July 22
On this day in 1864, a captured Taiping leader states it is necessary to copy foreign devil technology.
On this day in 1864:
Jonathan Spence relates that on this day in 1864 Li Xiucheng ( 李秀成, AKA Loyal King AKA 中王), had been caught fleeing the siege of Nanjing by the forces of Zeng Guofan.1
Zeng, an exceptionally famous Chinese general serving under the Manchu Qing dynasty, had earlier met2 with the allied US mercenary Anson Burlingame concerning Zeng’s efforts to throw down the Taiping Rebellion and later had less illustrious engagements with Burlingame’s former mercenary colleague, Henry A Burgevine (to be featured on a later date).
Zeng ordered Li to write an in-depth account of the activities of himself and the rest of the Taiping. In an early instance of advocating technology transfer from other countries, during this interrogation Li attempts to impress upon Zeng the necessity of copying “foreign devil technology” due to likelihood of war with them (the foreign devils) in the future.
While apparently no few details in Li’s confession were later edited out by Zeng and his staff,3 this anecdote, as related by Spence, survives. The 19th century featured an exceptional variety of critical opinion about how China should respond to foreign culture and technology4 and Zeng himself was in broad agreement that there was much that could and should be learned. That same year, according to Marxist theorist and propagandist Hu Sheng, Zeng sent Yale grad Yung Wing (also to be featured later) back to the United States to buy machinery and, due to their efforts, only eight years later the first large group of Chinese students was sent to the United States.5
Li Xiucheng ruefully noted his experience with foreign devil technology:
“Ningpo, which we had been, as is known, invited to take by the devils, was afterwards attacked by devils, whose minds had been lured on to do so by Imperialist money. The formidable nature of the foreign devils' guns invariably hitting their mark, enabled them to make a breach in the walls, and our troops being unable to maintain their stand retreated upon Yuhang. After the devils had received their reward for their success at Ningpo, they went on to [Shaoxing], receiving further gains for their service.”6
Li Xiucheng: source
God's Chinese Son, Spence, Jonathan D., 1996, New York
China's Response to the West: A Documentary Survery 1839-1923, Pg.62
see pg 40 for example: Taiping Rebel, The Deposition of Li Hsiu-ch’eng, available at: https://books.google.com/books?id=eO48AAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
See China’s Response To The West, ed by Fairbank.
Imperialism and Chinese Politics, Hu Sheng, 1955, Peking, pg.95
The Autobiography of the Chung-Wang, published by Presbyterian Mission Press, 1865, p.57. Available at: https://archive.org/details/autobiographych00ligoog/page/n10/mode/2up?q=foreign