Huang Zunxian

Huang Zunxian

Huang Zunxian

From April 27, 1848 to March 28, 1905, the Han nationality was born in Jiaying prefecture (now Meizhou City), Guangdong Province. Qing Dynasty minister, patriotic poet, diplomat, thinker, politician, educator, writer, historian, folklorist, one of the eight sages in Meizhou.

In 1876, he was elected in the examination. He served successively as counsellor in Japan, Consul General of San Francisco, counsellor in Britain, and Consul General of Singapore and Malacca. During the reform movement of 1898, he served as an inspector general of Hunan Province, assisting Governor Chen Baozhen to carry out the new deal. After the failure of the reform movement of 1898, he returned to his hometown. In 1905, Huang Zunxian died of illness at the age of 58.

He works in poetry and likes to melt new things into poetry. He is known as the "innovative teacher of poetry". His works include renjinglu Shicao, Japanese annals, Japanese Miscellaneous Poems, Jihai zashi, Jihai xuhuairen poem, Korean strategy, Zhifa, renjinglu jiwaishi collection, Huang Zunxian's written notes with Japanese friends and so on. He is known as "the first person of modern China in the world" and "the three heroes of modern poetry".

Life of the characters

Take part in the imperial examination

From 1863 to 1876, under the influence of his family and under the guidance of his teachers, Huang Zunxian's study made constant progress.

In 1873 (the 12th year of Tongzhi), when Huang Zunxian was 26 years old, he was admitted to bagongsheng.

In the spring of 1874 (the 13th year of Tongzhi), Huang Zunxian left for Beijing to take part in the Shuntian rural examination. At that time, his father Huang Hongzao was working in the Beijing Department of accounts, so they lived together. Huang Hongzao's salary is not much, so their life is very simple. After he got acquainted with some political figures in Beijing, he also made some friends in Zunxian's life.

In 1876 (the second year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), he went to Yantai, Shandong Province with his father for a tour, and met Zhang Yinhuan, Li Hongzhang and other officials of the Westernization Movement. Huang Zunxian talked in front of them, which aroused their interest and attention to this young man. Li Hongzhang praised Huang Zunxian as a "bully" in front of others. With Li Hongzhang's power and position at that time, he was able to place such a high value on Huang Zunxian, a new generation, which made Huang Zunxian feel "acquainted". This is the beginning of Huang Zunxian's contact with the Westernization Movement.

In 1876 (the second year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), he took part in the Shuntian examination and was admitted as the 141st Juren.

Diplomatic career

In 1877 (the third year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), Huang Zunxian's fellow countryman and Imperial Academy attendant, he Ruzhang, was appointed as the first Chinese Minister to Japan. After that, he was invited to Japan. After Huang Zunxian passed the examination for Ju Ren, his family hoped that he would take the entrance examination again and opposed his going to Japan. Regardless of the opposition of his family and friends, he resolutely abandoned the imperial examination career and chose to go abroad to engage in diplomatic work. After he Ruzhang's recommendation, Huang Zunxian was appointed counsellor in Japan, accompanying him to Japan. On the eve of his diplomatic mission, Huang Zunxian expressed his hope to display his talents and realize his ambition in his diplomatic work with Japan.

In the evening of November 26th, 1877 (the third year of Guangxu), Huang Zunxian and he Ruzhang set out from Shanghai by ship, with a group of more than 30 people. Finally, they landed in Kobe and began their diplomatic activities in Japan. Huang Zunxian worked in Japan for four years. He traveled all over the country, participated in various gatherings, made friends with people from all walks of life, and formed deep friendship with many Japanese friends. He actively advocated good neighborly friendship between China and Japan. He was once known as China's "most elegant and educated diplomat" by Japanese historians. As a gift to Japanese friends, Zeng expressed the hope that the Chinese and Japanese people will be friendly and prosperous from generation to generation. However, he resisted the Japanese government's annexation of Ryukyu and invasion of Korea and argued for it. His poems are very popular among Japanese people, who praise him as "the master of cloud cutting and moon sewing". He also wrote more than 200 Japanese Miscellaneous Poems on Japanese history, politics, scenery and customs, which opened up a new realm of Chinese classical poetry.

In 1879 (the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), Japan annexed Ryukyu. He Ruzhang, the minister stationed in Japan, sent more than 100000 words of important documents to the prime minister's Yamen and the Minister of Beiyang. He analyzed the national conditions of Japan, stated the countermeasures that China should take, and pointed out: "if Ryukyu were to die, Fujian would be the first to suffer its disaster in a few years." These predictions were proved by the later facts. Most of these documents were drafted by Huang Zunxian. However, the Qing government did not adopt Huang Zunxian's opinions on foreign policy, which eventually made Ryukyu a victim of Japan's aggressive policy. Huang Zunxian had no choice but to place his grief and indignation in his poem liuqiuge.

In 1880 (the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), a Japanese friend, Mr. Yuan Huisheng, with the consent of Huang Zunxian, buried part of the original manuscript of Japanese Miscellaneous Poems in his home on the Bank of Mojiang River in Tokyo. Huang Zunxian inscribed "the tomb of the original manuscript of Japanese miscellaneous poems" with nine characters, carved stones and erected steles, as a symbol of the permanent friendship between the Chinese and Japanese people. During his stay in Japan, Huang Zunxian began to contact the bourgeois theory of democracy and freedom that spread from the west to Japan. After reading the works of Rousseau and Montesquieu, the pioneers of the French Enlightenment, he "changed his mind and thought that the peaceful world must be based on democracy". He realized that "he should learn from the four foreign countries" and "China must change from the western law". His thought had a significant change. And share this thought with he Ruzhang. It was the formation of this thought that made him an active advocate of China's reform movement. During his stay in Japan, Huang Zunxian clearly saw that the increasingly powerful Japan was targeting its aggression against China and North Korea.

In 1880 (the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), Huang Zunxian expounded his geopolitical proposition in Northeast Asia by presenting the book "Korean strategy" to Korean messenger Jin Hongji. In a joint proposal to the imperial court by he Ruzhang, the Chinese Minister to Japan, he said: "therefore, in view of China's current situation, it is possible to set up a minister stationed in North Korea. According to the example of Mongolia and Tibet, all domestic politics and foreign treaties are presided over by China, and outsiders dare not covet them."

During his stay in Japan, Huang Zunxian had a deep understanding of Japan's national conditions, collected more than 200 kinds of materials, and wrote the annals of Japan (completed in 1887), which consists of 40 volumes and more than 500000 words. He discussed in detail the process of Japan's reform and its gains and losses, so as to put forward the idea of China's reform.

In 1882, he was transferred to the Consul General of San Francisco. On March 30, as soon as Huang Zunxian set foot on the American continent, he came across the Anti China Incident launched by the US ruling group. The U.S. House of Representatives enacted 15 regulations on the restrictions on Chinese workers, and many San Francisco expatriates were arrested and jailed by the local government on the pretext of "unsanitary". Before that, Huang Zunxian had proposed countermeasures to the Qing government, but the fatuous, decadent and cowardly Qing government did not adopt them at all. Therefore, he can only do his best to protect the Chinese overseas Chinese within the scope of his authority and with a deep love for them. On one occasion, the local government of the United States made a quarrel with the Chinese workers. They sent officials to the Chinese residential areas for "inspection", and then said that the Chinese did not pay attention to hygiene, which violated the government's health regulations and should be detained and fined. Many Chinese were arrested and the prison was full. After hearing the news, Huang Zunxian inspected the residence of the Chinese workers in San Francisco, visited the American prison where the Chinese workers were held in person, asked his entourage to measure the prison area, and asked the Americans, "there are many people here, the land is narrow, and the air is dirty. Is the sanitary condition in the prison better than that in the residence of the overseas Chinese?" American officials were asked dumb. After Huang Zunxian's efforts, all the arrested overseas Chinese were released. Huang Zunxian's just action was unanimously praised by the Chinese. Huang Zunxian used international law to win the right of the consul general to issue licenses to Chinese workers. From then on, Chinese workers traveled between China and the United States, and there were laws to follow.

In 1884 (the tenth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), he witnessed the US presidential election and wrote a chronicle, which revealed the darkness of the US political arena. However, the conclusion that "the Republican government can not be applied to our country today" is a retrogression in ideology.

Homecoming compilation

In 1884, Huang Zunxian's mother died.

In August 1885 (the 11th year of Guangxu), he asked for leave from the United States to return home, and then re compiled the annals of Japan. Until the summer of 1887 (the 13th year of Guangxu), the book was finally completed. The records of Japan consists of 40 volumes and about 500000 words. It is cataloged into 12 parts: national records, Linjiao records, astronomical records, geographical records, official records, food and goods records, military records, criminal law records, academic records, customs records, products records and craft records. This paper introduces the history and current situation of Japan in detail, especially the reform measures and results after Meiji Restoration. On the day of the completion of the book, Huang Zunxian wrote a sense of ambition of the book, expressing his feelings. My wife's mirror is a chronological history book in Japan, and qianqiujinjianlu is a history book written by Zhang Jiuling in Tang Dynasty. Huang Zunxian hopes to learn from Japan's experience and make China prosperous and strong through reform. The publication of this book has greatly deepened the Chinese people's understanding of Japan and become a must read reference book for Chinese people to understand and study Japan.

In 1885 (the 11th year of Guangxu), he wrote a long poem "song of general Feng", which depicts the heroic image of Feng Zicai, an old general who defeated a powerful enemy in the Sino French war.

In October 1885 (the 11th year of Guangxu), Huang Zunxian arrived in Guangzhou, first went to Wuzhou to visit his father, and then went back to Jiaying by boat. When he returned to his hometown, where he had been away for many years, his family and villagers all came to see him and vied to ask him all kinds of questions, some of which were absurd and interesting. Huang Zunxian skillfully answered this question

Chinese PinYin : Huang Zun Xian