Ding Richang 丁日昌

Ting Jih-ch'ang 丁日昌 (T. 持靜, 雨生), 1813–1882, official, was a native of Fêng-shun, Kwangtung. When he was about twenty sui he became a hsiu-ts'ai, and soon thereafter purchased the title of a student of the Imperial Academy. When his talents as a writer became known, he was kept occupied as a secretary to local officials. In the meantime he purchased the rank of an expectant director of schools. For helping to subdue a band of local bandits, he was rewarded in 1854 with the rank of an expectant magistrate. In 1856 he was appointed subdirector of schools of the prefecture of Ch'iung-chou (Hainan Island), and three years later was made magistrate of Wan-an, Kiangsi. In 1861, while he was serving as acting magistrate of Lu-ling, that city fell to the Taiping Rebels. Although he and his superiors recovered it, he was cashiered for his failure to hold it. He then joined Tsêng Kuo-fan's [q.v.] staff in southern Anhwei; and for his service to Tsêng his earlier rank was restored to him (1862). He was sent to Kwangtung on an errand concerning likin (see under Kuo Sung-tao) and, while there, was asked to help in supervising the manufacture of firearms and ammunition. In 1863 he was repeatedly ordered by Li Hung-chang [q.v.] to return to Kiangsu to help make ammunition there.

At this time Li Hung-chang had two armies, both trained by Westerners: the Ever Victorious Army under Gordon (see under Li Hung-chang) at Kun-shan, and a smaller force under Macartney (see under Kuo Sung-tao) at Sungkiang (1863). Macartney started an arsenal which he and Li Hung-chang moved to Soochow (December 1863) and then to Nanking (June 1865). Ting probably joined Li's staff late in 1863 and began another smaller arsenal at Soochow. There was a third arsenal at Soochow, directed by Colonel Han Tien-chia 韓殿甲. At the same time Ting served on the Military Secretariat under Li Hung-chang. For his services, in a campaign by which Li recovered most of Kiangsu from the Taipings, Ting was rewarded with promotion to expectant prefect. In May 1864 he helped Gordon to disband the Ever Victorious Army, but since Parkes (see under Yeh Ming-ch'ên) and Hart (see under Chang Chih-tung) both opposed the disbandment, he and Gordon worked out a compromise plan to keep nine hundred of the four thousand men as a battalion under foreign officers, with quarters near Shanghai. It was probably owing to his skill in this matter that Ting was appointed acting, and later full, Shanghai taotai (intendant of the Soochow, Sungkiang and T'ai-ts'ang Circuit) to take charge of the customs and other matters relating to foreigners. Whereas Macartney's arsenal remained at Nanking, those of Ting and Han were moved to Shanghai. In 1865 Ting caused the purchase of machinery from a foreign factory at Shanghai, and with this he founded the Kiangnan Arsenal 江南機器製造局 which was located in 1867 on a site south of Shanghai. It progressed rapidly under the direction of Ying Pao-shih 應寶時 (T. 敏齋, b. 1821, chü-jên of 1844), Fêng Chün-kuang 馮焌光, (T. 竹儒, 1830–1878, chü-jên of 1853), and others. Attached to it were a language school (Kuang fang-yen kuan 廣方言館) and a department for translating foreign books (Fan-i kuan 繙譯館). The translation department published in the eighteen seventies and eighties more than two hundred works, mostly on, science, engineering, history, and international lawworks which had a powerful influence in the modernization of China.

In September 1865 Ting Jih-ch'ang was promoted to be salt controller of the Liang-Huai region, and early in 1866 was named financial commissioner of Kiangsu. Early in 1867 he became governor of Kiangsu, owing his rapid promotions in part to the recommendations of Li Hung-chang and Tsêng Kuo-fan, and in part to his fame as an expert on foreign affairs. Thus, in 1870, he was called to help Tsêng settle the case of the Tientsin Massacre (see under Ch'ung-hou). Late in that year, upon his return to Kiangsu, he retired to mourn the death of his mother, and remained at his home in Fêng-shun for more than four years. In 1875 he went to Peking for an audience, and was ordered to proceed to Tientsin to assist Li Hung-chang conclude treaties with Japan and Peru. In September he was made director-general of the Foochow Arsenal (see under Shên Pao-Chên), but three months later was made concurrently governor of Fukien. In 1876, at his own request, he was released from his duties in the Arsenal in order to devote his energy to provincial matters. He paid special attention to the development of Formosa, but his plans for building railroads and opening mines were not started, owing to lack of funds. When he tried to root out corrupt practices in Fukien officialdom he incurred the hatred of his subordinates who did all they could to make it difficult for him. Consequently he retired in 1877 on the plea of illness, but during his retirement he was several times called upon to settle cases in which foreigners were involved. He submitted a number of memorials advising the government on foreign affairs, and in 1879 was given the title of governor-general to take charge of the defenses of the south China coast and of foreign affairs. He was also highly praised for his efforts in soliciting contributions for the relief of famine in Shansi. Upon his death, however, the Court accorded him only the usual posthumous honors.

Ting Jih-ch'ang was a celebrated collector of rare books. During the Taiping Rebellion many old families in Kiangsu suffered seriously and could not retain their collections of books and antiques. Ting, as taotai of Shanghai and later as governor of Kiangsu, was thus in a favorable position to collect rare books and manuscripts which he entrusted to Mo Yu-chih [q.v.] to catalogue. In 1867–69, Mo made an annotated catalogue of the important items, entitled 持靜齋藏書紀要 Ch'ih-ching chai ts'ang-shu chi-yao, 2 chüan. Later Ting transferred his library to his home in Fêng-shun and compiled a more complete catalogue, entitled Ch'ih-ching chai shu-mu (書目), 4 chüan, with a supplement. A third catalogue of this collection was edited by Chiang Piao (see under Huang P'ei-lieh) and printed in 1895, under the title Fêng-shun Ting-shih (氏) Ch'ih-ching chai shu-mu. Ting is also credited with a collection of poems, entitled 百蘭山館詩集 Pai-lan-shan-kuan shih-chi, 6 chüan, and a collection of official papers as governor of Kiangsu, entitled 撫吳公牘 Fu-w'u kung-tu, 50 chüan.

While serving as taotai at Shanghai in 1864, Ting Jih-ch'ang founded there the Academy, Lung-mên shu-yüan 龍門書院, which flourished under the sponsorship of his successors until it was reorganized in 1904 as a normal school. Several men of note served as directors of the Academy, among them Sun Ch'iang-ming (see under Sun I-jang) and Wu Ta-ch'êng [q.v.]. Of many able students in the Academy, three may be mentioned: Yüan Ch'ang [q.v.]; Yüan Hsi-t'ao, 袁希濤 (T. 觀瀾, 1866-1930), Vice-minister of Education in 1915-19; and Hu Ch'uan 胡傳 (H. 鈍夫, 1841–1895), magistrate of T'ai-tung, Formosa, in 1893–95. Dr. Hu Shih (see under Ts'ui Shu), the son of the last-named, has been since 1917 the prime sponsor of the "Literary Revolution" in China, and served from 1938 to 1942 as Ambassador to the United States. The diary and other writings of Hu Ch'uan, including the note-books which he kept as a student in the Academy, are in existence, but have not been published.

[ 1/454/1a; 2/55/17a; Chin-shih jên-wu chih (see under Wêng T'ung-ho), p. 213; Li Hung-chang [q.v.], Li Wên-chung kung tsou-kao 4/44a, 6/49a, 6/52a, 7/17a, 9/31a; Shanghai hsien hsü-chih (1918) 13/3a; Kuo-li Chung-shan ta-hsüeh wên-shih-hsüeh Yen-chiu-so yüeh-k'an (National Sun Yat-sên University Monthly of the Institute of History and Language), vol. 2, no. 5 (1934) pp. 115–128 for extensive biog. of Ting.]

FANG CHAO-YING

《清史稿》卷448

丁日昌，字禹生，廣東豐順人。以廩貢生治鄉團，數卻潮州寇。選瓊州府學訓導。錄功敘知縣，補江西萬安，善折獄。坐吉安不守，罷免。參曾國藩戎幕，復官。李鴻章治軍上海，檄主機器局，積勛至知府。江寧既下，除蘇松太道。鴻章倚以辦外交，事有鉤棘，徐起應付，率皆就範。調兩淮鹽運使，淮鹽故弊藪，至則禁私販，糾貪吏，鬯運道，歲入驟增。同治六年，擢布政使，授巡撫。江南戎燼後，庶政不緝，日昌集流亡，除豪猾，設月報詞訟冊，定錢漕科則，下其法各省；又以州縣為親民官，疏請設局編刻牧令諸書。八年，奉敕訓勉臣工，日昌條上六事，曰：舉賢才，汰虛冗，益廉俸，選書吏，輸漕粟，變武科，言合旨要。遭憂歸。

光緒元年，起授福建巡撫，兼督船政，辭，不允。既蒞事，會霪雨，城內水逾丈，躬散賑，口煦手拊，卵翼備至，全濟災民數十萬。眾感泣，僉曰：「活我者，丁中丞也！」時臺灣生番未靖，遂力疾渡臺，自北而南，所至扶服蟻伏。惟鳳山轄境，悉芒社及獅頭、龜紋諸社素梗化，遣兵討平之，為立善後章程，皆遵約束。中路水埔六社不諳樹藝，雇漢民代耕，謂之「租貝岙業」。復令有司計口給銀米，教之耕作；廣設義學，教之識字。又罷臺屬漁戶稅。擬築鐵路，開礦產，移關稅釐榷造船械，臺民漸喁喁望治矣。還閩，移疾去，吏民啼泣遮道。

四年，疾稍間，被命赴福州，理烏石山教案。先是道光間，英人就山築室傳教，疆吏不能爭，以山在城外，飾詞入告。厥後占地愈廣，閩人忿，幾釀變。日昌撫閩，與力爭，議易以城外電局空地。未及行，遽解職，英人占如故。閩人不能忍，聚眾燬教堂，英使責難亟，至是命日昌往按。鉤稽舊案，獲教士侵地左證，與英領事往復詰辯，卒徙教堂城外，閩人鑱石刊績焉。逾歲，還里。明年，詔加總督銜，令駐南洋會辦海防，水師統歸節度。復命充兼理各國事務大臣，以疾辭，不許。八年，卒，卹如制。

日昌性孝友，撫吳日，母黃年九十矣，迎養署中，孺慕如兒時。兄寢疾，藥饍躬侍，兄止之，則引李勣焚鬚事為喻。好藏書，成持靜齋書目五卷，世比之范氏天一閣、黃氏百宋一廛云。子五人，惠康最著，好學，多泛覽，有丁徵君遺集。