Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/179

 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 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 ); Shao-ying 紹英; Hsü Shih-ch'ang 徐世昌 ; and Tai Hung-tz'ŭ 戴鴻慈. 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, 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 and Li Shêng-to (see under ) 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 ) 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.

In the spring of 1911, when certain leading railways were nationalized, Tuan-fang was appointed superintendent of the proposed Canton-Hankow-Chêngtu Railway. In September, shortly after he assumed his post at Wuchang, the people of Szechwan rose against the proposal to construct railways in their province. Chao Êr-fêng 趙爾豐, governor-general of Szechwan, petitioned the throne for the suspension of the scheme. Tuan-fang, however, opposed Chao and sent up a memorial severely criticizing him. In consequence, Tuan-fang, having been given the rank of acting governor-general of Szechwan, was entrusted by the Emperor with the task of suppressing the opposition. When he reached Chungking, on his way to Chengtu, the anti-Ch'ing revolution broke out (October 10) at Wuchang. About a month later the people of Szechwan established an independent government at Chêngtu and fought the Imperial troops. Owing to disagreements between Tuan-fang and the officials of Szechwan, he could not advance farther than Tzŭ-chou where he was murdered in November by his own men. His younger brother, Tuan-chin 端錦, was killed in an effort to save him. On December 22, Chao Êr-fêng was also murdered by the volunteer corps of the independent government. The brothers, Tuan-fang and Tuan-chin, were canonized as Chung-min 忠敏 and Chung-hui 忠惠, respectively, and their tablets were entered in the Sung-liao Ko 松蓼閣, a temple in Chiao-shan 焦山 whose natural beauty Tuan-fang had loved. Their biographies, together with those of other officials who fell in the revolution of 1911, were compiled by Wu Ch'ing-ti 吳慶坻, under the title 辛亥殉難記 Hsin-hai hsün-nan chi, 4 chüan. This work was first printed in 1916 and was twice reprinted (1921 and 1923). The revised and enlarged edition by Chin-liang (see under ) appeared in 1935 in one volume. 781