Zhang Jian (businessman)

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Zhang.
Zhang Jian
張謇
Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce
In office
December 1913 – April 1915
PremierXiong Xiling
Preceded byposition created
Succeeded byZhou Ziqi
Minister of Agriculture
In office
September – December 1913
PremierXiong Xiling
Preceded byLuo Zhenfang
Succeeded byposition abolished
Minister of Industry and Commerce
In office
September – December 1913
PremierXiong Xiling
Preceded byXiang Ruikun
Succeeded byposition abolished
Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce of the Qing Dynasty
In office
1 July 1911 – 12 July 1912
MonarchXuantong Emperor
Prime MinisterYuan Shikai
Preceded byPulun
Succeeded byvacant (next: Li Shengduo)
Personal details
Born(1853-07-01)1 July 1853
Haimen, Jiangsu, Qing Empire
Died24 August 1926(1926-08-24) (aged 73)
Nantong, Jiangsu, Republic of China
NationalityQing Empire
Republic of China
Political partyProgressive Party
Educationzhuangyuan in the Imperial examination
Occupationentrepreneur, politician and educator
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese張謇
Simplified Chinese张謇

Zhang Jian (Chinese: 張謇; 1 July 1853– 24 August 1926), courtesy name Jizhi (季直), art name Se'an (啬庵), was a Chinese entrepreneur, politician and educator.[1] He is known as a "new gentry" and official-entrepreneur.

Biography

Zhang was born in Haimen county, Jiangsu province in 1853. He initially served as a staff member under the general Wu Changqing. After Wu's death, he returned to his hometown where he studied agriculture while preparing for further examinations. In 1894, he achieved the highest score in the Palace Examination, earning the prestigious title of zhuangyuan. Subsequently, he served at the Hanlin Academy.

Zhang was obliged to return to his hometown for mourning his father in the same year. After the First Sino-Japanese War, he ventured into investing in and establishing modern enterprises.[2] He later founded Dah Sun Cotton Mill in Nantong, financed by both the imperial court and local merchants.[3][4] Additionally, he diversified into land reclamation, river conservancy, and modern education, especially in the northern Jiangsu. It is generally accepted that Zhang is a successful entrepreneur, however, some financial improprieties led Dah Sun to an insolvent liquidation in the 1920s.

Zhang proclaimed that "the victory of Japan and the defeat of Russia are the victory of constitutionalism and the defeat of monarchism".[5] In 1909, he was elected the chairman of Jiangsu provincial assembly.[6] He refused the membership of the Friends of the Constitution, and acted as a buffer against the active constitutionalists.[7] But in the end of 1911, his thought swung in the republican's favour. Then he drafted the original Edict of Abdication for Puyi. He was appointed as the Minister of Enterprise of the temporary government of the Provisional Government in Nanjing, but did not take the office actually. In 1913, Zhang became the Minister of Industry and Commerce and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in Beiyang Government.

Achievements

Statue of Zhang Jian

Zhang was among the pioneers of the Chinese modernization. Aside from companies and factories, he also founded the first normal school in modern China, Tongzhou Normal College in 1902 and established Nantong Museum, the first museum in Mainland China in 1905.[8] He remoulded the infrastructure of Nantong and made it became a template for earlier urban development in China.[9]

The institutes founded or funded by Zhang Jian:

Legacy

In his statements that private companies must serve the state, Xi Jinping cites Zhang as an example of a patriotic entrepreneur whose example should be followed.[13]: 2 

Further reading

  • Claypool, Lisa. Zhang Jian and China's First Museum. Journal of Asian Studies 64, 3 (2005): 567–604.
  • Chu, Samuel C. . Reformer in Modern China: Chang Chien, 1853–1926. New York: Columbia University Press, 1965.

Notes

  1. ^ 中国大百科全书（第二版） [Encyclopedia of China (2nd Edition)] (in Chinese). Vol. 28. Encyclopedia of China Publishing House. 2009. pp. 46–7. ISBN 978-7-500-07958-3.
  2. ^ Fairbank & Liu 1980, p. 590.
  3. ^ Fairbank & Liu 1980, p. 34.
  4. ^ Fairbank & Liu 1980, pp. 455–9.
  5. ^ Fairbank & Liu 1980, p. 161.
  6. ^ Fairbank & Liu 1980, p. 531.
  7. ^ Fairbank & Liu 1980, pp. 517–8.
  8. ^ Fong, Grace S. "Female Hands: Embroidery as a Knowledge Field in Women's Everyday Life in Late Imperial and Early Republican China" (PDF). Late Imperial China. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  9. ^ Pong, David (2009). Encyclopedia of Modern China. Vol. 4. pp. 144–6. ISBN 978-0-684-31566-9.
  10. ^ "筚路蓝缕："公立"复旦公学的创办_校史通讯_复旦大学". news.fudan.edu.cn. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  11. ^ "学校简介". www.shou.edu.cn. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  12. ^ "学校简介". www.hhu.edu.cn. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  13. ^ Marquis, Christopher; Qiao, Kunyuan (2022). Mao and markets the communist roots of Chinese enterprise. Kunyuan Qiao. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-26883-6. OCLC 1348572572.

References

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