The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-02-15
Ii HUNG CHANG.

While it is yet doubtful that Lii Hung
Chang is dead, the rumor that he has
passed away turns the public mind once
more towards a man whose career pos
sesses elements of the most varied and
dramatic interest. How a peasant
born youth, in the oldest and most con-
ventional country of the world, could
make himself the richest man in an
empire, and how a poor Chinaman in
the service of the proud and naughty
Manchus-the conquerors of his race
could become the most honored and re-
sponsible dignitary at the Manchu
court, are questions which the life of
Ii Hung Chang has answered. The
story is something like that of Napo-
leon. of Disraei. of Lincoln and of
others who stand on the highest plane
of historical conspicuity. though it is
marked with characteristics. born of
Oriental life and training. which are
widely different from theirs.
According to some accounts Lii Hung
Chang was the son Of a rice farmer
His father had some learning and sent
his son to the best schools In the prov
ince of Ngan-Wei, where he had been
born. Gifted with a firm memory and
oil IldDil, Tie ldu WcIt
ahead easily and while still very young
took the Hanlin degree-a distinction
nearly equivalent to Phi. D. About this
time the TAPPING rebels invaded his
province and he joined the imperial
troops under the famous Americans.
Ward and Burgevine. When Ward
died and was succeeded by the British
General Gordon, Lii Hung Chang had
]
was made, Gordon's right-hand man.
Thenceforward his promotion was rap
| i'd. In 1872 he became viceroy of Pc
| Chill, the province in which Picking
| is situated, and later became a heredi-
tary noble with the rank of Earl Be
ing the shrewdest, the most far-sight-
| ed and procrastinating diplomat in
China, Ii Hung Chang became indis-
ipensable to the throne;, and although
he has passed through many untoward
Experiences politically he has been the
Theirs of China in it's present difficult
ties
Great as a statesman. Lii Hung Chang
Gong ago became the most conspicuous
business man and capitalist in the Far
East. How he made his money is
tale full of Oriental cunning and du-
plicity not unmixed with worse quail
ties 1t is said that he owned, or owns,
the rice fields of a whole province; that
the taxes of half of China pay GER
tain tribute to him; that he owns a
line of steamers which commands a
profitable trade and one which no
competing line can get; that he is a
usurer who does not hesitate to make
his official position the leverage of
blackmail. 1t gave a clear insight to
his character when he said to ex-Sec-
rotary John w. Foster that man like
him who had been premier of the great
Republic, ought to have piled up a CO.
iossal fortune. Earl LIS own acquisi-
lions are reckoned all the way from
s100,000000 to 100000 900.
The acumen. the far-sightedness and
the hospitality to new ideas which Cen
eral Grant recognized in LII Hung
Chang induced the great American to
class him first in a group of three
i statesmen, of whom Gladstone and
Bismarck were the other two. The
praise was high but after all, man
whose craftsmanship is carried on as
Ii Hung Changes has been in the face
of an unwilling people and an uncertain
court-whose ideas Of progress have
been always resisted by the inert mass
of the nation and been violently OPP
posed by his imperial mistress, the
Catharine Of China-such a man has
proved himself OF tougher fiber than
statesmen who, like Gladstone and Bis
marck, won their triumphs with ma
ton at their backs.
! AS to specific services, Ii Hung
Chang Is the founder of the modern
, Chinese army and navy; the originator
! of the first native steamship line; the
man who did most to give China rail-
road; the negotiator Of peace with ia
pan In 1895; the founder Of the new
Chinese financial system; and the man
who has done most to prepare the en-
pire for Western enlightenment. He it