Xiliang (; 18531917) was a Chinese

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or Mandate (politics), mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual Office, working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (eithe ...

Mongol Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...

heritage who served as the

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the Anglo-Norman ''roy'' (Old Frenc ...

of several

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

during 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 ...

. Xiliang was a Qing loyalist who supported moderate reforms and strongly opposed

Western imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power ( diplomatic power and cultural imperialism). Imperialism foc ...

in China. He enthusiastically supported the

Self-Strengthening Movement The Self-Strengthening Movement, also known as the Westernization or Western Affairs Movement (–1895), was a period of reforms initiated during the late Qing dynasty following the military disasters of the Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion. The ...

and the

New Policies Late Qing reforms (), commonly known as New Policies of the late Qing dynasty (), or New Deal of the late Qing dynasty, simply referred to as New Policies, were a series of cultural, economic, educational, military, diplomatic, and political refo ...

, but he opposed the spread of European culture and was sympathetic to the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...

. His efforts at reform saw mixed results. While generally praised by his superiors, Xiliang was also hampered by opposing factions in the Imperial Court and intervention by Western powers. His provincial administrations occasionally provoked popular unrest and accusations of corruption. During the final years of the Qing, Xiliang became an advocate of constitutional government. He ultimately failed to change Imperial policy in time to prevent the

1911 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 ...

and retired from public life after the dynasty fell.

Personal life and education

Although Xiliang's father was an official in the

Bordered Blue Banner The Bordered Blue Banner () was one of the Eight Banners of Manchu military and society during the Later Jin and Qing dynasty of China. It was one of the lower five banners. According to the general annals of the Eight Banners, the Bordered Blue ...

, he was raised in relative obscurity. By learning

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

as well as his native

Mongolian Mongolian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Mongolia, a country in Asia * Mongolian people, or Mongols * Bogd Khanate of Mongolia, the government of Mongolia, 1911–1919 and 1921–1924 * Mongolian language * Mongolian alphabet * ...

, he was able to achieve success through education in the

Confucian classics The Chinese classics or canonical texts are the works of Chinese literature authored prior to the establishment of the imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Prominent examples include the Four Books and Five Classics in the Neo-Confucian traditi ...

. He was awarded the ''

Jinshi ''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes referre ...

'' in 1874 at the extremely young age of 21. Despite becoming the most prominent Mongol Bannerman in the Imperial administration during his career, he was heavily

sinicized Sinicization, sinofication, sinification, or sinonization (from the prefix , 'Chinese, relating to China') is the process by which non-Chinese societies or groups are acculturated or assimilated into Chinese culture, particularly the language, ...

. His writings consistently reference Chinese cultural and historical themes and he was an enthusiastic patron of

Chinese poetry Chinese poetry is poetry written, spoken, or chanted in the Chinese language, and a part of the Chinese literature. While this last term comprises Classical Chinese, Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Yue Chinese, and other historical and vernac ...

Career

Xiliang served in various roles in

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

from 1876 to 1894, during which time he gained a positive reputation for his handling of the Northern Chinese Famine and his energetic implementation of Governor

Zhang Zhidong Zhang Zhidong ( zh, t=張之洞) (2 September 18374 October 1909) was a Chinese politician who lived during the late Qing dynasty. Along with Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong was one of the four most famous offici ...

's Self-Strengthening reforms. He was transferred to

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

in 1894 where he served in the military secretariat during the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

and later in various administrative posts, generally receiving strong praise from his superiors. China's defeat in the war, tension between peasants and

Christian missionaries A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and ...

, and the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

seizure of

Jiaozhou Bay Jiaozhou Bay (; ; ) is a bay located in the prefecture-level city of Qingdao (Tsingtau), Shandong Province, China. The bay has historically been romanized as Kiaochow, Kiauchau or Kiao-Chau in English and Kiautschou in German. Geography ...

led Xiliang to develop

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

and anti-foreign sentiments. He was also influenced in that direction by Shandong's Governor Li Bingheng, who would later commit suicide after being defeated by Western forces in the

. Nonetheless, Xiliang followed his Treaty obligations to protect missionaries and helped to capture and execute the remaining leaders of the anti-Christian Big Swords Society. Xiliang aligned himself with

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 ...

against

Kang Youwei Kang Youwei (; Cantonese: ''Hōng Yáuh-wàih''; 19March 185831March 1927) was a political thinker and reformer in China of the late Qing dynasty. His increasing closeness to and influence over the young Guangxu Emperor sparked confli ...

reformers A reformer is someone who works for reform. Reformer may also refer to: * Catalytic reformer, in an oil refinery *Methane reformer, producing hydrogen * Steam reformer * Hydrogen reformer, extracting hydrogen *Methanol reformer, producing hydrogen ...

, who he saw as too extreme. By the time of the

Cixi had appointed Xiliang financial commissioner in

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

. Xiliang was sympathetic to the Boxer's anti-foreign and anti-Christian positions. After Cixi requested support from the provinces,

granted Xiliang permission to lead about 5,000 soldiers north to defend

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

from 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 helping serve as a rear-guard during Cixi's flight from Beijing, he was promoted to Governor of

. Xiliang's policy of militant resistance to

Alfred von Waldersee Alfred Heinrich Karl Ludwig Graf von Waldersee (8 April 18325 March 1904) was a German ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field Marshal) who served as Chief of the Imperial German General Staff and Commander of the International Relief Force during the ...

's punitive expeditions originally won him Cixi's support, but he was eventually dismissed when he refused to back down after court policy changed. Through his British connections, Zhang Zhidong managed to pressure Cixi not to appoint Xiliang as 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 December 1901, Xiliang's political fortunes improved and he was sent to take up a position in

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 ...

. Upon arrival he discovered that his post was a sinecure, and recommended that it be abolished as a waste of funds. His request was granted, and in appreciation Cixi soon promoted him to be Henan's Governor. In this role Xiliang made some progress towards rationalizing the bureaucracy and modernizing government services, but caused popular unrest by raising taxes to meet Henan's onerous contribution to China's indemnity payments. In 1903, Xiliang was made

Viceroy of Sichuan The Viceroy of Sichuan, fully in Chinese as the Governor-General of Sichuan and Other Local Areas, in Charge of Military Affairs, Food and Wages and Governor Affairs, was one of eight regional Viceroys in China#Qing dynasty, Viceroys during the ...

and tasked with implementing the "

." In addition to some reforms in military and education, Xiliang's most ambitious project was constructing the Sichuan-Hankou Railway from

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 ...

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 ...

(now

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

). A popular movement had begun among Sichuanese students that wanted to connect their province to the rest of China's rail network before the route could be monopolized by foreign interests. They sent a petition to Xiliang in 1904 proposing that he create a domestically controlled railroad company and promising to purchase shares. Xiliang accepted their proposal, and in 1905 the Sichuan-Hankou Railway. It was to be funded by selling shares to the public and a special 3% tax on harvests paid by landlords, who were also given share certificates. Foreigners could not buy shares, making it one of the first Chinese railroads to be entirely self-funded. In one way or another, much of the Sichuan gentry and merchant class became shareholders of the railway venture. By 1911, the company had raised 11,983,305

taels Tael ( ),"Tael" entry
at the

Viceroy of Yun-Gui The Viceroy of Yun-Gui, fully in Chinese as the Governor-General of Yun-Gui Provinces and Other Local Areas, in Charge of Military Affairs, Food and Wages and Governor Affairs, was one of eight regional Viceroys in China#Qing dynasty, Viceroys d ...

(the title being a contraction of the two provinces it oversaw,

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

and

Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...

). There he spent the majority of his term reforming the local military garrison and suppressing opium production (Yunnan was second only to Sichuan in opium production at the time, and it dominated the local economy). He oversaw construction of the

Yunnan Military Academy Yunnan Military Academy () was a military academy based in Kunming, capital of Yunnan, during the late Qing dynasty and early Republic of China. Along with Huangpu Military Academy (Whampoa Military Academy) and Baoding Military Academy, Yunnan ...

, which was opened in 1909. In early 1908, Chinese revolutionary

Sun Yat-sen Sun Yat-senUsually known as Sun Zhongshan () in Chinese; also known by Names of Sun Yat-sen, several other names. (; 12 November 186612 March 1925) was a Chinese physician, revolutionary, statesman, and political philosopher who founded the Republ ...

launched a series of attacks into China from his base in

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China), officially known as the Indochinese Union and after 1941 as the Indochinese Federation, was a group of French dependent territories in Southeast Asia from 1887 to 1954. It was initial ...

, hoping to gain a foothold in south China. After previous attempts in

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

and

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

were repulsed, Sun ordered a small group to attack Hekou,

. Xiliang was greatly alarmed when they managed to capture the town and kill the garrison commander, and he personally led a column of troops to drive the rebels out. After several weeks of fighting he succeeded, putting a final end to Sun's border-hopping strategy. Delegates to the International Plague Conference Mukden 1911

Delegates to the International Plague Conference Mukden 1911

Impressed by his handling of the crisis, Emperor

Puyi Puyi (7 February 190617 October 1967) was the final emperor of China, reigning as the eleventh monarch of the Qing dynasty from 1908 to 1912. When the Guangxu Emperor died without an heir, Empress Dowager Cixi picked his nephew Puyi, aged tw ...

's regent Zaifeng promoted Xiliang to the more prestigious post of

Viceroy of the Three Northeast Provinces The Viceroy of the Three Eastern Provinces, fully in Chinese as the Governor-General of the Three Eastern Provinces and Other Local Areas, and in Charge of Managing the Generals of the Three Provinces and the Governor of Fengtian, was one of eig ...

in 1909. Japan's victory in the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

had made Japanese imperialism by far the dominant issue facing

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

. In addition to diplomatic conflicts over concessions and the presence of thousands of Japanese troops in the

South Manchuria Railway Zone The South Manchuria Railway Zone (; ) or SMR Zone, was the area of Japanese extraterritorial rights in northeast China, in connection with the operation of the South Manchurian Railway. History Following the Japanese victory in 1905 over I ...

, Japanese intervention in Korea had pushed numerous refugees across the border into Xiliang's new province. He attempted to take a hard diplomatic line against Japan and also to secure a loan from American financiers to build a non-Japanese railway, but was vetoed by Beijing in both cases. Xiliang's frustrations with Imperial policy led him to become increasingly reform-minded and sympathetic to popular discontent. In October 1910, he led 18 Governors and Viceroys in writing a telegram to the Court in support of the Advisory Council's call for a parliament and responsible cabinet. When Zaifeng continued to delay, Xiliang even allowed a delegation of eleven thousand protesters to go to Beijing and helped them write their petition. At this point, he was nearing sixty and making repeated requests to be allowed to retire. He was asked to remain to deal with one last crisis, an outbreak of

pneumonic plague Pneumonic plague is a severe lung infection caused by the bacterium '' Yersinia pestis''. Symptoms include fever, headache, shortness of breath, chest pain, and coughing. They typically start about three to seven days after exposure. It is o ...

that swept Manchuria during the winter 1910–1911. Xiliang helped manage the investment of over one million Chinese dollars into public health infrastructure and hosted an International Plague Conference of epidemiologists considered "one of the first major international gatherings that visibly promoted a global perspective on human healthcare". Prominent Chinese

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

Wu Lien-teh Wu Lien-teh ( zh, t=伍連德, p=Wǔ Liándé, poj=Gó͘ Liân-tek, j=Ng5 Lin4 Dak1; Goh Lean Tuck and Ng Leen Tuck in Minnan and Cantonese transliteration respectively; 10 March 1879 – 21 January 1960) was a Malayan physician renowned for ...

said of Xiliang and the other officials helping combat the plague, "no finer or more courteous types of gentlemen existed in China." Following the end of the plague, Xiliang's retirement request was finally granted and he left office in April 1911. He was recalled by the Imperial Court in October for advice on how to deal with the

Wuchang Uprising The Wuchang Uprising was an armed rebellion against the ruling Qing dynasty that took place in Wuchang (now Wuchang District of Wuhan) in the Chinese province of Hubei on 10 October 1911, beginning the Xinhai Revolution that successfully overthr ...

, but he finally returned home for good the same day that Puyi abdicated, February 12, 1912. He refused job offers from

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 18596 June 1916) was a Chinese general and statesman who served as the second provisional president and the first official president of the Republic of China, head of the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1916 and ...

and offers of land from

Zhang Zuolin Zhang Zuolin; courtesy name Yuting ( zh, c=雨亭, p=Yǔtíng, labels=no) and nicknamed Zhang Laogang ( zh, c=張老疙瘩, p=Zhāng Lǎo Gēda, labels=no) (March 19, 1875June 4, 1928) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Manchuria from 1916 to 1928 ...

, the latter of whom expressed deep admiration for Xiliang. He eschewed politics after his retirement. He died in 1917.

Notes and References

Bibliography