On this day 123 years ago, October 6, 1902 (September 5, 1902 in the lunar calendar), Liu Kunyi, Governor of Liangjiang and Minister of Nanyang Trade, died of illness. Liu Kunyi (January 21, 1830 - October 6, 1902), Ziyan Zhuang. Born in Linjeng. A native of Xinning, Hunan. Emerging in the Taiping Rebellion, he became one of the Han nationality's grand officials who rose rapidly that day. After the deaths of Zeng Guofan and Tso Zongtang, he and Zhang Zhidong became the leaders of the late Westernization Movement, and played an important role in the historical events of the late Qing Dynasty such as the First Sino-Japanese War, the Hundred-Day Restoration, the Boxer Rebellion, and the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty. The process of Liu Kunyi's early political achievements was similar to that of many other Han governors at that time, such as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang. They were all typical examples of Confucians who were dissatisfied with the chaos of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and participated in local village bravery, and then were promoted to local officials because of their military achievements. In 1855, Liu Kunyi participated in the township brave regiment training during the turmoil of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, joined Jiang Zhongyuan's Hunan army to conquer the Taiping army, and later led the Hunan army to make meritorious deeds, and was promoted from Linjeng to the lecturer, prefect, prefect, prefect, Guangdong magistrate and Guangxi emissary. Since 1865, he has been promoted to governor of Jiangxi. He has a conservative style during his tenure. He believes that the prosperity and strength of society come from the excellent system of laws and regulations, and copying Western technology is not as good as "self-reliance". He does not agree with the concept of "learning from the barbarians to control the barbarians" of the Westernization school. This idea can be reflected in his speech: "The way to govern should be based on the root and clear the source. If you want to win the end, you will waste your efforts. The good laws and good intentions of the country and dynasty all have established rules, because they are old and new, and they are realized according to their names. There is no need to seek lofty and extravagant words. When the chaos is calm, people's hearts will be calm, and those who aspire to reason will be at this time! "Therefore, Liu Kunyi's governance achievements on that day were similar to the traditional Chinese reform model, such as starting to rectify the governance of officials, advocating Confucian Taoism, increasing income and reducing expenditure, and people's livelihood, in order to restore the inherent order that was shaken after the chaos of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. In terms of rectifying the administration of officials, after four months of taking office as governor, he replaced 8 prefects, prefects and prefects at one time, and 7 envoys and magistrates were replaced during the following nine years of office; he revived the academy by advocating the education of Confucian orthodoxy, issued books such as "George" and "Xuezhi" to various prefectures and counties, and rewarded the gentry and advocated Confucianism; there were concise and brave camps for financial rectification to save military expenses, which would be reduced from 43,000 to 5700 people in local villages, and the shortage of green camps was replenished to prevent some people in the army from exaggerating the amount of troops to embezzle military funds. At the same time, Lijin and customs duties were rectified, so that Lijin income increased from an average of 870,000 to 1.53 million to enrich local finances; rural taxes were also reduced, grain seeds and agricultural implements were provided to The agricultural economy was revived and the people rested. The reform of the military was introduced only in 1874, the year before he left his post as governor, to introduce foreign guns into the army. Mid-term achievements In 1875, Liu Kun served as the governor of Liangjiang, and the following year was promoted to the governor of Liangjiang until 1879. After that, he served as the governor of Liangjiang and the minister of Nanyang Trade for two years in 1880. From this period, due to the promotion of official positions, he began to contact and understand Western affairs (the governor of Liangjiang and Guangguang was stationed in Jiangning and Guangzhou, which had more business with foreigners, respectively, on the contrary, Jiangxi was only an inland province), and gave limited support to Westernization. During his tenure as Governor of Liangjiang and Governor of Liangjiang, he rectified law and order, focusing on the suppression of the Kolaos and pirates; when he was Governor of Liangjiang, he believed that gambling was bad and banned gambling; when he was Governor of Liangjiang, he followed the fiscal policy of rectifying his position as Governor of Jiangxi, streamlining the military camp to save military expenses, reducing the number of local heroes by a quarter, reducing military salaries for donations to Shaanxi, and investigating corruption in China Merchants Group. In promoting Westernization, during his tenure as Governor of Liangjiang, he developed maritime transportation, supported the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau's shipbuilding, and proposed the specialization of production in various arsenals. However, he also opposed coal mining and the development of railways, among which he opposed the development of railways because he was worried that railways would make the bearers and the ship owners of the Grand Canal unemployed. The later achievements began in 1890. He was reinstated as Governor of Liangjiang and Minister of Nanyang Trade. In 1891, he was appointed to assist in naval affairs. In 1894, during the Sino-Japanese War, he was awarded the title of Minister of the Imperial Court to control the fighting against Japan by the armies inside and outside the Guan Dynasty. Liu Kunyi's attitude towards Westernization during this period was more active than before, including promoting modernization policies such as promoting the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau to train steel on its own, proposing to mine coal in Hunan and establish railways on its own. In 1895, he and Zhang Zhidong jointly proposed reforms including military, economic and educational modernization. He also participated in organizations such as the Strong Society that advocated reform in 1895 and donated 5,000 taels of silver. In addition to promoting Westernization, he continued the traditional French-style policy of rectifying official governance and public security, including sponsoring eight people who were close to the people, prefects and prefects, and managing regiment training. In 1892, he eliminated the Columbia Lao Association in Liangjiang. After the 1898 coup d'état, he strongly opposed Empress Dowager Cixi's dethronement of Emperor Guangxu, advocated severe suppression during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, and together with Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai and others advocated the organization of Southeast Mutual Insurance, which protected the southeast provinces from the chaos of the regiment. Later, in 1901, he co-signed with Zhang Zhidong on the "Three Folds in the River and Chu", advocating the development of talents and learning, rectification and change of the imperial government, and the adoption of Western law to reverse the declining situation of the Qing Dynasty, which opened the herald of the late Qing Dynasty reform. However, shortly after the reform began, Liu Kunyi died in 1902 and bestowed his posthumous loyalty Comments: A relatively progressive minister in the late Qing court.