Background
Born in backward Fengshun in northeastern Guangdong, Ding, determined to rise above the limitations set by an unfavorable environment, developed early in life character traits that were at once admirable and abrasive.
Born in backward Fengshun in northeastern Guangdong, Ding, determined to rise above the limitations set by an unfavorable environment, developed early in life character traits that were at once admirable and abrasive.
Son of a pharmacist with a modest income, Ding began his education at a temple school. When he was about twelve years of age, his father died, and the family had to eke out a living on his mother's meager earnings from weaving. Despite adversity, Ding earned the xiucai degree before he was twenty. He soon confirmed his newly earned gentry status by passing the annual examination, which gave him the rank of stipendiary student (lingsheng).
A talented essayist, Ding soon caught the attention of local officials. A patron financed his journey to Guangzhou for the provincial examinations in 1845. Unsuccessful at the examinations, Ding, perhaps with the help of this same patron, purchased the title of a student of the Imperial Academy (gongshettg). After having taught at a local school (1845-1848), thanks to his essay-writing skills, he found employment as the personal secretary (mu-you) to a succession of local officials. Then, in 1850, he failed the provincial examinations a second time and was never to try again. The failure to master the archaic subject matter or the eight-legged essay (baguwen) of the examinations reasons for his failure may have fueled his zeal for reform of the traditional civil service examinations.
Though he was to succeed later as an official, Ding, without a higher degree,always felt like an “outsider” on the “inside” His Hakka ( guest settler”)origins further added to his sense of estrangement. Ding earned his first office in 1857 for his leadership in suppressing a group of bandits allied to the Taipings in the Chaozhou area. He was sent to Chiongzhou prefecture on Hainan Island as a subdirector of schools, but was promoted within a year to the magistracy of Wan'an in Jiangxi province. In the mid-1850s, large parts of the province had fallen under the Taipings. Therefore, on arrival, Ding found not only a devastated Wan5an, but also one plagued by lawlessness. Many of the perpetrators were civil servants and military men. They set up illegal lijitt (likin) stations, extorted contributions from commoners, and linked up with bandits to plunder the people. Ding quickly put a stop to these abuses. He paid special attention to legal matters. By fairly and expeditiously settling huge numbers of back-logged cases, he effectively thwarted pettifoggery, and deprived yamen (government) underlings of the opportunities for pretrial extortion. To restore the community to normalcy, Ding also encouraged education and rebuilt the local academy and the city religious temple, both destroyed by the Taipings. This energy and administrative style typified his approach to government throughout his entire career.
In 1860, while serving as acting magistrate of Luling, Ding committed a strategic error and lost both his county seat as well as his rank and job. But by this time, his administrative skills had already been noted by Li Hanzhang and his brother, Hongzhang. The latter recommended him to Zeng Guofan, who made him a member of his personal staff in late 1861.
For his meritorious service, the throne restored Ding to his former status in early 1862 at Zeng's recommendation. The latter then sent him in a nine- man team to Guangdong to manage the province's lijin and thus insure support for his anti-Taiping campaign. While in Guangdong, Ding made guns for the local commanders.
In December 1863 Li Hongzhang secured Ding’s services for his antirebel campaign in Jiangsu and for directing one of Li5s newly founded arsenals at Shanghai. As the rebels’ defeat became evident,Ding was also put in charge of the delicate mission to disband the Ever Victorious Army, a corps of mercenaries.
Dingus successes led to a series of promotions. In mid-1864, he was made acting Intendant of the Su-Song-Tai Circuit. During his 15-month incumbency, he dealt severely with oppressive officials and military officers, improved Shanghai public safety, and started the Longmen Academy to promote the study of current affairs among examination candidates. In foreign affairs, he disciplined rapacious officials of the foreign-run Imperial Maritime Customs Service, and regained overall control over the military training camp at Fenghuangshan, hitherto dominated by British officers. But in all matters he administered treaty provisions in a manner fair to both sides. To recapture lost economic interests, he also advocated the creation a Chinese commercial steamship company, an idea that was not realized until 1872. In 1865 he effected the purchase of a foreign factory, which he combined with two of Li Hongzhang arsenals to form the Jiangnan Arsenal.
Because of his growing expertise on foreign matters (yangwu) Ding enjoyed a series of rapid promotions: Liang-Huai Salt Controller in September 1865, Jiangsu Finance Commissioner in early 1867, and the Governor of Jiangsu in January 1868. He then retired in January 1871 to mourn his mother’s death. In Jiangsu, Ding introduced numerous measures to improve the government. MSelf-strengtheningM(ziqiang) had become the slogan of many forward-looking officials of the Restoration. Ding, like Shen Baozhen, saw the restoration of good government and military modernization as part and parcel of the drive toward self-strengthening, and attended to both with rigor. He clamped down on official corruption and oppression, made taxes more equitable, and promoted water conservancy and agriculture.
In foreign matters, Ding insured the continued growth of the Jiangnan Arsenal, expanding its shipbuilding program, and helped the establishment of the Tianjin Arsenal. He supported the training of future generations of modernizers both at home and abroad. In 1870 he helped settle the dispute over the Tianjin Massacre. Despite his short tenure in Jiangsu, Ding was regarded as its best governor since Lin Zexu, although his persistence in eradicating corruption had earned him many political enemies.
In 1871—1873, Ding mourned his mother’s death in his native Fengshun. In late 1875, after helping Li Hongzhang settle the Margary Affair, he succeeded Shen Baozhen as director-general of the Fuzhou Navy Yard, a job he held only briefly as he was made governor of Fujian six months later. Other than his strong administration, his governorship was noted for his development of Taiwan both as a frontier region and as a major center for China maritime defense. Two telegraph lines and a mechanized coal mine, begun by Shen Baozhen,were completed under him. Both were firsts in China’s history.
Ill health and frustration with insufficient imperial support for defense modernization led to a decision to retire in May 1878. But even in retirement,he continued to serve the government on special missions,such as the settlement of the Wushishan antimissionary case of Fuzhou, and wrote an impassioned memorial to the throne and letters to former colleagues calling for major overhauls of China’s maritime defense efforts in light of the new international environment. He died in 1882.