Zheng Xiaoxu

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Zheng Xiaoxu

Zhèng Xiàoxu (Traditional Chinese: ???; Simplified Chinese ???; Wade-Giles

Wade-Giles

Wade-Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language used in Beijing. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Francis Wade in the mid-19th century, and reached settled form with Herbert Giles' Chinese language-English language dictionary of 1892....
: Chêng Hsiao-hsü; 2 April 1860 - 28 March 1938). Chinese statesman, diplomat and calligrapher

East Asian calligraphy

The art of calligraphy is widely practiced and revered in the East Asian civilizations that use or used Chinese characters. These include China, Japan, Korea, and to a lesser extent, Vietnam....
.

ough Zheng traced his ancestral roots to Minhou, a small town near Fuzhou

Fuzhou

is the capital and the largest prefecture-level city of Fujian Provinces of China, People's Republic of China. It is also referred to as Rongcheng which means "city of banyan trees" and Mindong ...
, he was born in Suzhou

Suzhou

Suzhou is a city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. The city is renowned for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed Chinese garden which have contributed to its status as a great tourist attraction....
in Jiangsu

Jiangsu

is a Province of China of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou....
province. In 1882, he obtained the intermediate degree in the imperial examinations, and three years later he joined the secretariat of the prominent statesman Li Hongzhang

Li Hongzhang

Li Hongzhang , Marquis Suyi of the First Class , GCVO, , also spelled Li Hung-chang, was a China general who ended several major rebellions, and a leading statesman of the late Qing Empire....
.

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Zhèng Xiàoxu (Traditional Chinese: ???; Simplified Chinese ???; Wade-Giles

Wade-Giles

East Asian calligraphy

Early life and diplomatic career

Although Zheng traced his ancestral roots to Minhou, a small town near Fuzhou

Fuzhou

Suzhou

Jiangsu

Li Hongzhang

Legation

A legation was the term used in diplomacy to denote a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. The distinction between a legation and embassy was dropped following the World War II, as all diplomatic representative offices were now designated as embassies, or high commissions....
in Tokyo

Tokyo

, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshu. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the Tokyo City in the eastern part of the prefecture, and total over 8 million people....
, and in the following years he performed consular duties

Consul (representative)

The title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the people of the country to whom he or she is accredited and the country of which he or she is a...
at the Chinese consulates in Tsukiji

Tsukiji

Tsukiji is a district of Chuo, Tokyo, Japan, the site of the Tsukiji fish market. Literally meaning "land reclamation," it lies near the Sumida River on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in the 1700s, during the Edo period....
, Osaka

Osaka

is a Cities of Japan in Japan, located at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, in the Kansai region of the main island of Honshu.Osaka is a City designated by government ordinance under the Local Autonomy Law and the capital city of Osaka Prefecture....
and Kobe

Kobe

is the List of Japanese cities by population in Japan and as the capital city of Hyogo Prefecture and a prominent port city in Japan with a population of about 1.5 million....
respectively. During his tenure in Kobe, he worked closely with the Chinese community and played an instrumental part in establishing the Chinese guild (Zhonghuá huìguan ????) there. In Japan, Zheng also interacted with a number of influential politicians and scholars, such as Ito Hirobumi

Ito Hirobumi

Prince was a Japanese statesman, Resident-General of Korea, four time Prime Minister of Japan and genro. Ito was assassinated by An Jung-geun, a Korean nationalist who was against the Annexation of Korea by the Japanese Empire....
, Mutsu Munemitsu

Mutsu Munemitsu

Count was a statesman and diplomat in Meiji period Japan....
and Naito Torajiro

Naito Torajiro

Naito Torajiro , commonly known as Naito Konan , was a Japan historian and Sinology. He was the founder of the Kyoto School of historiography, and along with Shiratori Kurakichi , was one of the leading Japanese historians of East Asia in the early twentieth century....
.

Government service

Following the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese war

First Sino-Japanese War

The First Sino-Japanese War was a war fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji period Imperial Japan over the control of Korea. The Sino-Japanese War would come to symbolize the degeneration and enfeeblement of the Qing Dynasty and demonstrate how successful modernization had been in Japan since the Meiji Restoration as compared with the...
in 1894, Zheng was forced to leave Japan. Having returned to China, Zheng joined the secretariat of the reformist statesman Zhang Zhidong

Zhang Zhidong

Zhang Zhidong was an eminent Chinese politician during the late Qing Dynasty who advocated for controlled reform. Along with Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang and Zuo Zongtang, he was one of the "Four Famous Officials of the Late Qing" ....
in Nanjing

Nanjing

is the capital city of China's Jiangsu province of China, and a city with a prominent place in Chinese history and Chinese culture. Nanjing served as the capital of China during several historical periods and is listed as one of the Historical capitals of China....
and followed him to Beijing

Beijing

is a metropolis in northern China and the Capital of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the four municipality of China, which are equivalent to province in China's Political divisions of China....
, where Zheng obtained a position in the Qing foreign office, the Zongli Yamen

Zongli Yamen

Zongli Yamen was the name of the government office/department of foreign relations of imperial China during the Qing dynasty. It was established by Prince Gong in 1861, following the Convention of Peking....
. Following the abortive Hundred Days' Reform

Hundred Days' Reform

The Hundred Days' Reform was a failed 104-day national cultural, political and educational reform movement from 11 June to 21 September 1898, undertaken by the young Guangxu Emperor and his reform-minded supporters led by Kang Youwei....
in 1898, Zheng left his post in Beijing and took up a number of important government positions in central and southern China. After the collapse of the imperial system

Xinhai Revolution

The Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution , also known as the 1911 Revolution or the Chinese Revolution, began with the Wuchang Uprising on October 10, 1911 and ended with the abdication of Emperor Puyi on February 12, 1912....
in 1911, Zheng remained loyal to the Qing dynasty and refused to serve under China's Republican government

History of the Republic of China

The history of the Republic of China begins after the Qing Dynasty in 1912, when the formation of the Republic of China ended over two thousand years of Imperial rule....
. Instead he withdrew from public life entirely and retired comfortably in Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the List of cities in the People's Republic of China by population in China and one of the List of metropolitan areas by population in the world, with over 20 million people....
, where he devoted his time to calligraphy, poetry

Chinese poetry

Chinese poetry is the most highly regarded Chinese literature. Traditionally, it is divided into shi , ci and qu . There is also a kind of Prose poetry called Fu ....
and art, while also writing extensive articles critical of the Kuomingtang leadership, whom he characterized as “thieves”.

Qing loyalist and Collaboration with the Japanese

In 1923, the former Qing emperor Puyi

Puyi

Puyi , of the Manchu Aisin-Gioro ruling family, was the last Emperor of China. He ruled in two periods between 1908 and 1924, firstly as the Xuantong Emperor between 1908 and 1912, and nominally as a non-ruling puppet emperor for twelve days in 1917....
summoned Zheng to Beijing in order to reorganize the imperial household. Zheng became a close adviser of Puyi and helped arrange for his flight to the foreign concession at Tianjin

Tianjin

is the third largest city of the People's Republic of China in terms of urban population. Administratively it is one of the four municipality that have Political divisions of China status, reporting directly to the central government....
after his expulsion from the Forbidden City

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the China imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, People's Republic of China, and now houses the Palace Museum....
. Zheng remained loyal to the throne and secretly met with Japanese officials and groups such as the Black Dragon Society

Black Dragon Society

The was a prominent paramilitary, ultra-nationalist right-wing group in Japan....
to discuss a restoration of the Qing dynasty in Manchuria

Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within People's Republic of China, or is divided between China and Russia....
. Following Japan's occupation of the territory in 1931, Zheng played an important role in establishing the puppet state

Puppet state

The term puppet state describes a nominal sovereignty controlled effectively by a foreign power.. The term refers to a government controlled by the government of another country like a puppeteer controls the strings of a marionette....
of Manchukuo

Manchukuo

Manchukuo was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia. The region was the Qing Dynasty's historical homeland, created by former Qing Dynasty officials with help from Imperial Japan in 1932....
, becoming its first prime minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of Cabinet in the Executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician....
the following year.

Zheng also composed the lyrics of the National Anthem of Manchukuo

National Anthem of Manchukuo

The National Anthem of Manchukuo was one of the many national symbols of independence and sovereignty created to foster a sense of legitimacy for Manchukuo in both an effort to secure international diplomatic recognition and to foster a sense of patriotism among its inhabitants....
. Zheng had hoped that Manchukuo would become a springboard for the restoration of Qing rule in the whole of China, but he soon found out that the real rulers of Manchukuo, the Japanese Kwantung Army

Kwantung Army

The , also known as the Guandong Army , was an army group of the Imperial Japanese Army in the early twentieth century. It became the largest and most prestigious command in the IJA....
, did not share his ambitions. As Prime Minister of Manchukuo, Zheng frequently disagreed with the Imperial Japanese Army

Imperial Japanese Army

The Imperial Japanese Army , or literally Army of Empire of Greater Japan was the official ground based armed force of Imperial Japan from 1867 to 1945....
leadership. In May 1935, he resigned from his office and three years later he died suddenly under unclear circumstances. He was accorded a state funeral

State funeral

A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony held to honour heads of state or other important people of national significance. They usually include much pomp and ceremony....
in April 1938.

Legacy

Although Zheng Xiaoxu is mostly remembered today for his collaboration with the Japanese, he is still recognized as an accomplished poet and calligrapher. Zheng kept an extensive diary, which is still valued by historians as important source material.

Zheng Xiaoxu

Early life and diplomatic career

Government service

Qing loyalist and Collaboration with the Japanese

Legacy

Further reading

External links