Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.6, 2017

 

Disaster Relief in Zhili in the Tenth Year of the Tongzhi Reign and Sheng Xuanhuai’s Path to the Yangwu (Westernizing/Modernizing) Movement(Abstract)

 

Zhu Hu

 

The starting point for Sheng Xuanhuai’s journey toward borrowing from the West was his involvement in the setting up of the China Merchants Steamship Navigation Company, seen as deliberately arranged by Li Hongzhang. In fact, his journey toward the Westernization Movement (yangwu) was a tortuous one. In particular, it was the occurrence of an extraordinary flood in Zhili Province in the tenth year of the Tongzhi Emperor that finally gave him the opportunity to participate in the setting up of the company. Exploring this process in depth and revealing Sheng’s personal history can help us understand the complex process of implementing the yangwu enterprise from toplevel design to practice and thus enable us to expand research on this subject.