Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/41

 P'u-ch'ing 林普晴, daughter of , remained at his yamen awaiting a relief force which she begged of a general encamped in a neighboring town. Her letter—motivated by deep feeling and composed in faultless prose—was later carved on stone at Foochow. When Shên returned, he found his wife determined to defend the city to the last. The city, however, was saved by the forces called for. Shên's merits, and those of his wife, were reported by to the throne with the result that Shên was made an expectant intendant. He served as intendant of northeastern Kiangsi from 1857 to 1859. After several months' retirement he was again offered an intendancy (1860), but he declined in order to train the militia in his home town.

Owing to his evident ability Shên Pao-chên was repeatedly recommended by Tsêng Kuo-fan for an important post, and in 1861 was invited to work in Tsêng's camp at Anking while awaiting a more suitable appointment. But before he could reach Tsêng's camp he was made governor of Kiangsi (1862), where he taught the people to build strongholds for self-defense and encouraged all officials within his jurisdiction to suppress the Taipings. Though the insurgents repeatedly concentrated their forces on Kiangsi, they were time and again driven back, and finally several Taiping leaders, such as Hung Fu (see under ) and, were arrested and executed in the province (1864). As a reward for his services Shên was given the button of the first rank and the hereditary title Ch'ing-ch'ê tu-yü of the first class, but he declined both honors on the ground that the achievements were not his but those of his generals. The Court insisted on bestowing the honor on the ground that not only his achievements in the campaign but his able administration deserved to be so rewarded. He had won a reputation for strict honesty and for diligence in the performance of duties. In 1865 he requested leave, owing to the illness of his mother, but before he could reach home his mother had died and he was allowed to observe the full period of mourning.

In 1867 Shên Pao-chên was appointed Imperial Commissioner and Director General of an arsenal for the construction of a navy. The project was suggested by when he was governor-general of Fukien and Chekiang. Tso selected a site for the Navy Yard (August 1866) at Ma-wei 馬尾 near Foochow, and made a contract with two Frenchmen, Prosper Giquel (日意格, 1835–1886) and Paul d'Aiguebelle (德克碑, 1831–1875), to serve as engineers and supervisors. Tso also determined to establish schools for training young students to construct and navigate ships. When these plans (after the submission of many memorials) received the imperial approval, and after some of them had been put into effect, Tso was transferred (September 1866) to Shensi, Kansu and Sinkiang. But before he set out for his new post he recommended Shên Pao-chên as the man most suitable for working out the ship-building program. Shên assumed the responsibility on July 18, 1867 and industriously carried out all the plans for building the yard, arsenals, schools, dormitories, etc.—at the same time strictly guarding against bribery and "squeeze". The Navy Yard operated according to schedule, and with such efficiency that in the years 1867–74 fifteen vessels were built, varying in displacement from 515 to 1,450 (metric) tons, with 80 to 250 horsepower, with speeds of 60 to 90 li an hour, and varying in length from 166 to 238 Chinese feet.

In conjunction with the Navy Yard, Shên Pao-chên developed the Naval Academy known as the Ch'iu-shih tang i-chü 求是堂藝局 which was opened early in 1867 to teach the French language as means to a knowledge of naval construction, and the English language to promote a study of navigation—the students being drawn chiefly from Fukien and Hong Kong. After five years of such training, the most promising students were to be sent to France or England for three to six years of further study. Not only were a number of technical men thus trained in the applied sciences to take the place of some fifty Westerners employed in the ship yard, but there also emerged several admirals, a number of naval officers, and few great scholars. One scholar so trained was Yen Fu 嚴復 (original ming 體乾, 宗光, T. 又陵, 幾道, 1853–1921) and one naval man, Sa Chên-ping 薩鎭冰. Both were sent to England in 1877 to pursue their studies and after graduation from the Greenwich Naval College returned to China (1879). Yen became one of China's best translators of Western scientific and sociological works and Sa became an admiral. Of the eight fundamental works translated by Yen Fu, in his distinguished style, may be mentioned Thomas H. Huxley's Evolution and Ethics (天演論, 1896), Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (原富, 1901), and Herbert Spencer's Study of Sociology (羣學肄言, 1903). These transla- 643