Ding Richang

Ding Richang

Ding Richang

He was born in Fengshun County, Chaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province (now Fengshun County, Meizhou City). In his later years, he settled in Meilin lane, Rongcheng, Jieyang county. Chaoshan poet, one of the eight sages of Meizhou, a Hakka sage, has successively served as the Confucian instructor of Qiongzhou Prefecture in Guangdong Province, the magistrate of Wan'an and Luling counties in Jiangxi Province, Su Songtai Dao, salt transportation envoy of Huaihe River and Huaihe River, the Minister of Jiangsu Province, the governor of Jiangsu Province, the Minister of shipping administration in Fuzhou, and the governor of Fujian Province. The governor's title is to be the Minister of coastal defense and coastal control, as well as the Minister of state affairs. He was a figure of the Westernization Movement in modern China and one of the four major book collectors in modern China.

In July 1877, Ding Richang got sick from overwork and went home to recuperate. On February 27, 1882, a statesman full of reform spirit and a doer of Westernization Movement in modern China died of illness in Jieyang county. The emperor sent officials to offer sacrifices, made sacrifices, and granted money to build a mausoleum in the west of Jieyang City.

Life of the characters

Born in 1823 in jinwuwei, tangkengyu, Fengshun County, Chaozhou prefecture (now Fengshun County, Meizhou City).

In 1842 (the 22nd year of Daoguang), Ding Richang, a 20-year-old scholar, was born the following year.

In 1844 (the 24th year of Daoguang), Ding Richang joined the staff of Huichao Jiadao Li Zhangyu. “

In July 1854 (the fourth year of Xianfeng), Wu Zhongshu, a triad in Haiyang county (today's Chaozhou) besieged the city of Chaozhou. Ding Richang ruled the village as a gentry, led three hundred tangkeng villagers to rescue and stationed in Hanshan Teachers' college. In the early morning of September 18, Ding Richang led Xiang Yong to cross lingjiaochi from Bijia mountain, defeated Wu Zhongshu's garrison in Dongjin, captured more than 100 people alive, and solved the dilemma of Fucheng East Road "(Fengshun County annals). In the same year, the rebellion army of the heaven and Earth Society of Guangdong attacked Jiaying prefecture (now Meizhou). Ding Richang offered some advice to Li Zhangyu to deal with the rebellion army by strengthening the wall and clearing the wild. After the event, he was awarded Qiongzhou academic discipline and moved to Wan'an County in Jiangxi Province three years later.

In 1860 (the tenth year of Xianfeng), four months after Ding Richang became magistrate of Wan'an County in Jiangxi Province, his outstanding achievements and outstanding talents were not only praised by the gentry, but also appreciated by his superiors and even the imperial court, and he was transferred back to Guangdong to handle foreign affairs. The local gentry and people couldn't hold on. On the day of departure, "their fathers, elders and sons set up a banquet as a banquet, and tens of thousands of people offered incense to them."

In 1861 (the 11th year of Xianfeng), he was transferred to the county magistrate of Luling. Just as the Taiping army attacked Luling, the county fell into disuse and was dismissed by the Qing government. At that time, Zeng Guofan was leading the Xiang army to fight in Anhui, and Ding Richang turned to his tent to run military affairs for him.

In 1862 (the first year of Tongzhi), he was ordered by Zeng Guofan to supervise Lijin in Guangdong. After arriving in Guangzhou, Ding Richang gave full play to his expertise in firearm manufacturing. He designed and supervised 36 short guns and more than 2000 shells in Yantang, a suburb of Guangzhou. These weapons were welcomed by the Qing army in Guangdong, which made Ding Richang famous.

In 1863 (the second year of Tongzhi), he set up a artillery Bureau in Yantang, a suburb of Guangzhou, to imitate western cannons and shells. Later, he was transferred to Shanghai by Li Hongzhang to set up a artillery Bureau, which produced 18 pounds, 48 pounds and other kinds of flowering shells. At the same time, he also cast a small number of short cannons for the Huai army to attack the Taiping army, and played a considerable role in attacking Changzhou. Because the cannons he made played an important role in suppressing local uprisings, he was promoted to be the governor of Zhili Prefecture. In this process, two important changes have taken place in Ding Richang's thought. One is that "the Taiping army is no longer peaceful", and it is the foreign aggressors who really threaten the Qing Dynasty.

In August 1864 (the third year of Tongzhi), he wrote a letter to Li Hongzhang, pointing out that in the traffic between China and foreign countries, foreigners took advantage of my troubled times and threatened me from time to time

It's hard to bear to be intimidated and coerced. We must actively strive for self-improvement in order to resist aggression. He believes that foreign countries' strong skills lie in their strong ships and powerful guns. Foreigners use them to coerce China, and we can also use their strong points to deal with foreigners. Another important change of Ding Richang's thought is that he realized from his own experience that the traditional Chinese production technology and means could not meet the needs of modern gun manufacturing. The iron and steel that can make modern guns can not be produced by the old clay furnace, and it is difficult to make the bore smooth and even by casting guns with clay mould. Therefore, Ding Richang had a strong desire to reform the production process and means. He had frequent contacts with foreigners in Shanghai, and he had already learned something about the machine factories of Westerners. A brief introduction to firearms written by Wang Tao made him have a deeper understanding of the manufacturing principle and technology of modern guns, especially the lathe and other production tools. He wrote to Li Hongzhang to recommend Wang Tao, and at the same time proposed to set up a "plywood fireboat shipyard" to produce modern ships and guns with machines. At this time, Rong Lang proposed to develop "utensils for making utensils" in China, which Ding Richang immediately agreed with.

It is an important concept change to pursue machine production from manual production. This change of ideas is of great significance to the rise of the Westernization Movement in China in the 1860s. On the basis of this new understanding and concept, Ding Richang actively managed to buy the American Qiji iron factory in Hongkou, merged the original bombing Bureau, and then accepted the machines bought back from the United States.

In September 1865 (the fourth year of Tongzhi), Ding Richang formally established Jiangnan manufacturing Bureau. Jiangnan manufacturing Bureau was the first modern military enterprise established by the Qing government, which marked the emergence of modern military industry in China.

Ding Richang's urgent temperament, coupled with long-term overwork, his body has long been extremely weak, suffering from hemoptysis and other diseases. In Taiwan, the disease recurred because of miasma.

In October 1865 (the fourth year of Tongzhi), he was appointed as the salt transportation envoy of Huaihe River and Huaibei river. He went deep into the salt farms and learned about the situation from the gentry, farm servants and kitchen households. He completed a survey report of more than 100000 words and formulated the regulations and plans for Huaihe River salt, the regulations for screening Huaihe River and Huaibei River salt and the general plan for Huaibei River salt.

In January 1868 (the seventh year of Tongzhi), Ding Richang was promoted to governor of Jiangsu Province and still stationed in Suzhou. In April 1868 (the seventh year of Tongzhi), he hired nine ships to transport 30000 stone rice to Tianjin in preparation for the establishment of a shipping company. However, the water transport of the ships that had been put on trial was stopped because of the opposition of the stubborn ministers.

In July 1870 (the ninth year of Tongzhi), Jiangsu Provincial Rural examination was held in Nanjing. He specially sent two ships "Caojiang" and "Tianji" produced by Jiangnan manufacturing General Administration to pick up the examinees for free, in order to publicize the superiority of ships. During his term in charge of the Soviet Union, Ding clarified the administration of officials and reorganized the localities. He cleared up 270000 cases in the whole province, which won the favor of the scholars and the people, but attracted the resentment of the Conservatives. Wang Jiabi, the Shaoqing of Taichang temple, went to Shanghai three times and attacked Ding wantonly. The die hards joined in. After his mother Huang died of illness, Ding Richang returned to Guangdong and lived in Jieyang for three years. And set up capital to buy "ping an" ship, between Shanghai and Shantou for commercial operation.

In June 1875 (the first year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), Ding Richang was ordered to go north to Tianjin to help Li Hongzhang, Minister of Beiyang, do business. In September, he was recommended by Shen Baozhen to be Fujian shipping minister. At the beginning of 1876 (the second year of Guangxu), he was also appointed as governor of Fujian. After Ding Richang arrived, he proposed to innovate the production of the Shipping Bureau, hoping to send staff to study abroad and employ foreign technicians as teachers in the mining plant. He, together with Li Hongzhang and Shen Baozhen, approved the first batch of 35 students from Fuzhou shipping school to study in Europe, including Yan Fu and Liu Buchan. Ding Richang believed that telegrams could communicate military information and were necessary for coastal defense, and actively advocated the establishment of telegrams by himself. He negotiated with Danmark Dabei company in person and bought the wire from Fuzhou to Luoxingta, which became the first self operated telegraph line in China. Later, he presided over the erection of Taiwan's Fucheng Anhu and Qihou power lines, becoming the first self built telegraph line in China.

In August 1877 (the third year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), he left his job due to illness and returned home to recuperate. Since then, the Qing government repeatedly expressed the hope that he would take up the important position of Haijiang and Shuting again.

In 1879 (the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), he was awarded the title of governor, who ordered him to stay in Nanyang, control the naval officers and soldiers along the coast of Nanyang, and take good care of coastal defense. Soon afterwards, he was appointed Minister of state affairs. He couldn't get out of the mountain because of illness. Although Ding Richang is in Linquan, he always pays attention to the national defense.

In June 1879 (the fifth year of Guangxu), he went to the Qing court and put forward 16 suggestions on coastal defense. Because of the abolition of Ryukyu, he was more and more alert to Japan's aggressive ambition, pointing out that Japan "will not attack Taiwan from the south in three to five years, but will surely go north to Korea (Korea)". (Modern Chinese History Series: Westernization Movement, Vol. 2, P. 394) he spoke out that the government and the public must make concerted efforts to strive for self-improvement, or the country will have no peace. He also realized that "the people's will is the foundation of coastal defense". Only when the people's livelihood is secure and their vitality is restored, can they unite as one and make the coastal area as secure as a rock. Therefore, he hoped that the rulers would really care about the suffering of the people and make China strong fundamentally.

In 1881 (the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu), Ding Richang learned that legal persons were increasingly active in Vietnam, so he wrote to the prime minister yamen Wang to remind them to pay attention. He said that Vietnam is being eroded by legal persons and is in a state of depression. If we let it go, it will become the second Ryukyu. He suggested that the Qing government should send Guangxi governor or governor to negotiate with Vietnam for self-improvement. He also organized translators to translate maps and illustrations of the Sino Vietnamese border drawn by the legal person to expose the French aggression.

family background

Father: Ding Xianba

Mother: Huang

Wife: Li

Son: Ding Huiheng

Great grandson: Ding Jiajun

In order to escape from the war, Ding Richang's great grandfather Gao moved from Changle County (now Wuhua County) to tangkeng township of Fengshun (at that time, tangkeng belonged to Jieyang County of Chaozhou prefecture) and became a local family.

Main achievements

Develop industry

Chinese PinYin : Ding Ri Chang