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Shen Baozhen
File:Shen Baozhen.jpg
Viceroy of Liangjiang

In office
1875–1879
Preceded by Liu Kunyi
Succeeded by Liu Kunyi
Personal details
Born 1820
Minhou, Fuzhou, Fujian
Died 1879 (aged 58–59)
Occupation Politician

Shen Baozhen or Shen Pao-chen[n. 1] (1820 – 1879) was a Chinese official during the Qing dynasty.

Biography[]

Born in Minhou in Fujian province, he obtained the highest degree in the imperial examinations in 1847 and was soon appointed to the Hanlin Academy.

His great administrative abilities attracted the attention of Zeng Guofan, who enlisted him in the effort to suppress the Taiping Rebellion.

Following the suppression of the rebellion in 1864, Shen became actively involved in the Self-strengthening movement and later worked on the shipyard in Fuzhou (Foochow). He utilized the skill of French technicians and workers – notably Prosper Giquel – to construct modern warships for the Imperial Navy prior to the destruction of the arsenal and the fleet itself during the Battle of Foochow in the 1883–1885 Sino-French War.

He also took part in obtaining a peace settlement with Japan, following the Japanese Taiwan Expedition of 1874. Then he was appointed as the Viceroy of Liangjiang in 1875 and died in 1879 during the post. He is chiefly remembered for his belated opposition to the Woosung Road Company's railroad, which he purchased and dismantled in its first year of operation,[1] limiting Shanghai's development for twenty years.[n. 2]

Shen was married to Lin Puqing (林普晴, 1821–77), the third daughter of Lin Zexu. She exhibited great courage and determined tenacity when under siege by the Taiping rebels at Guangxin when she bandaged troops, cooked for them and cut her finger to write a message in blood.

Notes[]

  1. Chinese: t 葆禎, s 葆祯, p Shěn Bǎozhēn.
  2. Shanghai remained unconnected to China's growing rail network until the line's reconstruction in 1898 and its subsequent extension to Nanjing in 1908.

References[]

  1. Huenemann, Ralph Wm. Harvard East Asian Monographs, Vol. 109. The Dragon and the Iron Horse: the Economics of Railroads in China, 1876–1937, pp. 2 ff. Harvard U. Asia Center, 1984. ISBN 0-674-21535-4. Accessed 14 Oct 2011.
  • Hummel, Arthur William, ed. Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644–1912). 2 vols. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1943.
  • Pong, David. Shen Pao-Chen and China's Modernization in the Nineteenth Century. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  • Shen, Richard. 'The Yellow Riding Jacket' Xlibris, 2008
Government offices
Preceded by
Liu Kunyi
Viceroy of Liangjiang
1875-1879
Succeeded by
Liu Kunyi
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