Qing government's representative in the U.S.

Qing government's representative in the U.S.

Wu Tingfang (July 30, 1842 - June 23, 1922), whose real name is Xu, is also known as Wu Cai, whose name is Zhiyong, and later changed to Tingfang. Han nationality, born in xidun, Xinhui, Guangdong Province, is an outstanding diplomat and jurist in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. Born in Singapore, he returned to Fangcun, Guangzhou with his father at the age of 3. In his early years, he entered St. Paul's College in Hong Kong. In 1874, he studied law at his own expense in Britain and University College London. He obtained a doctor's degree and the qualification of a lawyer. He became the first doctor of law in modern China. Later, he returned to Hong Kong as a lawyer and became a legislator in Hong Kong The first Chinese member of the Legislative Council.

After the Westernization Movement began, he entered Li Hongzhang's shogunate in 1882 as a legal adviser, building railways, negotiating, reforming the legal system and fighting for state power. In 1896, he was appointed by the Qing government as minister to the United States, Spain and Peru, and signed the first equality Treaty of modern China, the Sino Mexican trade treaty. He advocated the abolition of torture such as "lingchi", "Xiaoshou", "slaying corpses", "YuanZuo" and "cizi", which made the barbaric severe punishment law that had been handed down for thousands of years in China abolished. He also successively presided over the drafting of new laws such as the commercial law of the Qing Dynasty, the special law on printed articles of the Qing Dynasty, 26 articles of the concise articles of association of the chamber of Commerce, 24 articles of the concise articles of association of the railway, the trial articles of association of the courts at all levels, and the criminal and civil procedure law of the Qing Dynasty. He founded the first modern law school in China and trained nearly ten thousand legal talents.

After the outbreak of the revolution of 1911, Wu Tingfang made great contributions to the collapse of the monarchy, the reform of the judicial system and the maintenance of state power. He was the foreign minister of the military government of the Republic of China, presided over the peace talks between the north and the south, and achieved the abdication of the Qing Dynasty. After the establishment of the Nanjing Provisional Government, he became the chief justice. In 1917, he went to Guangzhou to participate in the movement of protecting the French law, and served as the chief of foreign affairs, chief of Finance and governor of Guangdong Province of the military government of protecting the French law. In 1922, when Chen Jiongming defected, he died in Guangzhou because of his anger.

Life of the characters

Stage of study

Born in Singapore on July 30, 1842, he returned with his father to live in Guangzhou. At the age of 13, he was kidnapped. After escaping, he went to St. Paul's College of Hong Kong to study alone. He received six years of western education. Five years later, he graduated with honors. During his study, he and Huang Sheng founded the first Chinese newspaper, Sino foreign news, and assisted Chen aiting in founding Hong Kong Chinese character newspaper.

In 1862, he served as interpreter of the high court of Hong Kong.

In 1864, she married the eldest daughter of pastor he Jinshan and the elder sister of he Qizhi.

In 1870, he was transferred by the high court to be the chief interpreter of the inspection hall.

In 1874, he studied in England at his own expense and studied law at University College London. After that, he obtained the qualification of barrister.

Working as a lawyer

He returned to Hong Kong in February 1877 and was the first Chinese lawyer allowed to practice in the British colony. At the same time, he was elected by the Hong Kong government as an examiners. After the Westernization Movement began, Li Hongzhang was deeply aware of the shortage of foreign negotiators. On October 6, 1877, Li Zhaotang, a member of Tianjin Customs Department, introduced Wu Tingfang to Li Hongzhang. After a false interview, Li Hongzhang found that Wu Tingfang was just a talent who had not been found for several years. He immediately decided to extend Wu Tingfang to the shogunate so as to "debate with foreigners in case of difficult cases". Those who refuse to comply with Chinese laws and regulations are those who refuse to comply with western laws and regulations. The governor of Hong Kong, Hennessy, highly praised his service spirit.

On December 16, 1878, he was officially appointed as the chief justice of the peace.

In 1879, the Department of justice returned to Britain on business, and the governor of Hong Kong acted as its deputy.

In 1880, the magistrate returned to England for a holiday, and Wu also served in the Commission. On February 19 of the same year, Wu Tingfang became the first Chinese member of the Legislative Council since the opening of Hong Kong as a port on the recommendation of the governor of Hong Kong, Hennessy, and Chinese leaders in Hong Kong. After that, he actively supported Hennessy's enlightened policy, opposed discrimination against Chinese, abolished public flogging, and curbed trafficking in girls. It has also contributed a lot to Hong Kong's commercial development, urban construction and social welfare. In 1880, he signed a letter with Liang An, a wealthy businessman, requesting the establishment of a Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

In 1881, he proposed the creation of a tram project, and suggested his wife and brother he Qi to carry out the Kowloon Bay reclamation project. He also made donations to support the education cause in Hong Kong many times.

In 1882, he officially entered Li Hongzhang's shogunate, and then presided over the handling of the "sakazaki case" caused by the berthing of Beiyang Navy warships in Japan.

Political stage

In 1894, during the Sino Japanese War of 1894, according to Japanese diplomatic archives, Wu Tingfang repeatedly called himself a friend of the Japanese when he contacted Japanese diplomats, so he cherished the friendship very much. Since she is a friend, she should confide in her heart. Therefore, in her conversation with Japanese people, Wu Tingfang almost unreservedly divulged many important secrets of the Qing government. However, when dealing with Wu, Japanese diplomats have a very different attitude. They never forget their diplomatic duties. On the surface, they also call Wu a friend. However, they do not seem to regard Wu as a real friend, but as a source of important information. Because of this, every time after Wu Tingfang's talk, these envoys and consuls have to report the contents to the Japanese Ministry of foreign affairs, so that the upper level can consider when formulating China policy. The number of times, the importance of the content and the number of them surprised Japanese diplomats.

After the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the contents of the treaty were very harsh. Therefore, from the officials of the imperial court to the people of insight, they all hate it. Kang Youwei once launched more than 1000 meetings for this purpose. He took the bus to write a letter, calling for the abolition of the treaty to fight again and strive for strength. The whole people in Taiwan were crying bitterly. They thought that "it's better to die as a righteous people than to be born as a captive." they begged the Qing government not to abandon Taiwan. However, Wu Tingfang and others, who were directly involved in the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, had totally different feelings. They felt that the negotiation was hard won and they should fulfill the provisions of the treaty. They even think that the main fighters' attempt to abolish the treaty is to make trouble out of nothing. Instead of hating and hating the Japanese invaders, they increased their favor through negotiation and tried to rely on Japanese power to bargain with the Qing government headed by Emperor Guangxu.

Of course, we can't cover up the great virtue with one brush. We can't see only the trees but not the forest. We can replace the whole with one side. The records of Wu Tingfang in Japanese diplomatic archives should not and can not cover up his glorious side during the 1911 Revolution. Therefore, we can not deny Wu Tingfang's historical achievements in the 1911 Revolution because of the discovery of historical materials in the archives of the Japanese Ministry of foreign affairs.

In 1896, he was ordered by the Qing government to be an envoy to the United States, Spain and Peru.

On February 25, 1897, when he returned to Hong Kong to visit his relatives, he was warmly welcomed by the governor of Hong Kong, the commander of the army and Navy stationed in Hong Kong, all members of the Legislative Council and the gentry.

In 1899, he was ordered to sign the Sino Mexican trade treaty with Mexico.

In 1902, he was called back to China and granted the title of Sipin alternate Jingtang. He successively served as Minister of law revision, Minister of Commerce, right servant of the Ministry of foreign affairs and right servant of the Ministry of punishment. Together with Shen Jiaben, he presided over the revision of the law. In the process of revision, he strongly advocated the introduction of the legal systems of western countries. His idea is supported by Shen Jiaben, who is good at Chinese traditional law. After the revolution of 1911, Wu Tingfang continued to devote himself to the revision of Chinese laws, which was supported by Sun Yat Sen. After the establishment of the Nanjing Provisional Government, Wu Tingfang was appointed as the chief justice. On the one hand, Wu Tingfang advocates following the example of the West and establishing a comprehensive new legal system, including the lawyer system. On the other hand, taking advantage of the status of the chief justice, we should take the lead in promoting the implementation of the lawyer defense system in specific trial activities.

In 1906, Mrs. Wu, he Miaoling, donated a large sum of money to build he Miaoling hospital. Wu Tingfang has lived in Hong Kong for more than 20 years.

In 1907, he served as minister to the United States, Mexico, Peru and Cuba again, and returned to China two years later.

After the outbreak of 1911 Revolution, Wu Tingfang declared in Shanghai that he was in favor of the Republic and wrote to the Qing government to advise the Qing emperor to abdicate. After the restoration of Shanghai, the "Republican Unification Association" with Chen Qimei, Zhang Jian and other organizations was promoted as temporary diplomatic representatives to negotiate with other countries. Later, he became the Plenipotentiary of the southern people's army and held peace talks with Tang Shaoyi, the northern representative sent by Yuan Shikai. He reached a compromise that Yuan Shikai forced Qing Shi to abdicate and supported the Republic, that is, to elect yuan as the president. After the establishment of the Nanjing Provisional Government, he became the chief justice. The provisional government moved to the north and retired to Shanghai. It was promoted as the leader by the National Progressive Association and the national gongdang, and was listed as a member by the Republican Party. In the north south peace negotiation, Sun Yat Sen was at a disadvantage and had to give in, while Wu Tingfang also resigned and returned to Guandu Lu to write books, such as the new law of prolonging life, a discussion on the rule of the Republic of China, and the observation of the United States. At that time, he Changxiong, a Japanese, and goodNo, an American, were advisers to the presidential palace. They published articles to create public opinion for Yuan Shikai. Wu Tingfang was aware of this conspiracy and delivered a speech: "the existing government in Beijing can only be regarded as a theater, and the bureaucrats, big and small, can only be regarded as actors. We can go to the theatre. If we listen to the actors, we can't Ask passers-by who likes to be emperor. We should try our best to stick to it. Whether he is Hong Xian or Xian Hong, we only know that this year is the fifth year of the Republic of China, and next year is the sixth year of the Republic of China. We should maintain this year's title even Wannian, Wannian! " Although Yuan Shikai was still the emperor, he soon returned to Jiuquan after being denounced all over the country.

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Chinese PinYin : Wu Ting Fang