Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/484

 vice-president of the Board of Revenue. In 1872 he was made president of the Board of Works. In the meantime he continued as tutor to Tsai-ch'un (Emperor Mu-tsung) until the latter died in January 1875. In 1876 he became a member of the Tsungli Yamen, but from 1877 to 1880 he remained in retirement owing to the death of his own mother. In 1880, when he again served on the Grand Council and in the Tsungli Yamen, he led a group of officials who condemned for concluding the treaty which ceded Ili to Russia. In the same year Li Hung-tsao and Pao-yün (see under ) negotiated at Peking with three commissioners from the United States—J. B. Angell (1829–1916), J. F. Swift (1829–1891), and W. H. Trescot (1822–1898)—concerning the limitation of Chinese immigrants to America (see under ). On November 17, 1880 they signed two treaties, one conceding the right of the United States Government to "regulate, limit, or suspend the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States, but not absolutely prohibit it"; the other concerning commercial and judicial matters. The following year (1881) Li was made president of the Board of War and concurrently an Associate Grand Secretary. In 1882 he became president of the Board of Civil Appointments, but two years later—when the Grand Councilors were blamed for mismanagement of matters relating to France and Annam—he and all the Councilors were dismissed. The real cause of this sweeping change was a conflict between and the Grand Council on the one hand, and Empress, , and a group of conservatives on the other. I-hsin was removed, and so were all those closely associated with him, including Li who was lowered in rank three grades.

In 1885 Li Hung-tsao was again made a sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat and later in the same year became junior vice-president of the Board of Civil Appointments. In 1887 he was appointed president of the Board of Ceremonies, a post he held until 1896. Early in 1888 he was sent to Honan to repair the dike at Chengchow. But he was several times reprimanded for failure to complete the work speedily, and so was recalled to Peking eight months later. From 1884 onward he was deprived of his powers as Grand Councilor, but he gradually won the favor of Empress Hsiao-ch'in. In 1894, after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, he was made an adviser on military affairs, and before long was re-instated as Grand Councilor. He and I-hsin thus returned to power, but both were then too old for vigorous service. In 1895 Li was again ordered to serve in the Tsungli Yamen, and in the following year once more became an Associate Grand Secretary and president of the Board of Civil Appointments, but died a year later. He was canonized as Wên-chêng 文正 and his name was entered in the Temple of Eminent Statesmen.

From 1864 to 1884 Li Hung-tsao was a potent factor in the government, being sometimes referred to as the leader of a group of officials who were natives of northern provinces—among them, , , and. As these same men were also members of the party known as Ch'ing-liu-tang (see under ) which made attacks on and other high officials, Li Hung-tsao was branded as the leader of that party also.

A son of Li Hung-tsao, named Li Yü-ying 李煜瀛 (b. 1882), popularly known by his tzŭ as Li Shih-tsêng (石曾), was made in 1897 a department director of a Board, but went in 1902 to France as attaché in the Chinese Legation. While there he made a study of biology, Since 1928 he has been president of the National Academy of Peiping, and a member of the Supervisory Committee of the Kuomintang.

[2/57/43a; 6/1/6b; 詞林輯略 Tz'ŭ-lin chi-lüeh; Chin-shih jên-wu chih (see under ); Tung-hua lu, T'ung-chih 11: 8; Portrait, and examples of his calligraphy, in Kao-yang hsien chih (1933); 清朝野史大觀 Ch'ing-ch'ao yeh-shih ta-kuan, 4/91.]

2em

 LI Ju-chên 李汝珍, c. 1763–c. 1830, novelist and phonetician, was a native of Ta-hsing (Peking). He went to Hai-chou, Kiangsu, in 1782 in the company of his elder brother, Li Ju-huang 李汝璜, who was appointed salt receiver at Pan-p'u (Haichou). There he remained for some twenty years. During this period he met and the Hsü brothers: Hsü Ch'iao-lin 許喬林  and Hsi Kuei-lin 許桂林, the latter two being his brothers-in-law. In 1801 he went to Honan, where he was made an assistant magistrate. Three years later (1804) he visited his brother at Ts'ao-yen ch'ang, Kiangsu, where the latter served as 472