Tseng Kuo-fan

Tseng Kuo-fan , 1811-72, Chinese general and statesman of the Ch'ing dynasty. He organized (1853) the Hunan army, the first of the great regional armies that were raised to suppress the Taiping Rebellion. Appointed governor-general of Jiangsu, Anhui, and Jiangxi provs. (1860), Tseng coordinated the military campaign that crushed the Taiping main forces and took the rebel capital at Nanjing in 1864. He advocated a policy of conciliation with the Western powers and military self-strengthening. Under his sponsorship the Jiangnan Arsenal was established at Shanghai in 1865. In addition to producing the first modern weapons and ships, the arsenal's translation bureau played a major role in introducing Western technology and thought to China. Tseng was appointed a grand secretary (1867) and was made (1868) governor-general of Zhili (Hebei) prov. With the death of Tseng and the involvement of Tso Tsung-t'ang in suppressing the Muslim rebellion in NW China, Li Hung-chang became the leader of the self-strengthening movement.

Bibliography: See study by W. J. Hail (1927, repr. 1964).

Zeng Guofan (or Tseng Kuo-fan) (1811–72) Chinese soldier and statesman. An imperial official and scholar, critical of the emperor's behaviour and the government's financial policies, in 1852 he reluctantly agreed to organize imperial resistance to the TAIPING REBELLION, raising the Hunan Army, and played a key role in wearing down resistance. With the crucial help of purchased modern European weapons, foreign military containment of the rebels along the eastern coast, and the capture of Nanjing in 1864, he finally broke their power. He became Governor-General of Liang-Jiang, which gave him considerable powers in east-central China. In the 1860s and 1870s he supported the SELF-STRENGTHENING MOVEMENT and developed the Jiangnan Arsenal for the manufacture of modern arms and the study of Western technical literature and Western languages.