Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-08-27
Ii HUNG CHANG SOON TO VISIT
AMERICA
is HONORED IN EUROPE
Remarkable Man in Many Ways
Wealthy and Happy in Domestic
Life-Peculiar Habits of the ORR
entail Leader-F4ives Like Poor
Man-His Mistakes.

United STATES will have an opportunity
of seeing one of the greatest men that
China has ever produced. Ii Hung
and his cortage are booked to sail from
London the latter part If this month,
accompanied by Louis Spitzel, an
American, who is in the manufacture
ing business in China, and who is to
act as guide and Interpreter for the
party during their tour through this
country. This celebrated Chinese
statesman has been Toasted and dined
by the royalty and state officials of all
the countries he has visited. and he
will be hOnored in many ways by the
United States government and by
prominent citizens Of this city who
were at some time residents of China
and are lesirous of pay ing respect to
the viceroy Of the Chinese empire. One
event of interest while Ii Hung Chang
was in Germany was his visit to Prince
Bismarck at FREDERICKSBURG, where the
two venerable statesmen had their pil-
ture taken together in the balcony of
the castle. Ii Hung Chang is a re-
markable man. He is somewhat above
the middle height, and his erect bear
ing and steady gait bear little evidence
of the seventy-seven years that have
passed over his head, but his wrinkled
face and scant hair, plated in the
usual queue, prove that they have left
their marks; eyes apparently express
iCnless, but really ceaselessly inquiring
and observing; a mouth proving dent
istry has been little patronized; a thin
gray moustache hanging down and
firm skin. The body dressed in the
flowing garments, but of fine silk text
ure, such as we see on Chinese pic
lures and tea chests; this is Ii Hung
Chang, who, old man as he is, can
make or mar the great Chinese empire
The province of Human claims the
honor of his birth. Who were his par
ents no man but he can say, and the
only feeling resembling religion
which the Chinese conscientiously cul-
tivate, viz, that of ancestral worship,
would forbid him to mention those sa-
cred personages, especially to us who
are foreign devils in his sight. 1t may
be taken for granted, however, that Ii
in his youth was a student, and that
his father was of the Mandarin class,
for it would have been impossible for
him to enter official life without a sue
cessful examination, and Ii was a
young man when he first came in con-
tact with those of our race. He still
maintains a guard of Human braves
and was very unwilling during the
Chinese-Japanese war to send them to
the front. But, powerful though his
enemies are, Ii has influence enough
to thwart their plans.
The days of the opium trade brought
Ii Hung Chang's name first in notice
to the history of China, and the Chi
nese, although we'll pleased with the
exchange of commodities with the out
er barbarians, eXacted various and eX-
ceedingly humiliating ceremonies from
the factors who represented diploma
cy at the few open ports to which they
were confined. Put the trade was
highly profitable, aid our Human
scholar was confirmed in the belief of
contempt for Caucasians. AS an offset
against opium England dispatched mis-
sionaries, and it was this new creed
that was taken for a pretext in the his
torical Tai Ping Rebellion. 1t was at
this time that Lis former views re-
ceived a shock. He held a position
somewhat resembling that Of our col
lector of the port, in the province of
the Two Kiangs, of which Marking is
the capital, and which is the richest
and most productive Of the middle
Kingdom While the rebels were
threatening this capital Ii Hung
Chang was thrown into contact with
an unassuming but very energetic
young British officer, and it pleads
highly for Lis powers of discernment
that he entrusted the subjugatiOn OF
the rebels to this foreigner, Chinese
Gordon. History tells the result, and
from this time on Ii Hung Chang and
Gordon were firm friends, and the trib-
ute paid to the dead hero after the fall
of Khartoum by the practical ruler of
China's millions was pathetic and spon-
taneous. But Lis share in the reduc-
ton of the rebels had attracted atten-
ton, the more so perhaps as he had
given evidence of great personal cour-
age, and when China's arrogance and
miserable duplicity brought the armies
of England and France before the
gates of Picking; when the emperor anC
his court had forsaken the capital and
a humiliating peace by which the rep
resentatives of foreign powers were
admitted within the sacred walls was
Inevitable, Ii Hung Chang saw his OPP
portunity and seized it.
The emperor died while the enemy
were in the walls of his capital and
Prince Kung, a more able and less OBJ
stinate man than the average Manda-
rim, succeeded in having the empress
dowager proclaimed as regent during
the minority of her son. This empress.
prejudiced as she is against us and in
favor Of her native land, proved very
able ruler, and one Of sound judgment,
considering her limited knowledge.
Backed by his patron and friend,
Prince Hung, Ii Hung Chang rose in
dignity until he was appointed as tutor
to the son of heaven, and when the lat
ter reached the age when this Office
was abolished Ii Hung Chang was ap-
pointed president Of the Tsung Ii
Yamen, or foreign Office. This body,
oil -