Volume 446 Biographies 233: Guo Songdao younger brother: Kun Dao, Chong Hou, Ceng Jize, Xue Fucheng, Li Shuchang, Ma Jianzhong, Li Fengbao, Hong Jun, Liu Ruifen, Xu Shoupeng, Yang Ru

列傳二百三十三

Biography 233

郭嵩燾弟昆燾崇厚曾紀澤薛福成黎庶昌馬建忠

Guo Songshen, with his younger brothers Kunzhen and Chonghou; Zeng Jize; Xue Fucheng; Li Shuchang; and Ma Jianzhong.

李鳳苞洪鈞劉瑞芬徐壽朋楊儒

Li Fengbao, Hong Jun, Liu Ruifen, Xu Shoupeng, and Yang Ru.

郭嵩燾，字筠仙，湖南湘陰人。道光二十七年進士，選庶吉士，遭憂歸。會粵寇犯長沙，曾國藩奉詔治軍，嵩燾力讚之出。贛事亟，江忠源乞師國藩，國藩遣之往，從忠源守章門。是時寇艎集饒、瑞，分泊長江，因獻編練水師議，忠源韙之，令具疏請敕湖南北、四川制戰艦百餘艘。嗣以贛被圍久，船非可剋期造，乃先造巨筏，列砲其上，與陸師夾擊，寇引去。厥後用以塞湖口者即此筏也。湘軍名大顯。論功，授編修。還朝，入直上書房。咸豐九年，英人犯津沽，僧格林沁撤北塘備，嵩燾力爭之，議不合，辭去。

Guo Songshen, courtesy name Yunxian, came from Xiangyin in Hunan. He earned his jinshi degree in 1847, entered the Hanlin Academy as a probationer, and went home to observe mourning when a parent died. When the Taiping rebels threatened Changsha, Zeng Guofan was ordered to organize troops, and Songshen pressed him hard to answer the call. With Gan province in crisis, Jiang Zhongyuan asked Zeng Guofan for aid; Guofan sent Songshen to join Zhongyuan in holding Zhangmen. Rebel vessels then clustered at Rao and Rui and fanned out along the Yangtze. Songshen proposed raising a trained river navy; Zhongyuan agreed and told him to memorialize the throne for orders that Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan build over a hundred warships. Gan’s long siege made warships impossible to finish in time, so they built great rafts instead, mounted guns on them, and struck the rebels from land and water together until the enemy drew off. The same rafts were later used to block Hukou on Poyang Lake. The Hunan Army’s reputation soared. For his service he was made a Hanlin compiler. Back at court he joined the emperor’s Southern Study. In 1859, when British forces struck Taku, Sengge Rinchen pulled back the Beitang garrison. Songshen fought the decision bitterly; unable to prevail, he quit his post.

同治改元，起授蘇松糧儲道，遷兩淮鹽運使。庫儲竭，諸軍仰餔淮鹺者數十萬，嵩燾躬自掣驗，配置各營。提督李世忠擁重兵行私鹺，亡誰何，益遣入捕治之，運政乃鬯。明年，署廣東巡撫。寇偪陽山，亟使張運蘭擊卻之。詔安陷，饒平、大埔警，與總督瑞麟遣將防邊，追入詔安城，殺數千人，軍稍振。是時金陵克，罷釐捐議起，嵩燾陳說利害凡千餘言，事遂寢。偽森王侯玉山避匿香港，恃英為護符，官吏莫能捕。嵩燾援公法與爭，執以歸，論斬。而瑞麟遽張其功，以率兵往捕聞，嵩燾力止之，不可。英人大恚，數移牒詰責。

When Tongzhi came to the throne he was recalled, first as Suzhou–Songjiang grain intendant, then as Liang-Huai salt commissioner. With the coffers empty and hundreds of thousands of soldiers relying on Huai salt revenue, he personally inspected shipments and rationed each camp. Provincial commander Li Shizhong used his troops to run contraband salt with no one daring to stop him. Songshen sent officers to seize and punish him, and the salt trade finally settled down. The following year he acted as Guangdong governor. When rebels threatened Yangshan, he quickly sent Zhang Yunlan to beat them back. After Zhao'an fell and Raoping and Dapu came under threat, he and Governor Rui Lin sent generals to secure the frontier, drove the enemy back into Zhao'an, killed thousands, and morale improved. Nanjing had just fallen, and officials debated ending the transit tax. Songshen wrote more than a thousand characters on the pros and cons, and the proposal died. The Taiping prince Hou Yushan took refuge in Hong Kong under British protection, and local officials could not touch him. Songshen invoked international law, secured his extradition, and had him executed. Rui Lin then boasted that he had led troops to make the arrest. Songshen protested in vain. The British were furious and sent repeated diplomatic protests.

初，毛鴻賓督粵，事皆決於幕僚徐灝。瑞麟繼至，灝益橫。嵩壽銜之，上疏論軍情數誤，劾逐灝，並自請罷斥。事下左宗棠，宗棠言其跡近負氣，被訶責。左、郭本姻家。宗棠先厄於官文，罪不測，嵩燾為求解肅順，並言於同列潘祖廕，白無他，始獲免，至是宗棠竟不為疏辨。嵩燾念事皆繇督撫同城所誤，逾歲解職，遂上疏極論其弊，不報。

Under Mao Hongbin’s governorship of Guangdong, staff secretary Xu Hao had run everything. When Rui Lin took over, Xu Hao grew even more domineering. Songshen, bitter over the affair, memorialized that military reports had repeatedly been wrong, demanded Xu Hao’s removal, and asked to be dismissed himself. The case went to Zuo Zongtang, who said Songshen had acted out of pique; the court scolded him. Zuo and the Guo family were connected by marriage. Years before, when Guanwen had nearly ruined Zongtang, Songshen had appealed to Sushun and persuaded Pan Zuyin to vouch for him until he was cleared. Now Zongtang refused to speak up for him. Songshen believed the trouble came from governor-general and governor sharing one city. A year after leaving office he submitted a long critique of that system, but the court never answered.

光緒元年，授福建按察使，未上，命直總署。擢兵部侍郎、出使英國大臣，兼使法。英人馬加理入滇邊遇害，嵩燾疏劾岑毓英，意在朝廷自罷其職，藉箝外人口也。而一時士論大譁，謂嵩燾媚外。嵩燾言既不用，英使威妥瑪出都，邦交幾裂。嵩燾又欲以身任之，上言：「交涉之方，不外理、勢。勢者人與我共，可者與，不可者拒。理者所以自處。勢足而理直，固不可違；勢不足而別無可恃，尤恃理以折。」因條列四事以進。而郎中劉錫鴻者，方謀隨嵩燾出使，慮疏上觸忌，遏之，比嵩燾覺，始補上，而事已無及。既蒞英，錫鴻為副使，益事事齮齕之，嵩燾不能堪，乞病歸，主講城南書院。

In 1875 he was named Fujian provincial judge, but before reporting he was assigned to the Zongli Yamen. He was promoted to vice minister of war and appointed envoy to Britain, with concurrent accreditation to France. After the British interpreter Margary was killed on the Yunnan frontier, Songshen impeached Cen Yuying, hoping the court would recall him so foreign powers could not blame China for inaction. Public opinion erupted, accusing Songshen of groveling to foreigners. When the court ignored Songshen’s advice, British minister Wade quit Beijing and the alliance nearly collapsed. Songshen offered to shoulder the crisis himself and wrote: "Diplomacy rests on nothing but right and leverage. Leverage is what others and we share in common: accept what we can, refuse what we cannot. Principle is how we conduct ourselves. When leverage is strong and our case is just, we must not yield; when leverage fails and we have nothing else to lean on, we must rely all the more on principle to win the argument." He then laid out four proposals for the throne. Bureau director Liu Xihong, who hoped to join Songshen’s mission, feared the memorial would offend the court and blocked it. Songshen only learned of this later and filed a belated copy, but it was too late. Once in Britain, with Xihong as deputy, the harassment grew constant. Songshen resigned on grounds of illness, came home, and taught at Chengnan Academy in Changsha.

未幾，而俄事棘。崇厚以辱國論死，群臣多主戰，徵調騷然。嵩燾於是條上六事：曰收還伊犁，歸甘督覈議；曰遣使議還伊犁，當赴伊會辦；曰直截議駁，暫聽俄人駐師；曰駐英、法公使不宜遣使俄；曰議定崇厚罪名，當稍準萬國公法；曰廷臣主戰，止一隅見，當斟酌情理之平。上嘉其見確。已而召曾紀澤使俄，卒改約。

Soon the crisis with Russia sharpened. Chonghou faced execution for humiliating the nation; most courtiers wanted war, and mobilization threw the country into turmoil. Songshen then submitted six recommendations: that recovery of Ili be reviewed by the Gansu governor-general; that envoys negotiating Ili’s return should meet in Ili itself; that China reject the treaty outright while temporarily tolerating Russian troops on the ground; that ministers in London and Paris should not be sent to negotiate with Russia; that Chonghou’s punishment should conform more closely to international law; and that war-minded courtiers saw only one side of the issue and should weigh the balance of justice and expediency. The emperor commended his judgment. Zeng Jize was then sent to Russia and eventually secured a revised treaty.

嵩燾雖家居，然頗關心君國。朝鮮亂作，法越釁開，皆有所論列。逮馬江敗，恭親王奕訢等去位，言路持政府益亟，嵩燾獨憂之。嘗言：「宋以來士夫好名，致誤人家國事。託攘外美名，圖不次峻擢；洎事任屬，變故興，遷就倉皇，周章失措。生心害政，莫斯為甚！」是疏傳於外，時議咸斥之。及庚子禍作，其言始大驗，而嵩燾已於十七年卒矣。箸有禮記質疑四十九卷，大學中庸質疑三卷，訂正家禮六卷，周易釋例四卷，毛詩約義二卷，綏邊徵實二十四卷，詩文集若干卷。

Though retired, Songshen still followed affairs of state closely. He wrote on the Korean crisis and the opening of the French–Vietnamese war alike. After the defeat at Mawei, Prince Gong and others fell from power while censors hammered the government ever harder; Songshen alone grew alarmed. He once wrote: "Since the Song, literati have chased reputation and ruined the affairs of state. They wrap themselves in the banner of resisting foreigners to win sudden promotion; yet once responsibility falls on them and crisis strikes, they panic and lose their bearings. Nothing harms governance more than such vanity." When the memorial leaked, contemporaries denounced him roundly. After the Boxer catastrophe of 1900 his warnings seemed prophetic, but Songshen had died seventeen years earlier. His writings included forty-nine juan of Doubts on the Record of Rites, three juan on the Great Learning and Doctrine of the Mean, six juan of Revised Family Rituals, four juan of Exemplary Interpretations of the Changes, two juan of Concise Meanings of the Mao Odes, twenty-four juan of Verifiable Facts on Pacifying the Frontier, and collected literary works.

其弟昆燾，字意城。以舉人參張亮基戎幕，與宗棠俱。李開方擾湖北，自懷慶折而南，武昌夜半得報，亟調師會鵝公頸。驟遇寇，寇出不意，大擾亂，遂斬開方，殲其軍。報至，亮基始知之，昆燾恆以是自喜。駱秉章撫湘，昆燾從國藩東征，宗棠援浙，軍資並倚之。由國子監助教歷加四品卿。後劉昆討黔苗，昆燾久引疾歸，力起贊軍事。苗將平，又辭去。光緒八年，卒。

His younger brother Kunzhen, courtesy name Yicheng. As a provincial graduate he served on Zhang Liangji’s staff alongside Zuo Zongtang. When Li Kaifang raided Hubei, marching south from Huaiqing, Wuchang got the alarm at midnight and rushed troops to Egongjing. They struck the rebels by surprise, threw them into chaos, beheaded Kaifang, and destroyed his force. Liangji learned of the victory only when the report arrived; Kunzhen always counted it among his proudest deeds. Under Luo Bingzhang’s governorship of Hunan, Kunzhen marched east with Zeng Guofan while Zuo Zongtang fought in Zhejiang; both campaigns relied on his logistics. He rose from Hanlin assistant instructor to fourth-rank court secretary. When Liu Kun campaigned against the Guizhou Miao, Kunzhen had been retired for illness but threw himself back into the war effort. As the campaign neared its end, he resigned once more. He died in 1882.

崇厚，字地山，完顏氏，內務府鑲黃旗人，河督麟慶子。道光二十九年舉人。選知階州，歷遷長蘆鹽運使。咸豐十年，署鹽政，疏請停領餘引，代銷滯引，依永平低價。會僧格林沁治畿輔水田，又勸墾葛沽、鹽水沽沃鹵地四千二百餘畝。明年，充三口通商大臣。又明年，遷大理寺卿，仍留津與英、法重修租界條約。同治改元，以兵部侍郎參直隸軍事，尋署總督。時葡萄牙遣使入京乞換約，崇厚牒請總署摽勿受。法使哥士耆緩頰，治蒞津，朝命崇厚承其事。次年，諭遏冀州竄匪，坐失機，被責。已而丹使踵葡例，拒如初。復命為全權大臣，訂約五十五條，通商章程九款。自是而荷、而日、而比、而意、而奧，皆遣使求取，並為延款，語具邦交志。復建議設北洋機器局城南分局，城堞砲台與郡城遙相峙。五年，貸款墾海河北岸，首邢家沽訖臥河村，中洩為渠，闢稻田可五百頃，手訂試墾章程，於是兩岸為沃野。九年，津郡民、教失和，被議。事寧，朝廷遣使修好，命充出使法國大臣，是為專使一國之始，然事畢即返。歷署戶部、吏部侍郎。

Chonghou, courtesy name Dishan, of the Wanyan clan, belonged to the Imperial Household’s Bordered Yellow Banner and was the son of river commissioner Lin Qing. He passed the provincial examinations in 1849. He was appointed magistrate of Jiezhou and later became Changlu salt commissioner. In 1860, acting as salt administrator, he memorialized to stop issuing surplus salt tickets, clear backlog tickets, and price salt at Yongping’s lower rate. While Sengge Rinchen developed paddy in the capital region, Chonghou promoted reclaiming more than 4,200 mu of saline but fertile land at Gegu and Yanshuigu. The following year he became commissioner for the three treaty ports. A year later he became president of the Court of Revision but stayed in Tianjin to renegotiate the British and French concession treaties. When Tongzhi came to the throne he joined Zhili military planning as vice minister of war and soon acted as governor-general. When Portugal sent an envoy to Beijing to revise its treaty, Chonghou urged the Zongli Yamen to refuse him. French minister Gros interceded and took charge at Tianjin; the court put Chonghou in charge of the negotiations. The next year he was ordered to stop bandits raiding Jizhou; blamed for missing his chance, he was censured. When a Danish envoy followed the Portuguese example, Chonghou refused him as well. He was again named plenipotentiary and signed a fifty-five-article treaty with nine commercial clauses. Thereafter the Dutch, Japanese, Belgians, Italians, and Austrians all sent envoys seeking treaties, which he received in turn; the full account appears in the foreign-relations annals. He also proposed a southern branch of the Beiyang Arsenal, with ramparts and batteries facing the prefectural seat across the river. In the fifth year he borrowed money to reclaim the north bank of the Hai from Xingjiagu to Wohe Village, cut an irrigation channel, and opened some five hundred qing of paddy; he drafted the trial-reclamation rules himself, turning both banks into rich farmland. In the ninth year, after the Tianjin church conflict, he came under censure. After order was restored, the court sent him as envoy to France—the first minister assigned to a single country—but he returned as soon as his mission ended. He later acted as vice minister of revenue and of personnel.

光緒二年，署奉天將軍，疏請擇地設官，置寬甸、懷仁、通化三縣，增邊關兵備道，昇昌圖為府，改八家鎮為縣，徙經歷駐康家屯，改梨樹城為廳，徙照磨駐八面城；其通判、知縣並加理事同知銜，兼治蒙民，議行。先後疏論吉林積弊，請辦馬賊，懲聚博，清積訟，覈荒地，除金匪。又以私墾圍場者眾，為懇寬其既往，已墾者量丈昇科，未墾者擇地安插，仍留隙地以講武，稱旨。

In 1876, as acting general of Fengtian, he memorialized to establish local government in newly opened territory: three counties at Kuandian, Huairen, and Tonghua; a frontier defense circuit; Changtu raised to prefecture; Bajiazhen made a county with the assistant magistrate at Kangjiatun; Lishucheng made a subprefecture with the registrar at Bamiancheng; subprefects and magistrates were given concurrent titles as Mongol affairs administrators, and the plan was approved. He also memorialized repeatedly on Jilin’s chronic problems, urging action against horse bandits, gambling rings, backlog of lawsuits, unregistered wasteland, and gold thieves. Many had illegally farmed imperial hunting grounds; he asked clemency for past offenses, taxation for land already cleared, resettlement elsewhere for the rest, and open space left for military drill. The emperor approved.

四年，俄界回寇擾邊，與其外部格爾斯合力禁止。其秋，授出使俄國大臣，加內大臣銜，晉左都御史。明年，赴俄。初，左宗棠進兵伊犁，乘俄土戰爭，要俄人退去庫爾札，俄人多所挾求。至是，崇厚抵利伐第亞謁俄皇達使命，貿然與訂和約：一，自嘉峪關迳西安、漢中達漢口，俄有通商權；一，自松花江至伯都訥，貿易自由；一，自蒙古及天山南北輸入商品，不課稅金；一，自西伯利亞至張家口，歸俄敷設鐵道；一，自陝甘至漢口，既榷常稅，其雜稅概免；一，嘉峪關、科布多、哈密、吐魯番、烏魯木齊、庫車置領事官；一，凡俄國臣民旅華，許攜銃器；一，伊犁城及旁近地，凡俄所有土地及建築物，不在還付例。約成，朝野譁然，於是修撰王仁堪、洗馬張之洞等交章論劾。上大怒，下崇厚獄，定斬監候，以徇俄人請，貸死，仍羈禁。更遣曾紀澤往俄更約，爭回伊犁南路七百餘裡，嘉峪關諸地緩置官。

In the fourth year, Hui raiders on the Russian border troubled the frontier; he worked with Russian foreign minister Giers to stop them. That autumn he was named envoy to Russia, given the rank of grand minister of the interior, and promoted to left censor-in-chief. The following year he traveled to Russia. Earlier, while Zuo Zongtang marched on Ili during the Russo-Turkish War, he pressed Russia to evacuate Kulja, but the Russians drove a hard bargain. Chonghou then reached Livadia, presented his credentials to the tsar, and rashly signed a treaty granting Russia trading rights from Jiayuguan through Xi'an and Hanzhong to Hankou; free trade along the Songhua from its mouth to Boduna; duty-free import of goods from Mongolia and both sides of the Tianshan; Russian rights to build railways from Siberia to Zhangjiakou; after paying the regular transit tax from Shaanxi-Gansu to Hankou, exemption from all miscellaneous levies; consuls at Jiayuguan, Kobdo, Hami, Turfan, Urumqi, and Kucha; permission for Russian subjects in China to carry firearms; and retention by Russia of all land and buildings in and around Ili city, exempt from return to China. When the treaty became public, outrage swept court and country. Compiler Wang Renkan, palace aide Zhang Zhidong, and others filed impeachment memorials one after another. The emperor was furious, threw Chonghou in prison, and sentenced him to death with reprieve. To satisfy Russia he spared his life but kept him confined. Zeng Jize was then sent to renegotiate, recovering over seven hundred li of southern Ili and postponing consular posts at Jiayuguan and elsewhere.

十年，崇厚輸銀三十萬濟軍，釋歸。遇太后五旬萬壽，隨班祝嘏，朝旨依原官降二級，賞給職銜。十九年，卒，年六十有七。

In the tenth year he donated 300,000 taels for the army and was released. At the empress dowager’s fiftieth birthday he joined the court congratulations; the throne reduced him two ranks from his former office but granted a nominal title. He died in the nineteenth year at sixty-seven.

曾紀澤，字劼剛，大學士國藩子。少負俊才。以廕補戶部員外郎。父憂服除，襲侯爵。光緒四年，充出使英法大臣，補太常寺少卿，轉大理寺。六年，使俄大臣崇厚獲罪去，以紀澤兼之。

Zeng Jize, courtesy name Jiegang, was the son of Grand Secretary Zeng Guofan. He showed exceptional talent from youth. He entered the Ministry of Revenue by hereditary privilege as vice director. After his father’s mourning period he inherited the marquisate. In 1878 he became envoy to Britain and France, then vice president of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Court of Revision. In 1880, when Chonghou fell from office, Jize was given the Russian mission as well.

先是俄乘我內亂，據伊犁，及回部平，乃舉以還我，議定界、通商。崇厚不請旨，遽署押，所定約多失權利，因詔紀澤兼使俄，議改前約。俄以崇厚罹大辟，怫甚。紀澤慮礙交涉，請貸崇厚死，上許之，論監禁。紀澤乃疏言：「伊犁一役，辦法有三：曰戰，守，和。言戰者，謂左宗棠等席全勝之勢，不難一戰。臣竊謂伊犁地形岩險，俄為強敵，非西陲比。兵戎一啟，後患滋長。東三省與俄毗連，根本重地，防不勝防。或欲遊說歐邦，使相牽制，是特戰國之陳言耳。各邦雖外和內忌，而協以謀我則同，孰肯出而相助？言守者，則謂伊犁邊境，若多糜巨帑以獲之，是鶩荒遠、潰腹心也，不如棄而勿收。不知開國以來，經營西域者至矣。聖祖、世宗不憚勤天下力以征討之，至乾隆二十二年，伊犁底定，腹地始得安枕。今若棄之，如新疆何？說者謂姑紓吾力以俟後圖。不知左宗棠等軍，將召之使還乎？則經界未明，緩急何以應變？抑任其逍遙境上，則難於轉餉，銳氣坐銷。是今日之事，戰、守皆不足恃，仍不外言和。和亦有辦法三：曰分界，通商，償款其小者也。即通商亦較分界為輕。何以言之？西國定約之例，有常守不渝者，亦有隨時修改者。不渝者，分界是也。此益則彼損。是以定約之時，其難其慎。修改者，通商是也。若干年修改一次。條文之不善，商務之受損，正賴此修改之年可以換約，固非彼族所得專也。俄約經崇厚議定，俄君署押，今欲全數更換，勢所不能。臣愚以為分界既屬常守之局，必當堅持力爭。若通商各條，惟當去其太甚，其餘從權應允，俟諸異日之修改，庶和局可終保全。不然，事機決裂，必須聲罪致討，此戰之說也。廟堂勝算，固非使臣所敢議也。不然，暫置伊犁勿論，此守之說也。是邊界不可稍讓，而全境轉可盡捐，臣亦未敢以為是也。再不然，姑先為駁議，俟不得已時酌量允之，此和之說也。是乃市井售物嘗試之術，非所以敦信義、馭遠人也。蓋準駁貴有一定之計，勿致後日迫於事勢，復有後允之條。今臣至俄都，但言兩國和好，自應遣使通誠。至辨論公事，傳達語言，系使臣職分，俟接奉本國文牘，再行商議。如此立言，庶不至見拒鄰邦，貽國羞辱。臣駑下，唯有懍遵聖訓，不激不隨，冀收得尺得寸之功，稍維大局。」

Russia had seized Ili during China’s civil wars; after the Muslim regions were pacified, Moscow agreed to return it and negotiate borders and trade. Chonghou signed without imperial authorization, conceding far too much. The court ordered Jize to revise the treaty. Russia was furious that Chonghou faced execution. Jize feared this would block negotiations and asked the emperor to spare Chonghou’s life; the court commuted the sentence to imprisonment. Jize then wrote: "On Ili there are three approaches: war, holding back, and negotiation. Advocates of war argued that Zuo Zongtang, riding a string of victories, could easily fight again. I believe Ili’s terrain is forbidding and Russia a far stronger foe than the rebels of the northwest. Once war begins, the troubles will only multiply. The three eastern provinces border Russia—China’s heartland—and cannot be fully defended. Some propose enlisting European powers to check Russia—a Warring States stratagem, not a serious policy. European powers may quarrel among themselves, but they unite against China. Who would help us? Defenders of inaction say that pouring treasure into distant Ili drains the heartland for barren borderland better left alone. They forget how much every dynasty since the founding has invested in the Western Regions. Kangxi and Yongzheng mobilized the empire to conquer the west; by 1757 Ili was pacified and the interior could rest secure. If we abandon Ili now, what becomes of Xinjiang? Some say we should husband our strength for a later day. Will we recall Zuo Zongtang’s armies? If borders remain unsettled, how can we respond when crisis strikes? If we leave them idle on the frontier, supply lines fail and fighting spirit fades. War and passivity alike are unreliable; negotiation remains the only path. Negotiation too has three elements: borders, trade, and indemnity—the last being least important. Even trade matters less than borders. Why is this so? Western treaty practice distinguishes provisions that are permanent from those subject to periodic revision. Borders are permanent. One side’s gain is the other’s loss. That is why border treaties demand the greatest care. Trade clauses may be revised. They are renegotiated every few years. Faulty clauses and commercial losses can be corrected at revision—an opportunity not reserved for foreigners alone. Chonghou’s treaty was signed by the tsar; we cannot expect to replace it wholesale. I believe we must fight hardest on borders, which are permanent. On trade, we should reject only the worst excesses and concede the rest, reserving revision for later, so the peace may hold. Otherwise the rupture will force us to declare war and fight—back to the war party’s position. Grand strategy is not for an envoy to debate. Or we could set Ili aside for now—the passive party’s view. That would mean refusing any border concession while surrendering the whole region—I cannot accept that either. Or we could object first and concede only under pressure—a bargaining tactic, not statesmanship. That is haggling in the marketplace, not the way to uphold trust and manage foreign relations. We must decide in advance what to reject and what to grant, lest pressure later force further concessions. In St. Petersburg I shall speak only of friendship between our nations and the need for diplomatic communication. Official negotiations and formal statements are my duty; I shall wait for instructions from Beijing before discussing terms. This approach may keep Russia from rejecting us and spare the nation humiliation. I am unworthy, but I shall follow Your Majesty’s instruction—neither provocative nor submissive—in hopes of gaining inch by inch and preserving the larger peace."

及至俄，日與俄外部及駐華公使布策等反复辨論，凡數十萬言，十閱月而議始定。崇厚原約，僅得伊犁之半，岩險屬俄如故。紀澤爭回南境之烏宗島山、帖克斯川要隘，然後伊犁拱宸諸城足以自守，且得與喀什噶爾、阿克蘇諸城通行無阻。其他分界及通商條文，亦多所釐正焉。七年，遷宗人府府丞、左副都御史。秩滿，留任三載。

In Russia he debated daily with Foreign Minister Giers, minister Busty, and others—hundreds of thousands of words over ten months before terms were fixed. Chonghou’s treaty had left China only half of Ili, with the strategic heights still in Russian hands. Jize won back the southern passes at Wuzongdao and the Tekes River, so Ili and Gongchen could be defended and routes to Kashgar and Aksu kept open. Many other border and trade clauses were corrected as well. In 1881 he became vice director of the Imperial Clan Court and left vice censor-in-chief. His term was extended for three years.

法越構釁，紀澤與法抗辯不稍屈，疏陳備禦六策。十年，晉兵部侍郎。與英人議定洋藥稅釐，歲增銀六百餘萬。明年，還朝，轉入總理各國事務衙門。調戶部，兼署刑部、吏部各侍郎。十六年，卒，加太子少保，諡惠敏。子廣鑾，左副都御史；廣銓，兵部員外郎。

During the Sino-French crisis he held firm in debate with France and submitted six defense proposals. In 1884 he was promoted to vice minister of war. He negotiated opium duties with Britain, adding more than six million taels a year to revenue. The next year he returned home and joined the Zongli Yamen. He moved to the Ministry of Revenue and concurrently acted as vice minister of justice and personnel. He died in 1890, posthumously honored as Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent with the temple name Huimin. His son Guangluan became left vice censor-in-chief; Guangquan, vice director in the Ministry of War.

薛福成，字叔耘，江蘇無錫人。以副貢生參曾國藩戎幕，積勞至直隸州知州。光緒初元，下詔求言，福成上治平六策，又密議海防十事。時總稅務司赫德喜言事，總署議授為總海防司，福成上書力爭，乃止。八年，朝鮮亂，張樹聲代李鴻章督畿輔，聞變，將牒總署奏請發兵。福成慮緩則蹈琉球覆轍，請速發軍艦東渡援之。亂定，以功遷道員。

Xue Fucheng, courtesy name Shuyun, came from Wuxi in Jiangsu. As a tribute student he joined Zeng Guofan’s staff and rose through service to prefect of Zhili. When Guangxu sought policy advice in 1875, Fucheng submitted six governance proposals and ten confidential coastal-defense recommendations. Customs chief Hart had proposed taking charge of coastal defense; Fucheng protested vigorously and the plan was dropped. In 1882, when Korea erupted in violence, Zhang Shusheng, who had replaced Li Hongzhang in Zhili, prepared to ask the Zongli Yamen for troops. Fearing a repeat of the Ryukyu disaster, he urged immediate dispatch of warships to Korea. After order was restored he was promoted to circuit intendant.

十年，授寧紹台道。法蘭西敗盟，構兵越南，詔緣海戒嚴。寧波故浙東要衢也，方是時，提督歐陽利見頓金雞山，楊岐珍頓招寶山，總兵錢玉興分守要隘。諸將故等夷，不相統攝。巡撫劉秉璋檄福成綜營務，調護諸將，築長牆，釘叢樁，造電線，清間諜，絕鄉導與窺伺。其南洋援台三艦為法人追襲，駛入鎮海口，復令其合力守禦。謀甫定而寇氛逼矣，再至，再卻之，卒不得逞而去。十四年，除湖南按察使。

In 1884 he was appointed intendant of the Ning-Shao-Tai circuit. When France broke faith and attacked Vietnam, the coast was placed on alert. Ningbo was Zhejiang’s strategic gateway. Provincial commander Ouyang Lijian held Jinji Hill, Yang Qizhen held Zhaobao Hill, and regional commander Qian Yuxing guarded other passes. The generals were equals who did not coordinate with one another. Governor Liu Bingzhang put Fucheng in charge of defenses: coordinating the generals, building walls, driving pilings, laying telegraph lines, rooting out spies, and blocking guides and scouts. Three southern-fleet ships bound for Taiwan, pursued by the French, took refuge in Zhenhai; he ordered them to join the defense. Plans were barely set when the enemy appeared twice and was twice driven off, finally withdrawing without success. In 1888 he was appointed Hunan provincial judge.

明年，改三品京堂，出使英法義比四國大臣，歷光祿、太常、大理寺卿，留使如故。未幾，坎巨提來乞師。坎故羈縻回部，自英滅克什米爾，遂為所屬。近且築路貫其境，坎拒之，戰弗勝，乃求援，朝旨使福成詰其故。福成晤英外部沙力斯伯里，诇知其防俄心切，遂與訂定會立坎酋，以釋嫌怨。因具選立本末以上，並陳英、俄互爭帕米爾狀，請趣俄分界，冀英隱助。已而被命集議滇緬界線、商務。先是曾紀澤使英，謀將南掌、拈人諸土司盡為我屬，議未決而歸。至是福成繼之，始變前規，稍拓邊界，訂定條約二十款，語具邦交志。

The next year he became a third-rank capital official and envoy to Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium, passing through presidencies of the Court of Imperial Entertainments, Imperial Sacrifices, and Revision while keeping his mission. Soon Hunza appealed for military aid. Hunza had long been a tributary of the Muslim west; after Britain annexed Kashmir it fell under British sway. Britain then built a road through Hunza; when Hunza resisted and lost, it appealed to China, and the court ordered Fucheng to investigate. Fucheng met Lord Salisbury at the Foreign Office, sensed how urgently Britain wished to counter Russia, and agreed with him to recognize a Hunza ruler jointly—an arrangement meant to clear away mutual distrust. He memorialized the court with a full report on the selection of the chief, described Anglo-Russian rivalry in the Pamirs, and urged Moscow to settle the boundary—counting on quiet British backing. He was soon instructed to take part in negotiations over the Yunnan–Burma frontier and trade. When Zeng Jize had served in London he tried to place the Lan Xang and Nai chieftaincies entirely under Qing rule, but left before the plan was settled. Fucheng took up the post, broke with earlier practice, modestly extended the border, and signed a twenty-article treaty whose particulars appear in the Treatises on Foreign Relations.

福成任使事數年，恆惓惓於保商，疏請除舊禁，廣招徠。其爭設南洋各島領事官，尤持正義，英人終亦從之。又以英、法教案牽涉既廣，條列治本治標機宜甚悉。其將歸也，复撮舉見聞上疏以陳，大恉謂宜厲人才，整戎備，濬利源，重使職，為棄短集長之策。二十二年，歸，至上海病卒，優詔賜卹。卒後半載，而中英訂附款，致將福成收回各地割棄泰半，論者惜之。

Throughout his years abroad he kept merchant protection foremost, urging the court to lift outdated bans and invite more trade. He fought especially hard—and on principled grounds—for consuls across the South Seas islands, and London eventually agreed. As Sino-British and Sino-French missionary disputes had spread ever wider, he laid out detailed remedies both immediate and structural. Before leaving post he submitted a sweeping memorial drawn from his observations, arguing that China should develop talent, rebuild defenses, unlock economic gain, and restore dignity to diplomacy—a strategy of turning weaknesses into strengths. In 1896 he came home, fell ill at Shanghai, and died; the throne issued a generous posthumous decree. Six months later a supplementary Sino-British agreement clawed back most of what he had won, to the regret of many observers.

福成好為古文辭，演迆平易，曲盡事理，尤長於論事紀載。著有庸菴文編、筆記，海外文編，出使英法義比日記，浙東籌防錄。

He was a gifted essayist in the classical vein—plain yet thorough, with a particular gift for argument and narrative. His works include the Yong'an wenji and biji, Overseas wenji, Diaries of a Mission to Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium, and Records of Eastern Zhejiang Coastal Defense.

黎庶昌，字蓴齋，貴州遵義人。少嗜讀，從鄭珍遊，講求經世學。同治初元，星變，應詔上書論時政，條舉利病甚悉，上嘉之。以廩貢生授知縣，交曾國藩差序。國藩素重鄭氏，接庶昌延入幕，歷署吳江、青浦諸邑；兩筦榷關，稅驟進。光緒二年，郭嵩燾出使英國，調充參贊。歷比、瑞、葡、奧諸邦，箸書以撮所聞見，成西洋雜誌。晉道員。

Li Shuchang, courtesy name Chunzhai, came from Zunyi in Guizhou. As a youth he read voraciously, studied with Zheng Zhen, and devoted himself to statecraft. When a comet appeared early in Tongzhi, he responded to the imperial call with a detailed critique of policy; the court commended him. Raised from the ranks of stipend licentiates to county magistrate, he was assigned to Zeng Guofan's staff. Zeng Guofan, who respected the Zheng school, took Shuchang into his secretariat; Shuchang later acted as magistrate in Wujiang, Qingpu, and elsewhere; and twice ran customs posts, each time sharply increasing revenue. In 1876, when Guo Songshen went to London, Shuchang joined the mission as counselor. Touring Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, Austria, and beyond, he compiled his observations into Miscellaneous Notes on the West. He rose to circuit intendant.

七年，命充出使日本大臣。值議琉球案及華商雜居事，其外部井上馨持甚堅，庶昌翻复辨論，卒如所議。明年，日本將襲朝鮮，庶昌電請速出援師為先發製人計。師至，日艦知有備，還，言歸於好。中國古籍，經戎燼後多散佚，日籓族★L3藏富，庶昌擇其足翼經史者，刊古逸叢書二十六種。中法易約，條列七事進。尋遭憂歸，服闋，仍故官。

In 1881 he was named minister to Japan. During talks on Ryukyu and Chinese merchants' residence rights, Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru dug in hard; Shuchang debated him at length until the settlement went as planned. The following year, foreseeing a Japanese move against Korea, he wired Beijing urging prompt dispatch of forces to seize the initiative. Once Chinese forces appeared, Japanese ships, seeing they were expected, pulled back and both governments spoke of renewed amity. War had scattered many Chinese antiquarian texts, while Japanese collectors preserved rich libraries; Shuchang chose works that could bolster the classics and histories and issued twenty-six of them in the Guyi Congshu. At the revision of the Sino-French treaty he forwarded seven recommendations. He soon went home for mourning; when the period ended he returned to office.

十七年，除川東道。川俗故闇僿。既蒞事，設學堂，倡實業，建病院，整武卹商，百廢具舉。中東事起，庶昌曰：「日本蓄謀久矣，朝鮮猶其外府也。戰固難勝，讓亦啟侮。」乃倡佈告列邦議，以維持屬國，願東渡排難，當事者弗納。及戰事殷，財詘，庶昌首輸萬金，請按職列等差，亦不報。二十一年，詔陛見。駐渝法領事聞其將去，留辦教案，代者多方困之。遘疾，遂去官。未幾，卒。川東民建祠溈郡祀之。

In 1891 he became intendant of Eastern Sichuan. The province had long been provincial and insular. In office he opened schools, fostered industry, built hospitals, tightened military administration, looked after merchants, and revived long-neglected projects across the board. When war with Japan erupted, Shuchang warned: "Japan has plotted for years; Korea is virtually its dependency. We can hardly win a fight, yet concession will only invite further contempt. He then urged a circular note to the powers to uphold Korea's status and volunteered to go east to mediate; the leadership refused. As the war deepened and coffers emptied, he gave ten thousand taels himself and asked officials to donate by rank; no answer came. In 1895 the court summoned him to audience. The French consul in Chongqing, learning he was departing, kept him to settle a missionary dispute while his replacement worked to thwart him at every turn. Illness forced him to leave office. He died soon after. Eastern Sichuan locals erected a temple in the prefecture to honor him.

馬建忠，字眉叔，江蘇丹徒人。少好學，通經史。憤外患日深，乃專究西學，派赴西洋各國使館學習洋務。歷上書言借款、造路、創設海軍、通商、開礦、興學、儲材，北洋大臣李鴻章頗稱賞之，所議多采行。累保道員。光緒七年，鴻章遣建忠赴南洋與英人議鴉片專售事。建忠以鴉片流毒，中外騰謗，當寓禁於徵，不可專重稅收。時英人持正議者，亦以強開煙禁責其政府，引以為恥。聞建忠言，雖未能遽許，皆稱其公。

Ma Jianzhong, courtesy name Meishu, came from Dantu in Jiangsu. He studied hard from boyhood and gained a firm command of the classics and histories. Alarmed by mounting foreign pressure, he turned to Western learning and was sent to train at legations across Europe and America. He memorialized repeatedly on loans, railways, a navy, trade, mining, education, and talent pools; Li Hongzhang admired his plans and put many into practice. He was several times recommended for circuit-intendant rank. In 1881 Li Hongzhang sent him to Southeast Asia to discuss British opium monopolies. Ma argued that opium's harm had scandalized both countries, and that tax policy should serve suppression—not treat the drug chiefly as a revenue source. Even respectable British voices then condemned their government for imposing the opium trade and called it a national disgrace. His British interlocutors could not commit at once, yet all praised his integrity.

八年，朝鮮始與美國議約，鴻章奏派建忠往蒞盟。約成，英、法先後遣使至，建忠介之，皆如美例成約。日本駐朝公使屢诇結約事，建忠秘不使預聞，日人滋不悅。建忠歸而朝鮮亂作，庶昌以聞。時鴻章以憂去，張樹聲權北洋大臣，令建忠偕海軍提督丁汝昌率兵艦東渡觀變。建忠抵仁川，日本海軍已先至，建忠設辭緩之，而亟請速濟師代定亂。朝命提督吳長慶率三千人東援。建忠先定誘執首亂之策，偕長慶、汝昌往候大院君李昰應，減騶從，示坦率。及昰應來報謁，建忠遂執之，強納諸輿，交長慶夜達兵輪，而汝昌護送至天津。复擒亂黨，援朝鮮國王復其位。日使雖有言，而亂已定，亦無如何，皆建忠謀也。於是長慶統軍留駐，其隨員袁世凱始來佐營務。及建忠歸，而維新黨之亂又作。日軍先入，交涉屢失機，其後卒致全敗。建忠憤後繼失人，初謀盡毀，譔東行錄以記其事。

In 1882, when Korea opened treaty talks with the United States, Li Hongzhang sent Ma to oversee the signing. After the American treaty, Britain and France followed; Ma brokered parallel agreements on the same terms. Japan's minister in Seoul kept probing the negotiations; Ma kept Tokyo out, to growing Japanese irritation. Ma had barely returned when Korea erupted; Li Shuchang relayed the news. With Li Hongzhang in mourning, acting Beiyang governor Zhang Shusheng sent Ma and Admiral Ding Ruchang east with warships to assess the crisis. At Incheon he found the Japanese fleet already in port; he stalled with diplomacy while pressing Beijing to land troops and restore order. Beijing ordered General Wu Changqing east with three thousand men. Ma devised a ruse to seize the rebellion's leader; with Wu and Ding he called on Grand Prince Regent Yi Ha-ŭng with a deliberately small escort to appear open-handed. When the prince returned the visit, Ma seized him, bundled him into a sedan, and had Wu rush him by night to a warship; Ding escorted him to Tianjin. Rebel leaders were taken and the Korean king restored. The Japanese minister protested, but with order restored he could do little—it was Ma's doing throughout. Wu Changqing then garrisoned Korea, and a young Yuan Shikai joined his staff for the first time. Before Ma got home, the Gapsin reformers' coup had already flared anew. Japanese forces moved in first; diplomacy fumbled chance after chance, and the later collapse followed. Bitter that later hands squandered his strategy, he wrote the Dongxing lu to record what had been lost.

建忠博學，善古文辭；尤精歐文，自英、法現行文字以至希臘、拉丁古文，無不兼通。以泰西各國皆有學文程式之書，中文經籍雖皆有規矩隱寓其中，特無有為之比儗而揭示之，遂使學者論文困於句解，知其然而不能知其所以然。乃發憤創為文通一書，因西文已有之規矩，於經籍中求其所同所不同者，曲證繁引，以確知中文義例之所在，務令學者明所區別，而後施之於文，各得其當，不唯執筆學為古文詞有左宜右有之妙，即學泰西古今一切文學，亦不難精求而會通焉。書出，學者皆稱其精，推為古今特創之作。又著有適可齋記言、記行等書。

Ma was erudite and a strong classical stylist; and exceptionally fluent in European languages—from modern English and French to ancient Greek and Latin. Western nations all had explicit grammars of style, while Chinese texts hid their rules in usage without a guide to expose them—leaving students able to parse lines yet unable to grasp underlying principles. In response he wrote Wen Tong, mapping Western rhetorical rules onto the Chinese canon—what aligned, what diverged—so students could see why prose works as it does, write with precision in the classical mode, and even approach Western literatures with confidence. On publication scholars acclaimed its rigor and called it a path-breaking work. He also left Shike Studio jiyan, jixing, and related writings.

李鳳苞，字丹厓，江蘇崇明人。少聰慧，究心曆算之學，精測繪。丁日昌撫吳，知其才，資以貲為道員。歷辦江南製造局、吳淞砲台工程局，繪地球全圖，並譯西洋諸書。日昌為船政大臣，調充總考工。朝議遣生徒出洋，加三品卿，派為監督。光緒三年，率赴英、法兩國，分置肆業。明年，賜二品頂戴，充出使德國大臣，旋兼使奧、義、荷三國，往來數千里，周旋各國間，聯絡邦交。時建議興海軍，並命督造戰艦。

Li Fengbao, courtesy name Danya, came from Chongming in Jiangsu. Bright as a boy, he pursued astronomy and mathematics and became an expert surveyor. Governor Ding Richang spotted his ability, backed him financially, and helped him reach circuit-intendant rank. He ran the Jiangnan Arsenal and Wusong fort works, produced a world map, and translated Western texts. When Ding took charge of the Fuzhou shipyard, Li became chief engineering examiner. As China prepared to send students overseas, he received third-rank rank and was named superintendent. In 1877 he escorted the cohort to Britain and France and set them to their studies. The following year he received second-rank insignia and became minister to Germany, later adding Austria, Italy, and the Netherlands—crisscrossing thousands of miles to strengthen relations. Naval expansion was then on the agenda, and he was told to oversee warship construction as well.

十年，法越構釁，暫署法使。法事決裂，遂奉命回國，歸過澳門。澳門自明中葉久為葡萄牙人稅居，及是葡人私議欲攘為己有。鳳苞寓書部臣，乞請旨與葡人定約，免後患。部臣懼生事，寢其議。後一年，葡人遂據其地，論者惜之。既，覆命，有旨發往直隸交李鴻章差遣，令總辦營務處，兼管水師學堂。未幾，以在德造艦報銷不實，被議革職。十三年，卒。著有四裔編年表、西國政聞彙編、文藻齋詩文集等。其他音韻、地理、數學，皆有論著，未成。

In 1884, amid the Franco-Vietnamese crisis, he briefly served as minister to France. After the break with France he was recalled, stopping in Macau en route. Macau had been under Portuguese lease since the mid-Ming; now Lisbon quietly debated annexing it outright. Li wrote the Board urging an imperial mandate to negotiate with Portugal before trouble arose. Officials fearing a flare-up let the idea die. Within a year Portugal seized the enclave—to later regret among observers. On returning he was posted to Zhili under Li Hongzhang to head military affairs and the naval academy. Soon irregularities in German ship accounts led to his dismissal. He died in 1887. His publications include the Siyi biannian biao, Xiguo zhengwen huibian, and Wen Zao Studio collected works. He also drafted works on phonology, geography, and mathematics that remained unfinished.

洪鈞，字文卿，江蘇吳縣人。同治七年一甲一名進士，授修撰。出督湖北學政，歷典陝西、山東鄉試。遷侍讀，視學江西。光緒七年，歷遷內閣學士。母老乞終養，嗣丁憂，服闋，起故官。出使俄德奧比四國大臣，晉兵部左侍郎。初，喀什噶爾續勘西邊界約，中國圖學未精，乏善本。鈞蒞俄，以俄人所訂中俄界圖紅線均與界約符，私慮英先發，乃譯成漢字備不虞。十六年，使成，攜之歸，命直總理各國事務衙門。

Hong Jun, courtesy name Wenqing, came from Wu County in Jiangsu. In 1868 he topped the jinshi list as zhuangyuan and entered the Hanlin Academy as compiler. He served as Hubei education commissioner and later chief examiner for Shaanxi and Shandong. Promoted to reader-in-waiting, he inspected schools in Jiangxi. By 1881 he had risen to Grand Secretariat academician. He sought leave to nurse his elderly mother, then mourned her death; after mourning he returned to office. He became envoy to Russia, Germany, Austria, and Belgium and rose to vice minister of War. When Kashgar's western border was re-surveyed under treaty, China lacked reliable maps and skilled cartographers. In Russia he found the red lines on Moscow's Sino-Russian map matched the treaty; fearing Britain might act first, he had the chart rendered in Chinese as a safeguard. In 1890 the work was finished; he returned with the map and was posted directly to the Zongli Yamen.

值帕米爾爭界事起，大理寺少卿延茂謂鈞所譯地圖畫蘇滿諸卡置界外，致邊事日棘，乃痛劾其貽誤狀，事下總署察覆。總署同列諸臣以鈞所譯圖，本以備考覈，非以為左證，且非專為中俄交涉而設，安得歸咎於此圖？事白，而言者猶未息。右庶子準良建議，帕地圖說紛紜，宜求精確。於是鈞等具疏論列，謂：「內府輿圖、一統誌圖紀載漏略。總署歷辦此案，證以李鴻章譯寄英圖，與許景澄集成英、俄、德、法全圖，無大紕繆，而覈諸準良所奏，則歧異甚多。欽定西域圖誌敘霍爾幹諸地，則總結之曰屬喀什噶爾；敘喇楚勒、葉什勒庫勒諸地，則總結之曰屬喀什噶爾西境外：文義明顯。原奏乃謂：'其曰境外者，大小和卓木舊境外也。曰屬者，屬今喀什噶爾，為國家自闢之壤地也。 '語近穿鑿。喀地正北、東北毗俄七河，正西倚俄費爾幹，其西南錯居者帕也。後藏極西曰阿里，西北循雪山迳挪格爾、坎巨提，訖印度克什米爾，無待北涉帕地。設俄欲躡喀，英欲偪阿里，不患無路。原奏乃謂：'二國侵奪拔達克山、安集延而終莫得通。 '斯於邊情不亦闇乎？中俄分界，起科布多、塔爾巴哈台、伊犁，訖喀西南烏仔別里山口止，並自東北以達西南。原奏乃謂：'當日勘界，自俄屬薩馬干而東，實以烏仔別里西口為界。今斷以東口，大乖情勢。 '案各城約無薩馬干地名，惟浩罕、安集延極西有薩馬爾幹，明史作撒馬兒罕，久隸俄，與我疆無涉。當日勘界，並非自西而東，亦無東西二口之說，不知原奏何以傳訛若此？謹繪許景澄所寄地圖以進。」並陳扼守蔥嶺及爭蘇滿有礙約章狀。

When the Pamir border dispute flared up, Vice President Yan Mao of the Dali Court charged that Jun's translated map had drawn the Sum outposts beyond China's line, worsening the frontier crisis. He filed a sharp impeachment, and the case went to the Zongli Yamen for review. His colleagues at the Yamen replied that Jun's chart had been meant for reference, not as legal proof, and was never drawn solely for the Russian talks—so the map could hardly be blamed. He was cleared, but his critics would not let the affair drop. Right Sub-Reader Zhun Liang urged that Pamir cartography was a tangle of conflicting accounts and ought to be corrected. Jun and his colleagues then memorialized the throne, arguing that "the palace atlases and the maps in the Comprehensive Gazetteer are full of gaps. In handling the case the Yamen had checked Jun's work against Li Hongzhang's translated British chart and Xu Jingcheng's composite map of Britain, Russia, Germany, and France and found no serious mistakes—yet compared with Zhun Liang's memorial, the differences were numerous. The imperial Western Regions Gazetteer describes Khorgan and neighboring districts and plainly concludes that they belong to Kashgar; whereas Lachu, Yeshilku, and the like it sums up as lying beyond Kashgar's western frontier—the wording is unmistakable. The earlier memorial, however, claims: 'When the text says "outside the border," it means outside the old Khoja domain. Where it says "belonging," it means today's Kashgar—territory the dynasty itself had opened. That reading is far-fetched. Kashgar's north and northeast border Russian Semirechye; its west rests on Russian Ferghana; and the Pamir lies interleaved to the southwest. Far western Tibet is Ali; from there one can reach Indian Kashmir northwest along the snow ranges through Nagar and Kanjut without crossing the Pamir at all. If Russia meant to move on Kashgar or Britain to pressure Ali, routes existed aplenty. Yet the earlier memorial insists: 'Russia and Britain seized Badakhshan and Andijan and still could not break through. Surely that shows ignorance of the border situation. The Sino-Russian line runs from Kobdo, Tarbagatai, and Ili to the Uz Beli pass southwest of Kashgar, drawn consistently from northeast to southwest. The earlier memorial claims: 'The survey began east from Russian Samarkand and fixed the border at the western mouth of Uz Beli. To draw the line at the eastern mouth now would grossly distort the facts. No treaty of the period mentions Samarkand; there is only Samarqand far west in Kokand and Andijan—the Ming History's Samarqand—long under Russia and irrelevant to our frontier. The survey was never run from west to east, nor was there ever talk of two mouths of the pass—how the earlier memorial came to repeat such errors is unclear. We respectfully submit a map drawn from the chart Xu Jingcheng provided." They also explained why holding the Pamir highlands and pressing Sum ran counter to existing treaties.

先是坎巨提之役，彼此爭惎其間，我是以有退兵撤卡之舉，英乘隙而使阿富汗據蘇滿。至是，俄西隊出與阿戰，東隊且駸駸偪邊境。總署复具籌辦西南邊外本末以上。鈞附言：「自譯中俄界圖，知烏仔別里以南，東西橫亙，皆是帕地。喀約所謂中國界線，應介乎其間。今日俄人爭帕，早種因喀城定約之年。劉錦棠添設蘇卡，意在拓邊。無如喀約具在，成事難說。唯依界圖南北經度斜線，自烏仔別裡徑南，尚可得帕地少半，尋按故址，已稍廓張。俄阿交閧，揣阿必潰。俟俄退兵，可與議界，當更與疆臣合力經營，爭得一分即獲一分之益。」上皆嘉納。十九年，卒，予優恤。

Earlier, during the Kanjut affair, mutual suspicion had poisoned relations; China withdrew troops and dismantled outposts, and Britain used the opening to place Afghanistan in Sum. Now Russia's western force was fighting the Afghans while its eastern column pressed ever closer to the border. The Yamen again laid before the throne a full history of southwestern frontier policy. Jun added: "Translating the Sino-Russian boundary map showed me that everything south of Uz Beli, stretching east to west, is Pamir country. The Chinese line stipulated in the Kashgar treaty should run between these zones. Russia's present bid for the Pamir was planted when the Kashgar treaty was signed. Liu Jintang had added Sum outposts to push the frontier outward. But the Kashgar treaty remained in force, making the fait accompli hard to defend. Following the boundary map's diagonal meridian due south from Uz Beli, China could still claim somewhat more than half the Pamir; by reoccupying old sites, the claim had already been modestly enlarged. Russia and Afghanistan were at odds, and he expected the Afghans to break. Once Russia pulled back, negotiations could begin; working with frontier officials, every inch secured would be an inch gained." The throne approved every point. In 1893 he died and received exceptional posthumous honors.

鈞嗜學，通經史，嘗譔元史釋文證補，取材域外，時論稱之。

Jun was a devoted scholar of the classics and history; his Yuan History: Notes, Evidence, and Supplements drew on foreign materials and won wide acclaim.

劉瑞芬，字芝田，安徽貴池人。以諸生從李鴻章軍援上海，檄主水陸軍械轉運。時初用西式槍砲，皆購自外洋，瑞芬考驗精審，應時解濟，淮軍遂以善用西洋利器名。累保道員，督辦松滬釐捐。光緒二年，權兩淮鹽運使。淮北薦飢，流民就食揚州，瑞芬築圩城外，構棚分宿，計口授食，所全活六萬餘人。旋授蘇松太道。租界以黃浦南北分華洋船埠，洋人時侵南岸。瑞芬丈量南北，中分為界，設水利局委員董其事，洋人亦就範焉。擢江西按察使，遷布政使。

Liu Ruifen, courtesy name Zhitian, came from Guichi in Anhui. A licentiate, he joined Li Hongzhang's force sent to relieve Shanghai and was put in charge of moving arms and supplies by land and sea. Western rifles and cannon were then new, all bought overseas; Ruifen inspected them carefully and kept deliveries on time, earning the Huai Army its reputation for mastering foreign arms. Promoted repeatedly to circuit intendant, he oversaw the Songhu likin. In 1876 he acted as Liang-Huai salt transport commissioner. During famine in north Huai, refugees flooded Yangzhou; Ruifen built dikes and shelters outside the walls, rationed food by head, and kept more than sixty thousand people alive. He was soon made intendant of Suzhou, Songjiang, and Shanghai. The concession split wharves on the north and south banks of the Huangpu between Chinese and foreign use, and foreigners repeatedly encroached on the south shore. Ruifen surveyed both banks, fixed a central boundary, and put Water Conservancy Bureau commissioners in charge; the foreigners complied. He rose to Jiangxi provincial judge and then provincial treasurer.

十一年，改三品京堂，命充出使英俄等國大臣；授太常寺卿，遷大理寺，仍留使。改駐英、法、義、比。初，俄人覬覦漠河金礦，瑞芬亟達總理衙門，創議先自開辦。英既佔緬甸，罷其朝貢，瑞芬執故事與爭，仍如舊。英复侵西藏，瑞芬力爭於其外部，追還印度入藏之師，乃別議藏印條約，事具邦交志。

In 1885 he became a third-rank Beijing official and was appointed envoy to Britain, Russia, and other powers; named vice president of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and then of the Dali Court while remaining in his post abroad. His mission was reassigned to Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium. When Russia cast covetous eyes on the Mohe goldfields, Ruifen urged the Zongli Yamen to develop them before anyone else could. After Britain annexed Burma and tried to end its tribute missions, Ruifen invoked precedent and kept the old arrangement intact. When Britain moved on Tibet again, Ruifen pressed its Foreign Office hard, secured the withdrawal of Indian troops, and helped negotiate a separate Tibet-India treaty, as recorded in the diplomatic annals.

瑞芬久事外交，有遠見。朝鮮亂初起，即上書言：「朝鮮毗連東三省，關係甚重。中國能收其全土改行省，上策也。次則當約英、美諸國共議保護，庶免強鄰獨占，存籓屬以固邊陲。」總署寢其議不行，其後果如所言。十五年，召授廣東巡撫。十八年，卒，卹如製。

Long experienced in diplomacy, Ruifen was a man of foresight. When trouble first erupted in Korea, he memorialized at once: "Korea borders the three eastern provinces; the stakes are immense. The best course would be to annex the whole country and make it a province. Failing that, China should enlist Britain, America, and others in joint protection to keep a single power from seizing it, preserving the tributary tie to guard the frontier." The Yamen shelved the plan, and events later unfolded just as he had warned. In 1889 he was recalled and appointed governor of Guangdong. He died in 1892 and received the standard mourning honors.

子三。世珩，字聚卿。光緒二十年舉人。累至道員。歷辦江南商務官報、學務工程、湖北造幣等事。旋擢度支部參議，加三品卿。條議幣制，中外稱其精確，未及行而辛亥變起，遂歸寓上海。丙寅年，卒。嗜古，富藏書，校刊古籍尤精。有聚學軒叢書、貴池先哲遺書、玉海堂宋元槧本叢書及曲譜、曲品等。

He had three sons. Shihang, courtesy name Juqing. In 1894 he passed the provincial examinations. He rose through the ranks to circuit intendant. He oversaw the Jiangnan Commercial Gazette, education and engineering projects, the Hubei mint, and other offices. He was soon made a counsellor in the Ministry of Revenue with third-rank noble rank. His currency proposals won praise at home and abroad, but the Xinhai Revolution intervened before they could be enacted, and he settled in Shanghai. He died in 1926. A collector and bibliophile, he was especially adept at collating rare editions. His publications include the Juxue Studio Collectanea, Posthumous Works of Guichi Worthies, the Yuhai Studio Song-Yuan woodblock series, and studies of music and drama.

徐壽朋，字進齋，直隸清苑人，本籍浙江紹興。以廩貢生納貲為主事。諳習外情，佐津海關辦交涉。光緒二年，以道員充美日使館二等參贊。時華人傭於洛士丙冷者多被虐殺，壽朋佐使臣鄭藻如索償，詞錚義屈。未竟，會開秘魯使館，移充駐秘參贊，攝行公使事。秘故虐遇華工，益苛其例，壽朋與秘廷辨論，多所補救。駐外久，辦理交涉，常服遠人。晉二品秩。還國，適李鴻章督畿輔，闢居幕府。疏薦其練吏治，熟邦交。召見，奏對稱旨。

Xu Shoupeng, courtesy name Jinzhai, was registered in Qingyuan, Zhili, though his family came from Shaoxing in Zhejiang. He bought office as a secretary through the tribute-student route. Well versed in foreign affairs, he assisted the Tianjin Customs with diplomacy. In 1876 he went abroad as second secretary at the American and Japanese legations, holding circuit-intendant rank. When Chinese miners at Rock Springs were massacred, Shoupeng helped Envoy Zheng Zaoru demand compensation, arguing with force until justice prevailed. Before that case closed, China opened a legation in Peru; he was posted there as secretary and acted as minister. Peru had long abused Chinese laborers and tightened its rules; Shoupeng argued with the government and won substantial relief. Years abroad had taught him to handle negotiations in ways foreigners respected. He rose to second rank. Back in China, he entered Li Hongzhang's staff when Li became governor-general of the metropolitan provinces. Li recommended him as an able administrator with deep knowledge of foreign affairs. Called to audience, he answered to the emperor's satisfaction.

二十四年，授安徽徽寧池太廣道，遷按察使。未半載，徵還，命以三品京堂充韓國全權議約大臣。既至，與其外部樸齊純議定商約十三條，語具邦交志。初，韓本為我屬國，貢獻不絕。自馬關定新約，認為獨立自主，遂以壽朋膺使命，是為中韓立約之始。其秋，除太僕寺卿。約成，改充出使韓國大臣。奏設漢城總領事，惠保僑民，始復自治權。二十六年，聯軍入京，鴻章被命議和，奏調壽朋佐議。壽朋習西國語言文字，徐起應付，卒能不失鴻章本意。逾歲，議定和約十二款。复力請回鑾。遷外務部左侍郎。尋病卒，予優恤。

In 1898 he was made intendant of Anhui's Huining-Chizhou-Taizhou-Guangde circuit and then provincial judge. Within six months he was recalled and sent to Korea as plenipotentiary treaty commissioner, holding third-rank Beijing rank. On arrival he negotiated thirteen commercial articles with Foreign Minister Pak Je-sun, as recorded in the diplomatic annals. Korea had long been a tributary state sending regular missions. After Shimonoseki recognized Korean independence, Shoupeng's mission marked the start of formal Sino-Korean treaty relations. That autumn he was named vice president of the Court of the Imperial Stud. Once the treaty was signed, he became minister to Korea. He established a consul-general in Seoul to protect Chinese residents and restore their self-governing rights. In 1900 the allied armies occupied Beijing; Li Hongzhang was charged with peace talks and summoned Shoupeng to assist. Fluent in Western languages, Shoupeng handled the negotiations carefully and never lost sight of Li Hongzhang's aims. More than a year later they finalized a twelve-article peace treaty. He also pressed hard for the court to return to Beijing. He was appointed left vice president of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He soon fell ill and died, receiving exceptional posthumous honors.

楊儒，字子通，漢軍正紅旗入。以監生納貲為員外郎，銓兵部。舉同治六年鄉試。久之，出為常鎮道。母憂，服闋，除溫處道，調徽寧池太道。光緒十八年，改四品卿，出使美日秘三國大臣，補太常寺少卿。與英外部葛禮山續定華工條約。歷通政使副使、左副都御史，留使如故。二十二年，調使俄奧和三國。越二年，晉工部侍郎，仍駐俄。

Yang Ru, courtesy name Zitong, was a Han Bannerman of the Plain Red Banner. He bought office as a department secretary and was posted to the Board of War. He passed the provincial examinations in 1867. After some years he was appointed intendant of the Chang-Zhen circuit. After mourning his mother he took up the Wen-Chu intendant post, then moved to the Huai-Ning-Chi-Tai circuit. In 1892 he became a fourth-rank grand secretary and envoy to the United States, Japan, and Peru, while also serving as vice president of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. He renegotiated the Chinese labor treaty with British foreign secretary Lord Salisbury. He served as vice commissioner of the Office of Transmission and left vice censor-in-chief while keeping his diplomatic post. In 1896 he was reassigned as envoy to Russia and Austria-Hungary. Two years later he was promoted to vice minister of works while remaining in Russia.

二十六年，拳亂作，聯軍入津沽，電命儒遞國書，乞俄調解。京師陷，車駕幸西安。俄佯議撤兵，而潛使人詣關東，掠吉林、黑龍江地，達營口北。儒至黑海行宮與婉商，俄允還地，而不允撤保路兵。將軍增祺遽與訂密約九款，多失權利，上責其謬妄，下嚴旨，仍令儒與俄議。儒與商更約，俄堅拒，儒正色曰：「既言保我自主，何兵權、利權、命官權而不予畀？既稱不利土地，何以東三省不為中國版圖？」俄窮於應，始允別立正約。上聞而嘉之，授為全權大臣。

In 1900, when the Boxers rose and allied forces took Taku, Yang Ru was telegraphed to present credentials and ask Russia to mediate. Beijing fell and the court fled to Xi’an. Russia feigned willingness to withdraw troops while secretly occupying Jilin and Heilongjiang and advancing to north of Yingkou. At the Black Sea summer palace Ru negotiated delicately; Russia promised to return land but refused to pull back railway guards. General Zeng Qi rashly signed a secret nine-article pact conceding far too much. The throne rebuked him and ordered Yang Ru to continue negotiations with Russia. When Russia refused to revise the treaty, Ru said firmly: "You claim to protect our sovereignty—why then withhold military, economic, and appointive powers? If you want no territory, why treat the three eastern provinces as if they were not Chinese soil?" Russia, unable to answer, finally agreed to negotiate a proper treaty. The emperor praised his stand and made him plenipotentiary.

逾歲，俄交草約十二款，趣畫押。東南士民甚激昂，各國亦騰口舌，朝旨命再商改。儒責其外部食言，語激切，俄人勉為改數事，而仍未平準。儒數往謁，拒不見，見則第趣畫諾，語竟即起，不容儒致一詞。儒憤出，及階踣，傷右足，乞假赴德、奧療治。俄留之，且因其病篤，命駐華公使戢耳詩與李鴻章在京協定。儒復請代，不許。調戶部。明年正月，卒，予優恤。

A year later Russia submitted a twelve-article draft and pressed for signature. Public outrage swept the southeast; foreign powers protested as well; the court ordered further revision. Ru accused the foreign ministry of bad faith in heated language; Russia grudgingly altered a few clauses but the terms remained unfair. Ru called repeatedly but was often refused audience; when received, Russians only demanded his assent and dismissed him before he could speak. Leaving in fury, he fell on the steps and broke his right foot; he took leave to seek treatment in Germany and Austria. Russia kept him in place; citing his grave illness, it had minister Giers and Li Hongzhang finalize terms in Beijing. He asked again to be replaced; the request was denied. He was transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. He died the following first month; the court granted generous posthumous honors.

論曰：中國遣使，始於光緒初。嵩燾首膺其選，論交涉獨具遠識。崇厚擅定俄約，誤國甚矣。紀澤繼之，抗議改正。其時國勢猶足自申焉。至儒爭密約，竟以憤死，終不能挽救，公理尚可恃乎？福成、庶昌諸人，並嫺文學，各有著述，討論修飾，皆美使才也。馬建忠定亂濟變，策奇制勝，亦有足多，故並附於篇。

Commentary: China began sending permanent envoys in the early Guangxu era. Guo Songshen was the first chosen; on diplomacy he alone showed true foresight. Chonghou’s unauthorized Russian treaty did grave harm to the nation. Zeng Jize followed and fought to revise it. China’s strength still allowed some self-assertion then. When Yang Ru fought the secret Manchurian pact, he died of outrage without saving the day—can justice still be counted on? Xue Fucheng, Li Shuchang, and others were all accomplished writers with published works—polished minds and fine envoy material. Ma Jianzhong quelled disorder with brilliant expedients worthy of praise, and so they are all included in this chapter.

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