Background
Shen Baozhen was born in 1820 into a scholar-gentry family of modest means in Fuzhou, Fujian.
Shen Baozhen was born in 1820 into a scholar-gentry family of modest means in Fuzhou, Fujian.
Shen Baozhen was brought up by his parents and teachers to abide by the noblest of Confucian principles and to apply them in the tradition of the School of Practical Statecraft (jingshi). In 1839 Shen passed his provincial (juren) examinations. Shen eventually earned his metropolitan (jinshi) degree in 1847, entered the Hanlin Academy, and received a series of appointments in the imperial capital.
In 1854 he was made a supervisory censor for Jiangsu and Anhui, which were being bitterly contested between the Taiping rebels and government forces. His censorial memorials, incisive and critical of the government’s management of military affairs and the wartime economy, betrayed a strong reformist bent as well as courage borne out of loyalty to the throne.
During his early years, Shen was influenced not only by the poignant anti-British sentiments of one of his teachers but also by his father-in-law, who played a central role in the Opium War (1839-1842). Lin's continued dedication to the dynasty after his exile in 1841 may also have left a deep imprint on Shen. Shen's loyalty to the throne and the dynasty was exhibited in 1856 when he and his wife, with only a small number of troops at their disposal, refused to abandon his prefectural seat of Guangxin, Jiangxi, in the face of a strong rebel onslaught. After the siege was raised by the arrival of reinforcements, Zeng Guofan commended Shen for his loyalty and un-swerving adherence to Confucian principles, and Shen became a legend in his own time.
Rapid promotions followed, and in early 1862, at the age of forty-one, he became the governor of Jiangxi. Though the province was often tereatened by the Taipings, Shen, along with his superior, Zeng Guofan, now governor general of the Liang Jiang provinces, introduced a series of tax rate reductions. Shen himself also started Jiangxi on the road to rehabilitation. As a result his province was able to contribute substantial material aid to Zeng's military efforts. But Zeng's demands were great and Shen, having to defend his own province as well, was unable to meet Zeng's needs in full. Zeng was greatly displeased. When Nanjing, the Taiping capital, fell in mid-1864, Shen's forces tracked down Hong Xiuquan's heir, Hong Fu, and captured him. Zeng, who earlier had mistakenly reported that Hong Fu was killed in battle, was embarrassed and became further estranged from Shen. Still, the throne rewarded Shen for his services in the Taiping war with the button of the first rank and the hereditary title Qingche duyu of the first class.
As governor of Jiangxi, Shen was exposed for the first time to the presence of the West. One unfortunate encounter involved the destruction of properties of the Roman Catholic Church and its Chinese followers by the local population. That the antimissionary riots were allowed to take place was often attributed to Shen's antiforeignism. But if his handling of foreign affairs is examined as a whole, it becomes evident that his overriding concern was with China’s territorial and administrative integrity. In fact, he was generally fair-minded in adhering to the provisions of the treaties, and was ready to acknowledge the advantages of such Western inventions as the telegraph and the steamship.
Shen was an able governor, but just as conditions began to improve after the defeat of the Taipings, he, in 1865, had to retire to his native Fuzhou to mourn his mother’s death. It was there in 1866, that Zuo Zongtang persuaded him to accept the director generalship of the Fuzhou Navy Yard, which was being planned. Out of a sense of patriotism and the need to tend to his aging father at Fuzhou, Shen sacrificed a promising career and took a post that was viewed by many as unworthy.
In the next eight years (1867-1875) Shen headed China’s first full-scaled naval dockyard and academy. Despite the stigma attached to this transplant of Western technology, made even less appealing by the presence of a large contingent of French engineers and technicians, Shen directed the Navy Yard with unusual vigor and dedication. He encouraged his gentry-staff to acquaint themselves with modern science and technology, and created opportunities for job specialization among them. Schools were established to train young Chinese in modern naval warfare, construction, and navigation. Chinese workers and apprentices were also given instruction in modern shipbuilding. The vessels built were used to suppress pirates, rescue mer-chant ships in distress, and, in 1874-1875, help defend Taiwan during a Japanese invasion. Initially designed to build only fully-rigged, steam-powered wooden vessels, the Navy Yard,under Shen’s leadership,quickly moved to building the next generation of warships composite gunboats with compound engines immediately after the contract with the Europeans expired in 1874. Graduates of the Navy Yard school were also sent to Europe for advanced studies. Though successful in building warships and training naval personnel, Shen, without strong support from either the throne or the provinces,made little headway in the creation of a “national” or even regional naval service.
The Japanese invasion of Taiwan jolted the Qing court to reexamine its policy of defense modernization. One result was the appointment of Shen to the all-important post of governor general of the Liang Jiang provinces, and the concurrent office of imperial commissioner for the southern ports. Shen was thus charged with not only the administration of the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, and Jiangxi, but also the foreign affairs and defense of the southern coastal provinces. For a time, it appeared that he could have worked in tandem with Li Hongzhang, his counterpart in the north. But Shen's efforts were repeatedly frustrated by the shortage of funds and, again, by the lack of central planning and decisive leadership from Beijing. So, despite his larger powers, he was unable to implement most of the reforms he had been advocating since the mid-1860s: modernizing the curriculum of the civil service examinations, encouragement of the scholar-gentry to study science, centralized budgeting, and the creation of a modern naval force. Under these circumstances, Shen, to defend China's territorial and administrative integrity, had to resort to the rather negative approach of curbing further Western incursions. His purchase and destruction of the Wusong (Woosung) Railway, often misunderstood, is a case in point. He was not opposed to the railway per se,but only to an unauthorizeci,foreign- owned railway in China. (His subsequent attempt to use the materials for a railway on Taiwan had to be abandoned for lack of funds.)
Shen's administration of the Liang Jiang provinces began most promisingly. He worked hard at restoring the quality of government, applying the strictest standards in the periodic examination of his subordinates. He also made substantial progress in the reconstruction of the post Taiping economy. But before the full benefits of his efforts could be felt, the provinces were devastated by successive years of locust plagues which,in turn,were aggravated by the prolonged drought and famine in north China. His own failing health also adversely affected his administration, which finally came to an abrupt end with his death in December 1879.
Shen was an administrator of unimpeachable probity and dedication. He combined Confucian principles with practicality. His patriotism led him to an unusual career path. As a modernizer, he not only gave the Fuzhou Navy Yard the most successful period in its entire history, he also used his position in it to acquaint himself with Western technology, and to introduce the first rnodern coal mine and telegraph lines in China. Throughout his career, however, his reforms and modernizing efforts were frequently thwarted by imperial indecision and conservative obstruction. Then, toward the end, his poor health and untimely death also prevented him from leaving a stronger legacy for modern China.
Impressed by the qualities of the young Shen, Lin Zexu promised him the hand of his second daughter, Puq-ing. The couple married in 1839.