Huang Zunxian
Huang Zunxian (29 May 1848 - 28 March 1905), was a Chinese
official, scholar, and writer, active during the late Qing
dynasty. As a poet, he published more than a hundred poems.
He was born in Jiayingzhou, now Mei County, Guangdong, and
died 57 years later in the same place. His important
contributions to China made him a recognised figure of his
time, and a namesake foundation has been established in his
honour. Huang’s former residence is now marked as a public
museum.
Huang was born May 29, 1848 in Jiayingzhou (now Mei
County), Guangdong, China to a family of Hakka heritage. His
father Huang Hung Chow was a scholar-official (Juren) and
served the courts of the Qing dynasty. At age three, he
witnessed the effects of the greatest land reforms in China.
As a toddler, the younger Huang could recite the famous
Chinese anthology Thousand Families Poems and as a
nine-year-old child studied poems from the Tang dynasty. His
life took a turn a few years later, during the Taiping
Rebellion, when he was robbed of many of his possessions. He
applied to be a Juren, like his father, when he became of age
in 1877. Despite heavy competition, he found success and was
posted to Tokyo, Japan to serve as the Imperial Chinese
Embassy’s Counsellor. In September 1880, he published Korea
Strategy a paper regarding the high level plans of Korea
(unified as it then was). Huang suggested that China and
Korea become good allies. The work is described by one source
as "a work of destiny that determined the modern history of
East Asia". While in Japan, he did some editorial work for
the Japan World Magazine, looked into aspects of the medicine
of the country, and noted how much the country had progressed
through time and published his studies in a book, Treatises
on Japan (printed 1890). The Guangxu Emperor was fascinated
with the work and invited Huang to detailedly explain it to
him in person. It was partially because of Huang’s book that
the Guangxu Emperor amended some rules in China. Huang is
also considered to be a philosopher, having analysed,
discussed, and questioned the framework of China. His
influences in philosophy included the Enlightenment figures
Rousseau and Montesquieu.
Afterwards in 1882, Huang was assigned as Consul-General
in San Francisco, United States. During his time there, he
realised how wealthy the immigrant Chinese had become, and
how much of an asset they were to China. Huang wrote a poem
about Frederick Bee, an official at the Chinese Consulate.
After seven years in the United States, he moved back to his
home country China. In 1890, he relocated to London to act as
the Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy; one year later he was
reassigned to Singapore to become the Consul-General there.
He witnessed how similar the Singaporean Chinese, both rich
and generous, were to the native Chinese. Disagreeing with
China’s policy of not allowing overseas Chinese to return to
the country, and torturing them if they did so, Huang
composed a formal request to the Emperor to do away with the
rule, offering the view that China was "driving fish into
other people’s nets". The request was accepted and on January
29, 1894, it was announced that the Chinese overseas were no
longer barred from returning to China. In between, Huang was
Hunan Province’s Salt Intendant and he started the Journal
for Contemporary Affairs. The change of policy was widely
celebrated and reported; Huang was soon to be appointed
China’s ambassador to Japan. However, before that could
materialize, Empress Dowager Cixi seized power and ended the
Hundred Days’ Reform. With the Guangxu Emperor detained,
Huang’s career as a diplomat was over. He slammed Empress
Dowager Cixi’s coup but at the same time expressed his relief
at being freed of his diplomatic duties.
