A Study Of Wu Zancheng’s Military And Political Career (1851-1880)

Comparatively speaking, Wu Zancheng was a successful governor in the Late QingDynasty of Lujiang County in Anhui province. He did not care about any danger in frontof his way. From the magistrate of a county in Guangdong province to the governor ofFujian province, he had been worked hard and earnestly all the time. This paper based onthe existing historical materials to analyze Wu Zancheng’s more than30years military andpolitical career in order to study his historical contributions in the Late Qing Dynasty. Thepaper is divided into three parts, details as follows:Part One: The Guangdong province and the Tianjin Machinery Bureau period. In1851, Wu Zancheng was appointed as the magistrate of Yongan County. Because of hisoutstanding political achievements in Yongan County, he was promoted as the magistrateof Deqing, Humen and the Taotai of Huizhou, Chaozhou, Jiaying later. Li Hung Changappreciated Wu Zancheng’s achievements in Guangdong province and invited him to workin the Tianjin Machinery Bureau. Wu Zancheng accepted Li’s invitation and came toTianjin in1872. He also worked hard and earnestly during his career time in TianjinMachinery Bureau and gained a wide appreciation of Li Hung Chang and the Qingimperial court.Part Two: The Fujian Ship Administration Secretary period (1876-1878). During thiscareer time, Wu Zancheng tried his best to promote the development of the FujianShipyard. First, he reinforced management of the Fujian Ship Administration Secretary byrecommended the excellent officers to the Qing imperial court, dismissed the incompetentofficials and gave special treatment to the workers who contribute a lot as a reward;Second, he tried his best to raise money to support production of the Fujian Shipyard;Third, he supported the study plan of the Chuan Zheng School and formulated the detailregulations by himself in order to reserve more navy talents for his country, China; Forth,he imported the new and advanced machines and technology of the Western Country andbuilt some new iron frame ships for Fujian Ship Administration Secretary; Fifth, he urged the naval officers and soldiers to master the operation method of the new ships..Part Three: The Taiwan province period. During this period, he took many measuresto protect the security of Taiwan province and close the connection between Taiwan andthe mainland, which laid the foundation of Liu Mingchuan’s construction in Taiwan later.First, he adhered to Ding Richang’s policy, placated the local aborigines of Taiwanprovince and improved the local transportation for the aborigines; Second, in order tostabilize the situation of Taiwan province, he lead troops to pacify the local aborigines’rebellion of Taiwan province by himself; Third, he divided the land boundary in order toresolve the conflicts between the Han Chinese and the local aborigines; Last, in order toenhance Taiwan province’s defense, he improved the local force’s combat abilities.