Jottings from the Granite Studio

Today is the birthday of Aisin-Gioro I Ju, the Xianfeng 咸丰 Emperor, born this day in 1831.  He was the last of the Qing Emperors to take the throne after reaching the age of majority, but his short reign was nothing less than disastrous, a perfect embodiment of the Chinese phrase 内乱外患 (internal turmoil, external threats/calamity). Under his watch, the country became embroiled [...]

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Zhang Zhidong (張之洞 1837-1909) was a leading scholar and official in the late-19th century. His most famous work, An Exhortation to Learn (quanxuepian劝学篇) published in 1898, tackled a range of issues facing the Fin de siècle Qing Empire.  In his chapter on government and the centralization of power, Zhang offered his opinion on the increasingly vocal [...]

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