# Zeng Jize

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Qing ambassador and diplomat (1839–1890)

Marquis Zeng Jize 曾紀澤 3rd Chinese Ambassador to Russia In office 12 February 1880 – 17 August 1886 Monarch Guangxu Preceded by Shao Youyu Succeeded by Liu Ruifen 2nd Chinese Ambassador to the UK In office 25 August 1878 – 27 July 1885 Monarch Guangxu Preceded by Guo Songtao Succeeded by Liu Ruifen 2nd Chinese Ambassador to France In office 25 August 1878 – 28 April 1884 Monarch Guangxu Preceded by Guo Songtao Succeeded by Xu Jingcheng Personal details Born (1839-12-07)7 December 1839 Died 12 April 1890(1890-04-12) (aged 50) Parent Zeng Guofan (father) Known for Signed Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881) Writing career Notable works China, the Sleep and the Awakening

Zeng Jize Traditional Chinese 曾紀澤 Simplified Chinese 曾纪泽 Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zēng Jìzé Wade–Giles Tseng1 Chi4-tse2

Marquis **Zeng Jize** (7 December 1839 – 12 April 1890; [traditional Chinese](/source/Traditional_Chinese_characters): 曾紀澤; [simplified Chinese](/source/Simplified_Chinese_characters): 曾纪泽, *Zēng Jìzé*), also [formerly romanized](/source/Wade-Giles) **Tseng Chi-tse**, was a Chinese diplomat. As one of China's earliest ministers to London, Paris and Saint Petersburg, he played an important role in the diplomacy that preceded and accompanied the [Sino-French War](/source/Sino-French_War). He pioneered the use of telegrams for diplomatic correspondence between Qing legations and its foreign ministry, the [Zongli Yamen](/source/Zongli_Yamen). His 1887 profile, "China: the Sleep, and the Awakening", was widely noticed in the West.[1]

## Early career

Zeng Jize (1839–90), a native of Hunan province, was the eldest son of [Zeng Guofan](/source/Zeng_Guofan) (曾國藩), a leading reformist minister at the Qing court, who was a descendants of [Zengzi](/source/Zengzi). Zeng had inherited his father's title of Marquis in 1877. He received a traditional Chinese education, but was also one of the few Chinese officials who learned English and took an interest in European affairs. With these advantages he was persuaded to represent China's interests abroad as a diplomat.[2]

## Marquis Zeng's diplomacy

Zeng was appointed minister to Britain, France and Russia in 1878, and lived in Europe for seven years (1879–1885). He made his name as a diplomat in 1880 and 1881, by renegotiating the infamous 1879 [Treaty of Livadia](/source/Treaty_of_Livadia) with Russia. The resulting [Treaty of Saint Petersburg](/source/Treaty_of_Saint_Petersburg_(1881)) (February 1881), which reversed most of the Russian gains of 1879, was generally considered a diplomatic triumph for China.[3][4]

Zeng's duties as minister to Paris were dominated by the confrontation between France and China over Tonkin that eventually culminated in the [Sino-French War](/source/Sino-French_War). Zeng's denunciations of French policy in Tonkin began softly enough in April 1882 after the capture of the citadel of Hanoi by [Henri Rivière](/source/Henri_Rivi%C3%A8re_(naval_officer)), grew more insistent as French ambitions became clearer in the summer of 1883, and reached a climax immediately after the [Sơn Tây Campaign](/source/S%C6%A1n_T%C3%A2y_Campaign) in December 1883.

In July 1883 Zeng's optimistic assessment that the French government had no stomach for a full-scale war with China influenced the Qing government's decision to terminate the Shanghai negotiations between [Li Hongzhang](/source/Li_Hongzhang) and Arthur Tricou over the future of Tonkin. The failure of the Shanghai negotiations stiffened France's resolve to confront the [Black Flag Army](/source/Black_Flag_Army) to entrench its protectorate in Tonkin, and arguably made war between France and China inevitable.[5]

In August 1883, during a series of discussions in Paris with the French foreign minister [Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour](/source/Paul-Armand_Challemel-Lacour), Zeng used the good offices of the American chargé d'affaires E. J. Brulatour to convey Chinese proposals to the French, in an attempt to give the impression that the United States was more closely associated with China's diplomatic position on Tonkin than it really was. The manoeuvre was easily detected, and irritated both the French and the Americans.[6]

In January 1884, in the wake of Admiral [Amédée Courbet](/source/Am%C3%A9d%C3%A9e_Courbet)'s capture of Sơn Tây (16 December 1883), Zeng wrote a provocative article that made wounding references to the Franco-Prussian War ('The bravery of the French soldiers has been so widely praised that one might almost think that they had captured Metz or Strasbourg rather than Sơn Tây'). To add insult to injury, he arranged for this article to be published in Germany, in the *Breslau Gazette*.[7]

This and earlier provocations goaded the French government into demanding his replacement in April 1884. The Qing court, dismayed by the rout of China's [Guangxi Army](/source/Guangxi_Army) in the [Bắc Ninh Campaign](/source/B%E1%BA%AFc_Ninh_Campaign) (March 1884), complied with this demand on 28 April, paving the way for the conclusion of the Tientsin Accord between France and China in May 1884. [Xu Jingcheng](/source/Xu_Jingcheng) (許景澄), an emollient career diplomat, was appointed China's minister-general to France, Germany, Austria and Italy, and Zeng was simultaneously relieved of his position as minister to France, ostensibly to allow him to devote more time to his duties as minister to Britain and Russia. Pending Xu's arrival from China (he set sail in September 1884 and only arrived in Europe in early 1885), the Chinese minister to Germany Li Fengbao (李鳳苞) was appointed interim minister to France.[8]

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Scott, David (2008). *China and the International System, 1840-1949*. Stanford, CA: State University of New York Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780791477427](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780791477427).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Day, Jenny Huangfu (2018). *Qing travelers to the Far West : diplomacy and the information order in late imperial China*. Cambridge, United Kingdom. pp. 157–161. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-108-56901-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-108-56901-9). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [1076543091](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1076543091).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_location_missing_publisher))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Lung Chang, 66

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Hummel, Arthur W. Sr.](/source/Arthur_W._Hummel_Sr.), ed. (1943). ["Tsêng Chi-tsê"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Eminent_Chinese_of_the_Ch%27ing_Period/Ts%C3%AAng_Chi-ts%C3%AA). *[Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period](/source/Eminent_Chinese_of_the_Ch'ing_Period)*. [United States Government Printing Office](/source/United_States_Government_Publishing_Office).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Eastman, 76–84

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Chere, 143–52; Eastman, 85–7; Lung Chang, 174–6

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Lung Chang, 214–15

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Lung Chang, 215–19

## References

- Chere, L., *The Diplomacy of the Sino-French War (1883–1885): Global Complications of an Undeclared War* (Notre Dame, Indiana, 1988)

- Eastman, L., *Throne and Mandarins: China's Search for a Policy during the Sino-French Controversy* (Stanford, 1984)

- Lung Chang [龍章], *Yueh-nan yu Chung-fa chan-cheng* [越南與中法戰爭, Vietnam and the Sino-French War] (Taipei, 1993)

- [Hummel, Arthur W. Sr.](/source/Arthur_W._Hummel_Sr.), ed. (1943). ["Tsêng Chi-tsê"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Eminent_Chinese_of_the_Ch%27ing_Period/Ts%C3%AAng_Chi-ts%C3%AA). *[Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period](/source/Eminent_Chinese_of_the_Ch'ing_Period)*. [United States Government Printing Office](/source/United_States_Government_Publishing_Office).

- Day, Jenny Huangfu. *[Qing Travelers to the Far West: Diplomacy and the Information Order in Late Imperial China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/qing-travelers-to-the-far-west/3FB02283AEE938D8946BEC0CA607BDFE)*.

v t e Sino-French War Background French colonial empire France–Vietnam relations China–France relations Tonkin campaign Tianjin Accord Military and political developments Battle of Fuzhou Keelung campaign Kép campaign Battle of Tamsui Battle of Yu Oc Siege of Tuyên Quang Battle of Núi Bop Battle of Shipu Lạng Sơn campaign Battle of Đồng Đăng Battle of Zhenhai Battle of Hòa Mộc Battle of Phu Lam Tao Battle of Bang Bo Retreat from Lạng Sơn Tonkin Affair Pescadores campaign Treaty of Tianjin (1885) French personalities Amédée Courbet Marc-Edmond Dominé Jacques Duchesne Sébastien Lespès François de Négrier Jules Ferry Louis Brière de l'Isle Chinese personalities Liu Yongfu Liu Mingchuan Tang Jingsong Feng Zicai Li Hongzhang Zeng Jize Zhang Peilun Empress Dowager Cixi Armies and fleets Imperial Chinese Navy Beiyang Fleet Fujian Fleet Guangdong Fleet Nanyang Fleet Black Flag Army Far East Squadron Tonkin Expeditionary Corps Tonkin Flotilla Tonkinese Rifles Aftermath Tonkin Expedition commemorative medal Sino-French Convention (1887) Guangzhouwan

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