Text/Kingdom Building
He was a representative figure of China's late Qing Dynasty movement, not only vigorously importing Western industrial equipment, single-handedly creating the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, but also foresightingly importing China's first telegraph line from Denmark and integrating it into military warfare, making great contributions to China's military modernization. This foreign minister who deserves the admiration of posterity is Ding Richang.
01. It began to suppress peasant uprisings
Ding Richang, also known as Yusheng and alias Yusheng, was born in 1823 in Jinwuwei, Tangkeng, Fengshun County, Guangdong Province (now Fengshun County) to a family of famous and prestigious families.
In 1842, at the age of 20, Ding Richang took the exam for Xiucai, and the following year he was born as a substitute. Later, he entered the Huichao JiaDao Li Zhangyu office as an aide, assisting him in suppressing the siege of Chaozhou by the triad leader Wu Zhongshu, and because of his merits in teaching Qiongzhou, he moved to Wan'anzhi County, Jiangxi three years later.
In 1861, Ding Richang, then in Lulingzhi County, Guangdong, was defeated by the Taiping Army, lost his territory, and was dismissed from his post by the imperial court. Unwilling to accept defeat, Ding Richang defected to Zeng Guofan, the minister of training in Hunan Regiment, and gradually grew into the core figure of the Xiang Army group. He successively served as the envoy of the two Huai salt transports, the envoy of Jiangsu Province, the inspector of Jiangsu, the minister of shipping administration of Fuzhou, the inspector of Fujian, and the title of governor of coastal defense, coastal water control and minister of state affairs. He was a pioneer and major leader of the late Qing Dynasty movement.
02. Have a sober understanding and a strong sense of vigilance against imperialist aggression against China
In 1879, the Japanese whale swallowed the Ryukyu Islands of China and forcibly incorporated it into Okinawa Prefecture. At that time, China's naval development was very backward, and there was nothing that could be done about Japan's atrocities, but it issued a painless statement of condemnation. However, Ding Richang still wrote to the Guangxu Emperor, pointing out that Japan's aggressive ambitions were not only in Ryukyu, and that within three or five years, if it did not attack Taiwan in the south, it would definitely map Goryeo (Korea) in the north. He loudly called on the government and the public to make concerted efforts inside and outside the government and the public to urgently seek self-improvement, otherwise there will be no peace in the country. As a result, 15 years later, the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War broke out (including the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese Naval Battle and the Sino-Korean War in Korea), China was defeated, Admiral Ding Ruchang committed suicide and martyrdom, and Taiwan was occupied by Japan until 1945 after World War II.
In 1881, Ding RiChang was deeply anxious after witnessing a series of Aggressive Colonization acts by france in Annam (i.e., Vietnam). He played to the imperial court, saying that the French peeping of Annan had a long history, and if they did not intervene and let it develop, Annan would have the possibility of becoming a second Ryukyu. As a result, the Manchu Qing court feared war with France and did not actively fight against the Aggressive Ambitions of the French Government. In 1885, after the end of the Sino-French War, the Qing government signed the Sino-French New Treaty with France, giving up suzerainty over Vietnam. Under the leadership of France, Vietnam claims sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands, an act that has a direct impact on the situation in the South China Sea today. It can be said that it was the corruption and incompetence of the late Qing government that caused this historical legacy.
03. Vigorously develop modern industry and integrate it into China's military wars
In 1865, Out of admiration for Western military industry, Ding Richang persuaded Li Hongzhang and others to support him in establishing the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. The Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau was the first modern military enterprise established by the Qing government, which marked the emergence of China's modern military industry.
In 1868, Ding Richang, the governor of Jiangsu, hired 9 Western steamships to transport 30,000 stones of grain from Jiangsu to Tianjin in a very short period of time, which shocked the Manchu Qing court. The transport capacity and speed of Western steamships are unmatched by traditional Chinese wooden ships. This also strengthened the determination of the Qing rulers to develop China's modern shipbuilding industry. Later, the Jiangsu Provincial Township Examination was held in Nanjing, and Ding Richang specially dispatched two steamships produced by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, "Caojiang" and "Tianji", to pick up and drop off the test takers free of charge, in order to publicize the superiority of the steamship. Although the conservative ministers frantically attacked Ding Richang for "admiring the foreign world", they could no longer stop the rapid development of modern industry in China. By 1875, China had built two large shipyards, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and the Fujian Shipbuilding Bureau, which could produce modern steamships. It has laid a solid foundation for China's ocean shipping business.
In 1876, Ding Richang, minister of shipping administration and inspector of Fujian, personally negotiated with the Danish Great North Company and bought the Fuzhou-Luoxing pagoda wire, which became the first telegraph line operated by China itself. Subsequently, he presided over the erection of the taiwan fucheng to Anhu and Qihou wires, becoming the first self-built telegraph line in China. Why was Ding Richang so enthusiastic about the telegraph industry? Because he had contact with Western military communication facilities in his early years, he was very appreciative of the transmission capacity and speed of the telegraph, which was much faster and more convenient than China's traditional "eight hundred miles urgent" military intelligence transmission system. Ding Richang was a man who had led soldiers, and naturally knew the importance of telegraphs for modern warfare. Therefore, under the leadership of Ding Richang, the telegraph was widely developed and used in the late Qing government.
In 1882, Ding Richang died of illness at the age of 59.