Duanfang (; 20 April 1861 – 27 November 1911),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Wuqiao (), was a

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...

politician, educator and collector who lived in the late

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. He was a member of the Tohoro () clan and the Plain White Banner of the

Eight Banners The Eight Banners (in Manchu language, Manchu: ''jakūn gūsa'', , ) were administrative and military divisions under the Later Jin (1616–1636), Later Jin and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasties of China into which all Manchu people, Manchu househol ...

Life

Duanfang was actually

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

even though he was under a Manchu banner. Some Han Chinese joined Manchu

banners A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...

directly, instead of joining the separate Han Chinese banners. Han Chinese in the Manchu banners became Manchucized. The Manchu White Banner were joined by some

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

with the family name

Tao The Tao or Dao is the natural way of the universe, primarily as conceived in East Asian philosophy and religion. This seeing of life cannot be grasped as a concept. Rather, it is seen through actual living experience of one's everyday being. T ...

who defected to the Manchus towards the end of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

. Their last name was changed to the Manchu sounding "Tohoro". Duanfang was one of their descendants. The Manchu bannermen typically used their first/personal name to address themselves and not their last name, while Han bannermen used their last name and first in normal Chinese custom. Duanfang followed the Manchu custom. Duanfang passed the

Imperial Examination The imperial examination was a civil service examination system in History of China#Imperial China, Imperial China administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the Civil service#China, state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureau ...

in 1882 during the reign of the

Guangxu Emperor The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing, personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China ...

, and then served as a ''yuanwailang'' () before being promoted to ''langzhong'' (). He supported the 1898

Hundred Days' Reform The Hundred Days' Reform or Wuxu Reform () was a failed 103-day national, cultural, political, and educational reform movement that occurred from 11 June to 22 September 1898 during the late Qing dynasty. It was undertaken by the young Guangxu Emp ...

, but when it failed, he was protected by

Ronglu Ronglu (6 April 1836 – 11 April 1903), courtesy name Zhonghua, was a Manchu political and military leader of the late Qing dynasty. He was born in the Guwalgiya clan, which was under the Plain White Banner of the Manchu Eight Banners. D ...

and Li Lianying and was not implicated. The Qing government established the agriculture, commerce, and trade bureau in Beijing, and Duanfang was placed in charge of the bureau.

Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908) was a Manchu noblewoman of the Yehe Nara clan who effectively but periodically controlled the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty as empress dowager and regent for almost 50 ...

awarded Duanfang with an official cap of the third rank. Duanfang purchased a batch of animals from Germany for the

Beijing Zoo Beijing Zoo is a zoological park in Xizhimen, Xicheng District, Beijing. Founded in 1906 during the late Qing dynasty, it is the oldest zoo in China and oldest public park in northern China. The zoo is also a center of zoological research that ...

. Since then, Duanfang took the post of

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

provincial judge, administrative commissioner, and agent of the Shaanxi governor. In 1900, after Beijing was occupied by the forces of the

Eight-Nation Alliance The Eight-Nation Alliance was a multinational military coalition that invaded northern China in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, with the stated aim of relieving the foreign legations in Beijing, which were being besieged by the popular Boxer ...

after the Battle of Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor fled to Shaanxi. Duanfang was transferred to a new post as

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

provincial administrative commissioner, and then to governor of

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

. In 1902, Duanfang served as acting

Viceroy of Liangjiang The Viceroy of Liangjiang, fully named in Chinese as the Governor-General of the Two River Provinces and Other Local Admirals, in Charge of Military Affairs, Food and Wages, Management of Rivers, and Administration on Nanhe Affairs, was one of e ...

, Afterward, he was transferred to a new post as Governor of Hunan. In his successive posts, he encouraged students to study abroad, known as an enlightened person, "enthusiastic in experience in foreign and domestic affairs." In 1905, Duanfang was recalled to Beijing, and was promoted to Viceroy of Min-Zhe, although when he took office, he was dispatched to do more important tasks. On September 24, because of the Constitutional Movement, the Qing government sent Duanfang along with Zaize, Dai Hongci, Xu Shichang, and Shao Ying to go one a diplomatic mission to the West to study constitutions in order to prepare the Qing constitution. When the five ministers embarked on that day, a revolutionary, Wu Yue, activated a suicide bomb at the

Zhengyangmen Qianmen () is the colloquial name for Zhengyangmen (; Manchu language, Manchu: ; Möllendorff:tob šun-i duka, ), a gate in Beijing's historic Beijing city fortifications, city wall. The gate is situated to the south of Tiananmen Square and once ...

train station in an assassination attempt, resulting in the postponement of the journey. Xu Shichang, Shaoying, and Li Shengduo were replaced by Shang Qiheng. Duanfang wrote articles against footbinding in support of the Foot Emancipation Society. On December 7, Duanfang and Dai Hongci departed in secrecy, with 33 official members on a warship from Qinhuangdao to Shanghai, and on December 19 in the afternoon transfer to an American cruise to Japan. They visited Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Austria, and Russia, returning in August the following year. After their return, Duanfang gave a summary of their inspection, advocating strongly that the main source of study should be on the Japanese

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, and as fast as possible formulate the Qing Empire's Constitution. Gustaf Oscar Wallenberg visits the vice-king Tuan Fang in Nanking 1907

After returning to China, Duanfang served as

. In 1909, he became Governor of

Zhili Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and renamed ...

. Due to photographs being taken at the funeral of Empress Dowager Cixi, Duanfang was dismissed from office. The

Nanyang industrial exposition Nanyang is the romanization of two common Chinese place names. It may refer to: Written as * Nanyang (region), a Chinese term denoting the Southeast Asian lands surrounding the South China Sea ;China * Nanyang Fleet, Qing dynasty naval fleet ba ...

took place while Duanfang was Nanyang chancellor (). On May 18, 1911, Duanfang was appointed as the Chuanhan and Yuehan railroad's superintendent. The Railway Protection Movement erupted over the nationalization of local railroad construction and their transfer to foreign banks. Duanfang arrived in

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers w ...

on July 14. On September 7, due to a murder in

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

, the situation of

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

spiraled out of control, eventually resulting in the

Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC). The revolution was the culmination of a decade ...

. On September 10, the Qing imperial court removed Zhao Erfeng as governor of Sichuan, and Duanfang became the acting governor, he led the Hubei New Army into Sichuan. The new army mutinied on November 27, and officer Liu Yifeng killed Duanfang, as part of a general wave of anti Manchu violence during the revolution.

Educational achievements

Duanfang was one of the founders of China's modern education. While he was acting Viceroy of Liangjiang, he founded the Jinan Academy in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

. As governor of Hubei and Hunan, he established the Teacher's College. While he was governor of Jiangsu, determined to get rid of bad habits, he ordered counties to refund red envelopes to send two local students to study abroad. Duanfang was the founder of the first kindergarten in China and provincial libraries. He also sent more than 20 girls to Japan to study pedagogy. The Jiangnan Library was founded by Duanfang in

in 1907.

Collection

Duanfang was a well-known collector of antiques, and maintained a good relationship with

Paul Pelliot Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and the Silk Road regions, and for his acquisition of many important Tibetan Empire-era manuscripts and ...

and others. During his inspection tours abroad, he also collected

ancient Egyptian Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

artifacts, becoming the first modern Chinese person to have a collection of foreign artifacts. After he died in Sichuan, his children lived in poverty, and in 1924 they sold his most famous collection, a set of

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...

bronze artifacts, for about 20 million

tael Tael ( ),"Tael" entry
at the

John Calvin Ferguson John Calvin Ferguson (; 1866–1945) was an American scholar of Chinese art, collector and procurer for American art museums, and a Chinese governmental adviser. Ferguson was the son of John Ferguson and Catherine Matilda Pomeroy (Ferguson). Hi ...

. The bronzes are now in the collection of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

References

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External links

* {{authority control 1861 births 1911 deaths Assassinated Chinese people Governors of Shaanxi Political office-holders in Henan Political office-holders in Hubei Political office-holders in Fujian Political office-holders in Jiangsu Political office-holders in Tianjin Qing dynasty government officials Jinan University Viceroys of Huguang Viceroys of Min-Zhe Viceroys of Sichuan Viceroys of Zhili Manchu Plain White Bannermen