined with current events and events, is evocative.

See that China will change

　　In 1848, Huang Zunxian was born in Jiaying, Meizhou, Guangdong (present-day Jiaoling, Guangdong). It is only a water's separation from Hong Kong Island, which was ceded to the British by the Qing Dynasty.

　　Huang Zunxian's ancestor was named Huang Run, and his family was poor, and he made a living by writing cattle deeds for others. At that time, foreign silver dollars had just circulated in the Guangdong market, and he was able to distinguish between authenticity and falsity through the differences in silver and sound. So he set up a table in the market, identified and exchanged silver dollars for others, gathered wealth from all directions, and became rich in a few years. At the age of 30, Huang Run began to establish his own pawn shop, and in his later years, he developed four or five pawnshops.

　　Although he abandoned Confucianism to engage in business, Huang Run did not let his son inherit the family business, but let him concentrate on studying. Huang Zunxian's father was a Xianfeng Dynasty official who served as an official in Guizhou and Guangxi. The identity of the Huang family's ancestors between Confucianism and Shang made the children realize that the imperial examination was not the only way to reach heaven.

　　Huang Zunxian entered the school at the age of 4, and when he was 10 years old, Mr. Huang wrote the title "A Panoramic View of the Mountains and Small", ordered the children to write poems, and Huang Zunxian chanted "The world is particularly small, what is the mountain under the eyes", Mr. Huang was amazed. His great-grandmother, who had personally taught him, was extremely happy to hear it, believing that "this child has great ambitions" and loved him even more.

　　At the age of 223, Huang Zunxian went to Guangzhou twice to take the township examination, but failed. He took a detour through Hong Kong after the exam and was an eye-opener. At the age of 27, he went to the Beijing Normal Examination and still failed to pass. Because his father was serving in Beijing at the time, he stayed in Beijing to serve and became very close to some Beijing officials who were also Cantonese.

　　Huang Zunxian realized early on that the Qing Dynasty could not rest on its laurels, and he told He Ruzhang, an attendant of the Hanlin Academy who was well versed in foreign affairs: "China will change from the West. If it is changed, either as Japan strengthens itself, or as Egypt is forced, or as India is under its jurisdiction, or as Poland divides it up, I do not know, but it will change. Although he does not expect what will become in the future, he believes that China will definitely be influenced by Western institutions. This transparency into the future made him deeply appreciated by He Ruzhang, laying the groundwork for future overseas appointments.

13 years as a diplomat

　　Huang Zunxian, who had no meritorious name but was knowledgeable, was not only appreciated by an adult at that time. When Ding Richang was serving as the governor of Fujian, he invited him to join the curtain; after a conversation with him, Li Hongzhang called him a "hegemon." At the age of 29, Huang Zunxian finally passed the examination, ranking outside the top 100, and selected Zhixian county for use with the title of five pins. That is to say, if you already have the qualifications to know the county and prepare for it, you can enter the army. At this time, He Ruzhang was elected as the first envoy to Japan, that is, he invited Huang Zunxian to be the accompanying counselor.

　　In the late Qing Dynasty, social turmoil, the thunder of the change of law was faint, the waves were strange, far away from the Beijing division and the imperial court, and it took great courage to serve as a diplomat with no precedent and unknown future. However, Huang Zunxian ignored the persuasion of his relatives and friends and chose to go to Japan without hesitation. He has lived in a foreign country since childhood, has had overseas excursions, and he has always been skeptical of the learning of the ancients.

　　In 1877, He Ruzhang led the first mission to Japan to arrive in Nagasaki by ship from Shanghai. Ashore amid the sound of dragon flags flying and 21 salutes. On their first day in office, Ryukyu courtiers came to pay their respects, weeping bitterly, saying that Japan was obstructing the tribute and trying to abolish the domain. Since then, Japan has coveted Korea, and both Japan and Russia want to take Korea for themselves, and Britain, France, the United States, and Germany also want to trade with it. Hwang Zun-hyun and He Ruzhang discussed that they should preemptively write to the Prime Minister's Office of State Affairs to abolish Korea as a county and county, so as to avoid future troubles. This plan did not work, and he also requested that an envoy be sent to preside over the DPRK's diplomacy. During the visit of the DPRK envoy to Japan, Huang Zunxian advised the DPRK to be pro-China and unite with the United States. The Japanese received the information, published it in newspapers, and praised Huang Zunxian for his insight far exceeding that of Li Hongzhang. Unfortunately, North Korea did not listen.

　　During his time in Japan, Hwang went alone, traveling through Honshu and Hokkaido, staying for half a month at Enoshima Island in Kamakura and atami in Izu. "Collect customs and customs, search for anecdotes", inquire about Japanese folk customs and habits, read more than 200 kinds of books alone, prepare for several years, and finally write "Japanese National History" and "Japanese Miscellaneous Poems", from the national customs and customs to the folk trivia, all of which are compiled into it. Huang Zunxian said that the fundamental purpose of writing is to be "used by our country", so "where Western law is involved, it is especially detailed, and the period is also applicable."

　　At the time of the publication of the Chronicle of Japan, the Sino-Japanese War had already broken out, and the Great Qing Dynasty was gradually defeated. Some people recommended this book to Zhang Zhidong, and regrettably said that if he had read it earlier, he could save the Qing Dynasty 200 million taels of silver — exactly the amount of reparations paid to Japan in the Treaty of Maguan.

　 In 1883, at the age of 35, Huang zunxian was ordered to transfer to San Francisco (now translated as San Francisco). Arrived in the United States on February 12, and in March, the U.S. Congress passed a bill restricting Chinese immigration. Because most of the people who went to the United States were Chinese workers, this bill was actually aimed at Chinese workers, but students, businessmen, tourists, and even overseas Chinese were also affected and regarded as prisoners. Huang Zunxian appealed to the prime minister in charge of foreign affairs, the Minister in charge of foreign affairs, yamen for help, and so he took it upon himself to issue passports to overseas Chinese who returned to China as a credential to return to the United States and provide convenience as much as possible.

At that time, The Chinese workers in San Francisco were poor, and dozens of people often lived in one room. There is a "square foot of air" in U.S. law, which means that each person must enjoy a range of 56 square meters of air. Violators are fined up to $500 and tenants are fined up to $50 or imprisoned. Huang Zunxian seized on this law, and after inspecting the residence of the Chinese workers, he personally visited the AMERICAN prison where the Chinese workers were being held, and when he saw dozens of people imprisoned in the same cell, he asked his entourage to measure the prison area and asked the Americans that they must be treated the same according to the "square yard of air."

After his term of office in the United States expired, Huang Zunxian returned to China to visit his relatives, and when the ministers who appreciated him in the DPRK lost power, he did not despise himself and greeted his superiors, so he was idle in Beijing. A few years later, he was reappointed Second Counsellor in the UK and later transferred to Consul General of Singapore. However, the late Qing Dynasty was cowardly and not good at diplomacy, and often sought peace, and he felt that his talent had no place to play. After 4 years in Singapore, the domestic political situation was unstable, and Zhang Zhidong specially transferred him back to China in order to recruit talents. It is said that he was "conceited and had no power in his eyes", and when he met him, he "raised his head and knees, shook his head and spoke loudly", which caused Zhang Zhidong to be dissatisfied, and he was not used seriously in the end.

Huang Zunxian traveled to Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore for 13 years. He once said, "Confucians do not go out, let alone the affairs of the world." Knowing the times is precious today, and empathy is precious and merciful to the world. "After many years of going out, he used poetry to introduce new things such as electric lights and trams. For example, his tram, "Don't turn your intestines like a wheel, a moment is ten thousand weeks." Seeing the two-wheeled gallop, increasing the central worry." It not only expresses the characteristics of the new era, but also has the emotional mood of traditional poetry.

Worship Liang Qichao

Huang Zunxian lived in a period of unprecedented great changes in modern China, and throughout his life he had contacts with royalists and reformists, and had a strong friendship.

In 1880, he met the reformist thinker Wang Tao in Japan, traveled to banquets every day, and talked about the world's major events in the heat of wine. After returning from overseas, Huang Zunxian was very close to Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao. He spontaneously donated 1,000 yuan as a pioneering fund for Liang Qichao's "Times". Huang Zunxian was even more appreciative of Liang Qichao's article, affectionately calling Liang "a monkey in the Luofu Cave", after traveling east, cultivating into Sun Wukong, there are 72 changes, the more strange it becomes. And the self-humble "Eight Precepts of pigs in my generation" can only worship Liang Qichao.

In his later years, Huang Zunxian assisted Chen Baozhen and Liang Qichao in implementing the New Deal in Hunan, and successively founded the Shiwu School, the Southern Society, the Security Bureau, the Classroom Officials' Hall, the Non-Entanglement Foot Club, the Xiangxue New Daily, and the Xiang Bao, making Hunan the most active and vigorous province in the country at that time.

Because of the merits of the New Deal, in 1898, Huang Zunxian was appointed minister of Japan. When he arrived in Shanghai, the Penghu Reform took place. It is said that after the incident, he hid Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, and was not afraid of danger, immediately notified Kang Youwei's students to leave, and through his own influence, contacted the British consulate, donated funds, and protected the Kang and Liang families. Due to the intervention of the British Consul General in Shanghai and the Japanese Minister in China, the Qing government did not pursue the matter, but allowed Huang Zunxian to resign and return to his hometown. Huang Zunxian died in March 1905 at the age of 57.

More than 1,000 of Huang Zunxian's poems exist. In his view, the poem is a "residual matter" that cannot be mentioned on the table, but it is the greatest achievement of his life. His "Japanese Miscellaneous Poems" totaled 200 poems, covering all aspects of Japanese history and social life; "Eviction" wrote about the American anti-Chinese labor movement; "Chronicle" truthfully depicted the Presidential Election in the United States. As for his painstaking work "The Chronicle of Japan", it has had a great impact on modern China - Liang Qichao commented: "It is to know Japan now, and it is to know why Japan is strong; it is to know China today, and it is to know why China is weak." Dai Jitao said: "There are many Chinese people who have studied in Japan, except for Mr. Huang Gongdu (that is, Huang Zunxian) who wrote a "Chronicle of Japan" 30 years ago, I have not seen any books on Japan. Fu Si Nian said: "His "Chronicle of Japan" was written more than 50 years ago, and there are no books to replace it. Zhou Zuoren said: "Among them, 2 volumes of academic records and 4 volumes of rituals and customs are all works of unprecedented people." It is still a latecomer. ”

Using poetry to look at China and the world, calling on people to learn from the West and restore the country, Huang Zunxian's poetry can be called a generation of "poetry history".