# Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Tuan-fang

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​TUAN-fang 端方 (T. 午橋, H. 陶齋), Apr. 20, 1861–1911, Nov. 27, official, was a member of the Manchu Plain White Banner, but not a full-blooded Manchu. His Chinese ancestors, who bore the clan name T'ao 陶, moved late in the Ming period from Hsiu-shui, Chekiang, to South Manchuria where they became Manchu subjects, adopted the clan name Tohoro 托活絡, and were enrolled in a Banner. After the Manchus conquered China, the direct ancestors of Tuan-fang resided in Fêng-jun, Chihli. His father, Kuei-ho 桂和 (T. 樂舫), was magistrate of Luan-ch'êng, Chihli; and his uncle, Kuei-ch'ing 桂清 (T. 蓮舫), a learned scholar, was a tutor of Emperor Mu-tsung. Tuan-fang became an honorary licentiate late in his teens, and served for a few years as a second-class secretary and then as an assistant director of a department in the Board of Works. He obtained his chü-jên degree in 1882, but before he was promoted he was forced to relinquish his post to observe the period of mourning for the death of his parents. Meanwhile his talents were recognized by Chang Yüeh 張曜 (T. 亮臣, H. 朗齋, posthumous name 勤果, 1832–1891), then governor of Shantung (1886–1891), who memorialized the throne to offer Tuan-fang a post in Shantung which the latter declined. In 1896 Tuan-fang was appointed inspector of customs at Kalgan, the commercial town on the border of Hopei and Inner Mongolia. After about a year of service in this office he was made (1898) intendant of the Pa-Ch'ang Circuit in Chihli. A few months thereafter, when the Hundred Days of Reform were in progress (see under T'an Ssŭ-t'ung), he was ordered (July 1898) to superintend the Nung-kung-shang tsung-chü 農工商總局, or Bureau of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, which was established to promote modern industrial enterprises. But about two months later, when the reforms were ended by the conservatives under Empress Hsiao-ch'in [q. v.], the Bureau was abolished (October 9). Though Tuan-fang lost his position, unlike his radical fellow-officials he escaped punishment by writing a poem which pleased Empress Hsiao-ch'in. Late in the same year (1898) he obtained appointment as judicial commissioner of Shensi, and in October of the following year was made acting governor of that province. In 1900 he was appointed financial commissioner of Honan, but before he set out for ​his post the Boxer Uprising took place. When the Empress Dowager took refuge in Sian, he was one of those who were responsible for her safety and comfort.
From 1901 to 1905 Tuan-fang held the following posts in Central China: governor of Hupeh (1901–04), acting governor-general of Hu-Kuang (1902–04) and of Liang-Kiang (1904), acting governor of Kiangsu (1904), and governor of Hunan (1904–05). During his term in office he supported the moderate reform policy of Chang Chih-tung [q. v.] and contributed much toward reforms in administration and education. In July 1905 he was selected one of five special ministers dispatched to Western countries to observe systems of government. The other four ministers were: Tsai-tsê (see under Yung-yen); Shao-ying 紹英; Hsü Shih-ch'ang 徐世昌 (T. 卜五, H. 菊人, 水竹邨人, 1858–1939); and Tai Hung-tz'ŭ 戴鴻慈 (T. 光孺, H. 少懷, 毅庵, posthumous name 文恪, 1853–1910). On September 20, when the party was about to leave the station at Peking, a bomb went off and Tsai-tsê and Shao-ying were slightly injured. The carrier of the bomb, a revolutionary by the name of Wu Yüeh 吳樾 (T. 孟俠), was himself instantly killed. This incident delayed the departure of the party and resulted in a change in personnel. Shao-ying and Hsü did not go; Shang Ch'i-hêng 尚其亨 (T. 會臣, b. 1866) and Li Shêng-to (see under Liu Hsi-hai) took their places. The party finally left Peking; sailed from Shanghai on December 19, proceeding to the United States by way of Japan. The commissioners arrived in Washington on January 23, 1906, and visited the White House the following day. On February 15 they sailed from New York for Europe where they made formal visits to Germany, Russia, Italy and other nations, and travelled in England and France. Upon their return to China, after a sojourn of some four months in Europe, Tuan-fang and Tai Hungtz'u presented their report to the throne. The document was entitled 列國政要 Lieh-kuo chêng-yao, 133 chüan—an abstract of it, entitled 歐美政治要義 Ou-Mei chêng-chih yao-i, being preserved in the Palace Museum, Peiping. On the whole, the report stressed the necessity of establishing in China a constitutional government. In August Tuan-fang was made governor-general of Liang-Kiang (see under Yin-chi-shan) and took office in Nanking two months later, holding concurrently the post of superintendent of foreign trade for the Southern ports. In the latter capacity he made a special effort to modernize industries and industrial education along the lower course of the Yangtze River where later the main Chinese industries were concentrated. He was one of the influential promoters of the Nan-yang ch'üan-yeh hui 南洋勸業會, an industrial exhibition held in Nanking in 1910. In the summer of 1909 he was transferred to the post of governor-general of Chihli, but late in that year was dismissed from office on the ground that he had shown disrespect to the funeral procession of the Empress Dowager, by taking photographs.
​Tuan-fang devoted himself to the modernization of his country, but strove at the same time to preserve the native culture. To carry out his purposes he established schools and educational institutions, but the times were such that those whom he assisted in education abroad became revolutionaries. He was noted as a patron of many men of talent, among them: Lao Nai-hsüan 勞乃宣 (T. 季瑄, H. 玉初, 矩齋, 韌叟, 1843–1921); Ch'ên Ch'ing-nien 陳慶年 (T. 善餘, 1863–1929); Li Hsiang 李詳 (T. 愼[審]言, H. 媿生, 窳生, 後百藥生, 齳叟, 1859–1931); Fan Tsêng-hsiang 樊增祥 (T. 嘉文, H. 雲門, 樊山, 1846–1931); Liu Shih-p'ei (see under Liu Yü-sung); and Yang Chung-hsi (see under Shêng-yü). Most of these men served as Tuan-fang's private secretaries.
Tuan-fang was noted for his rich collection of antiques. His Pao-hua an 寶華盦, a repository built in Nanking, is reported to have contained numerous rubbings of bronzes, inscriptions on stone, bricks and seals of ancient times, oracle bones, and ancient jades, as well as some one thousand masterpieces of calligraphy and painting. The following catalogues of his collection were published under his name: 陶齋吉金錄 T'ao-chai chi-chin lu, 8 chüan (1908), with a continuation in 2 chüan (1909), an annotated catalogue of some 430 bronze pieces; T'ao-chai ts'ang-shih mu (藏石目), 1 chüan (1903), a list of rubbings of inscriptions on stone; T'ao-chai ts'ang-shih chi (記), 44 chüan (1909), descriptions of a collection similar to the last; T'ao-chai ku-yü t'u (古玉圖, 1896), a work on jade; and T'ao-chai ts'ang-yin (印), 4 chüan (1909), a catalogue of seals. These catalogues were compiled by brilliant archaeologists whom Tuan-fang befriended, among them Yang Shou-ching (see under Li Shu-ch'ang), Li Pao-hsün 李葆恂 (T. 叔默, 文石, H. 猛庵, 鳧翁, 熙怡叟, 1859–1915), and K'uang Chou-i 况周頤 (T. 夔笙, 玉楳, H. 蕙風, 1859–1926). Tuan-fang owed much to these scholars for the completeness of his collection. Rubbings of some 320 ancient bricks owned by Tuan-fang are preserved in the library of Yenching University, Peking. Some items from his collection of bronzes have come to Western museums, notable pieces being found in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Tuanfang's collected memorials were printed in 1918 under the title, Tuan Chung-min kung tsou-kao (公奏稿), 16 chüan.
[1/475/2b; 6/34/24b; Ch'ai Ê, Fan-t'ien lu ts'ung-lu (see bibl. under Hsiao-ch'in), chüan 8; Chin-liang, Chin-shih jên-wu chih (see under Wêng T'ung-ho), 1934, pp. 212, 291–92; Hashikawa Tokio 橋川時雄, 滿洲文學興廢考 Manshū bungaku kōhai-kō (1932), 47a–49b, 64a; 佛山忠義鄉志 Fo-shan chung-i-hsiang chih 14/21a; 大陵 Ta-lu, vol. III, no. 17 (Sept. 25, 1905), 紀事, p. 5.]
Hiromu Momose