Li Hongzhang - Later Career

Later Career

On the death of the Tongzhi Emperor in 1875, he introduced a large armed force into the capital and effected a coup d'etat which placed the Guangxu Emperor on the throne under the tutelage of the two dowager empresses. In 1886, on the conclusion of the Sino-French War, he arranged a treaty with France. Li was impressed with the necessity of strengthening the empire, and while Viceroy of Zhili he raised a large well-drilled and well-armed force, and spent vast sums both in fortifying Port Arthur and the Taku forts and in increasing the navy. For years, he had watched the successful reforms effected in the Empire of Japan and had a well-founded dread of coming into conflict with that nation.

In 1885 Li founded the Tianjin Military Academy for Chinese army officers, with German advisers, as part of his military reforms. The move was supported by Anhui Army commander Zhou Shengchuan. The academy was to serve Anhui Army and Green Standard Army officers. Various practical military, mathematic and science subjects were taught at the academy. The instructors were German officers. Another program was started at the academy for five years in 1887 to train teenagers as new army officers. Mathematics, practical sand technical subjects, sciences, foreign languages, Chinese Classics and history were taught at the school. Exams were administered to students. The instruction for Tianjin Military Academy was copied at the Weihaiwei and Shanhaiguan military achools. The 'maritime defence fund' supplied the budget for the Tianjina Military Academy, which was shared with the Tianjin Naval Academy.

Because of his prominent role in Chinese diplomacy in Korea and of his strong political connections in Manchuria, Li Hongzhang found himself leading Chinese forces during the disastrous Sino-Japanese War. In fact, it was mostly the armies that he established and controlled that did the fighting, whereas other Chinese troops led by his rivals and political enemies did not come to their aid. Rampant corruption in the army further weakened China's military. For instance, one official missapropriated ammunition funds for personal use. As a result, shells ran out for the some of the warships during battle, forcing one navy commander, Deng Shichang, to resort to ramming the enemies' ship. The defeat of his modernized troops and a small naval force at the hands of the Japanese undermined his political standing, as well as the wider cause of the Self-Strengthening Movement. Li paid a personal price for China's defeat, while signing the Treaty of Shimonoseki ending the war: a Japanese assassin fired at him and wounded him below the left eye. Due to the diplomatic loss of face, Japan agreed to the immediate ceasefire Li had urged in the days before the incident.

In 1896, he attended the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia on behalf of the Qing Government and toured Europe and the United States of America, where he advocated reform of the American immigration policies that had greatly restricted Chinese immigration after the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (renewed in 1892). (He also witnessed the 1896 Royal Naval Fleet Review at Spithead.) It was during his visit to Britain in 1896 that Queen Victoria made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

Li Hongzhang played a major role in ending the Boxer Rebellion. His early position was that the Qing Dynasty was making a mistake by supporting the Boxers against the foreign forces.

During the Siege of the International Legations (Boxer Rebellion), Sheng Xuanhuai and other provincial officials suggested the Qing court to give Li Hongzhang full diplomatic power to negotiate with foreign powers. Li Hongzhang telegraphed back to Sheng Xuanhuai on June 25, describing the War declaration a “false edict” (luanming). Later, the "Southeast Mutual Protection" was reached by provincial officials as a consensus not to follow Empress Cixi’s declaration of war. Li Hongzhang also totally refused to listen to orders from the government for more troops when they were needed to fight against the foreigners, which he had available, derailing the Chinese war effort.

Li Hongzhang used the Siege of the International Legations (Boxer Rebellion) as a political weapon against his rivals in Beijing, since he controlled the Chinese Telegraph service, he exaggerated and lied, claiming that Chinese forces committed atrocities and murder upon the foreigners and exterminated all of them. This information was sent to the western world. He aimed to infuriate the Europeans against the Chinese forces in Beijing, and succeeded in spreading massive amounts of false information. For refusing to obey the Chinese government's orders and not sending his own troops to help the Chinese army at all during the Boxer Rebellion, Li Hongzhang was praised by the westerners. For his role in the Siege of the International Legations (Boxer Rebellion), he is criticized by the PRC official history and has only recently allow different interpretations through popular media such as TV series aired by the official CCTV.

The last picture ever made of the Viceroy Li Hongzhang was taken with Louis Livingston Seaman on February 22, 1900, in his private chamber at his palace in Peking.

In 1901, as his last task for the Qing Dynasty, he was the principal Chinese negotiator with the foreign powers who had captured Beijing, and, on September 7, 1901, he signed the treaty (Boxer Protocol) ending the Boxer crisis, obtaining the departure of the foreign armies at the price of huge indemnities for China. Exhausted from the negotiations, he died from liver inflammation two months later at Shenlian Temple in Beijing. Guangxu created him the title Marquis Suyi of the First Class (一等肅毅候). After his death, this Peerage was inherited by his grandson Li Guojie.