Guo Songtao

Early career

Guo was born in Xiangyin, Hunan in 1818. As a young man, Guo studied at the Yuelu Academy in Changsha, where he befriended Zeng Guofan. In 1847, Guo was awarded the highest degree in the imperial exams and soon afterwards he became a bachelor in the Hanlin Academy. In 1853, he was called to assist Zeng Guofan in joining the Xiang Army to suppress the Taiping Rebellion in their native province of Hunan. During the suppression of the Taipings Rebellion, Guo distinguished himself as a prominent advocate of the local likin tax as a means of financing the campaigns. In 1852 his forces recaptured Nanchang, Jiangxi from Taiping forces. He later also assisted Li Hongzhang's Huai Army in their campaigns against rebels in the Anhui province.

He called for foreign languages to be taught at a government school in 1859.

Diplomatic service

Guo became an important member of China's Self-Strengthening Movement in the 1860s and 70s and distinguished himself for his advocacy of a moderate and peaceful foreign policy. Guo became the first Qing minister to be stationed in a western country. He served as Minister to Britain and Minister to France from 1877 through 1879 as part of the United Kingdom's demands after the Margary Affair for an Imperial commissioner to be posted to Britain. In 1877 the English artist Walter Goodman was commissioned to paint his portrait, exhibited that year at the Royal Academy and later at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. The whereabouts of this painting is unknown but a photograph taken of it at the time is in a private collection in England.[[Image:goodman Guo Songtao.jpg|thumbnail|left|200px|A Victorian photograph of Walter Goodman's 1877 portrait of Guo Songtao.]] That same year, he authored his Shixi jicheng (使西紀程 Record of an envoy to the West), in which he expressed admiration for Western political institutions, writing that 'The kingdoms of Europe date back for some 2,000 years. Their governmental and educational systems are well-ordered, enlightened, and methodical'.

Advocacy of Railways

In July 1877 while serving as Chinese Minister to Britain, Guo led an entourage of legation officials on a visit to the Ipswich engineering works of Ransomes and Rapier to see the manufacture of steam locomotives, railway equipment and other engineering products. He travelled from London to Ipswich by train and expressed his deep admiration for Britain's railway system, commenting that the distance travelled during the two-hour train journey would have taken two or three days in his own country.

He subsequently became a great proponent of railways and other modern engineering development in China, incurring the wrath of conservative and anti-railway Court officials, who resented his representations. In early 1878 he was also appointed Minister to France (concurrent with his British appointment) and moved to Paris, but in late 1878 he was ordered to return to China. His Shixi Jicheng was ordered burned by an imperial edict under pressure from the conservative Qingyi Movement. Upon his return, fearful for his life and under intimidation because of his pro-foreign views, he returned to his home province and virtually retired from public life, spending his time writing and teaching in an academy.

太平天国起义之後，随曾国藩参贊军务。在任福建按察使时，向清政府上《条陈海防事宜》折，阐述自己开办洋务的主张。在官场倾轧中，秉性耿直的他得不到清政府重用，於1860年，辞职还乡闲居。在赋闲两年後，郭嵩焘入幕淮军。不久应李鸿章之邀，於1882年春再度出山，任苏松粮道，後又升任两淮盐运使。由於曾国藩、李鸿章的全力支持，郭嵩焘在两淮理财顺利，卓有成效。1863年秋，他又升任广东巡抚，诏赏三品顶戴。但在任职期间，他又因耿直招怨，与前後两任同驻广州的两广总督矛盾重重。在错综复杂的种种矛盾之中，郭嵩焘在1866年6月解任，再次开始归乡闲居，而这次长达8年之久。郭嵩焘於1876年12月在上海等船赴欧，对沿途所记，编为《使西纪程》。由於在驻英期间，参观各地的工厂学校和政府机构，使他的观念产生根本变化，发出「西洋政教、制造，无不出於学」的惊乎。郭嵩焘抵达英国伦敦後不久，於1877年10月16日应英国工厂主的邀请，访问了在伦敦附近的电力厂。在参观过程中，英国工厂主特意请郭嵩焘参观刚刚发明不久的电话。这是他首次也是中国人第一次接触到电话。电话安装在相隔数十丈的上下楼内，郭嵩焘让随从张德彝到楼下去接听，自己在楼上与其通话。「郭问『听闻乎？』张答到『听闻。』郭又问『你知觉乎？』张应曰『知觉。』郭又说『请数数目字。』张依言而数曰『一、二、三、四、五、六、七。』」郭嵩焘在日记中写道：「其语言多者亦多不能明，惟此数者分明。」由此可见，这次通话的效果并不尽如人意。郭嵩焘还向清政府大力介绍外国先进的管理概念和政治措施，导致保守派人士的仇视，在官场倾轧和污衊中，被召回。郭嵩焘把使英途中见闻写成《使西纪程》，称赞西洋政教制度、对中国内政提出效仿的建议。但他把书寄回中国後，希望总理衙门刊印，却被满朝士大夫误解，要求将其撤职查办。翰林院编修何金寿参劾他「有二心於英国，想对英国称臣」等语，郭嵩焘被清廷申斥，书稿毁版。而後又遭到他的副手刘锡鸿的诬陷，於是郭嵩焘因病请辞，清政府同意辞职後派曾纪泽接任。郭嵩焘於1879年5月5日乘船抵达长沙。由於湘阴发生守旧排外风潮，郭嵩焘被污衊为「勾通洋人」，遭到不明事理的百姓和乡绅帖大字报来侮辱他。他赋闲期间曾在湖南开设禁烟会，宣传禁烟。曾筹备成立船厂，未能实现。郭嵩焘病逝的时候，虽有官员请旨按惯例赐谥立传，被清廷否决。 --

Works

• 禮記質疑: 49卷 (1890)
• 使西紀程

Notes

References

• Kuo, Sung-t'ao, Hsi-hung Liu, and Te-i Chang. *The First Chinese Embassy to the West; the Journals of Kuo-Sung-T'ao, Liu Hsi-Hung and Chang Te-Yi. Translated by J. D. Frodsham. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974.
• Visit of the Chinese Ambassadors to Ipswich”, report in the “Ipswich Journal” July 3, 1877 ( Hong Kong Railway Society – P.A. Crush Chinese Railway Collection)
• Day, Jenny Huangfu (2018). "The Scholar." Qing Travelers to the Far West: Diplomacy and the Information Order in Late Imperial China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-19/issue-4/jan-mar-2024/qing-ambassadors-guo-song-tao/

References

1. John King Fairbank. (1978). "The Cambridge History of China: Late Chʻing, 1800-1911, pt. 2". Cambridge University Press.
2. [[George Augustus Henry Sala. Sala's Journal]] March 4th 1893
3. [[Daily Telegraph]] May 28th 1878
4. Shogo Suzuki. (2009). "Civilization and Empire: China and Japan's encounter with European International Society". Routledge.
5. Shogo Suzuki. (2009). "Civilization and Empire: China and Japan's encounter with European International Society". Routledge.