Zeng Guofan

In July 1864, Tianjing fell into Zeng's hands, and he was rewarded with the noble peerage "First Class Marquis Yiyong" (一等毅勇侯) and the right to wear the double-eyed peacock's feather. He, Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang were collectively called "Zeng, Zuo, Li" – the military leaders who suppressed the Taiping Rebellion. After the suppression of the rebellion, the Nian Rebellion, closely related^{[dubious – discuss]} to the former Taiping movement, broke out in Shandong Province, and Zeng was sent to quell it.

Success did not, however, always attend him on this campaign, and by imperial order he was relieved of his command by Li Hongzhang, who in the same way succeeded him as the Viceroy of Zhili, where, after the Tianjin Massacre (1870), Zeng failed to carry out the wishes of the imperial court. Instead of the desired policy towards foreigners, Zeng took on a more diplomatic stance. After this rebuff, he retired to his viceroyalty at Nanjing, where he died in 1872 mysteriously in Hong Xiuquan's former mansion.

Personal life

Zeng was a voluminous writer. His papers addressed to the throne and his literary disquisitions are held in high esteem by Chinese scholars, who treasure the edition of his collected works in 156 books, which was edited by Li Hongzhang in 1876, as a memorial of a great and incorruptible statesman. Zeng enjoyed reading and held a special interest in the Twenty-Four Histories and other Chinese classics.

Zeng called Hakka females "big foot hillbilly witches" during the Taiping Rebellion after encountering them for the first time.^[10]

Unlike his contemporaries, who had multiple wives or kept

Zeng's ninth brother, Zeng Guoquan, was an ambitious general in the Xiang Army. He was later appointed Viceroy of Liangjiang in 1884. Zeng's great-granddaughter, Zeng Baosun, was a feminist, historian, and Christian educator.

Zeng is said to be a descendant of

Legacy

Zeng's legacy in history is twofold. On one hand he is criticised as a staunchly conservative traitor, but on another he is seen as a hero in preserving order and stability. Many in China and abroad admire his ability to successfully survive in the ruthless bureaucracy of the late Qing dynasty. Many have blamed Zeng for all the civilian losses and damages done during the Taiping Rebellion, while others criticise him for being too friendly with certain foreign ideas. Much Chinese language historiography, including numerous biographies, has questioned what made him fight for an essentially foreign dynasty.

Since the Cultural Revolution, criticism of Zeng gradually began to disappear. Tang Haoming published in 1992 his three-book trilogy Zeng Guofan, a novelisation of Zeng's life during and after the Taiping Rebellion. This trilogy characterised Zeng as a common person, but had adopted a much more positive view of Zeng. Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek also praised Zeng's ability in military and political affairs.

In recent years, Zeng's life and his works have been widely celebrated, especially as an example of local pride in Hunan Province. Zeng's leadership and military skills had been used by many as a new field of thought aiding in business or bureaucratic dealings, as in the "self-help" 99 Strategems from Zeng Guofan.^[11]

Succession of the First Class Marquis Yiyong peerage

See also

• List of unsolved deaths
• Former Residence of Zeng Guofan
• Tomb of Zeng Guofan
• Taqibu

Notes