Family of Centuries -- Sheng Xuanhuai

Author: Song Luxia
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: Sheng Xuanhuai (1844—1916) was born in Wujin, Jiangsu. In 1850, he entered a school to study. In 1870, he was recommended to join Li Hongzhang’s bureau in charge of military affairs in Shaanxi under the Hunan-Guangxi Governor-General, where he served as an administrative clerk and concurrently as a deputy director of the camp affairs office. Upon recommendation by the General of Suiyuan City, Ding Anbao, he was officially appointed as a Taoist official and awarded the second-rank flower badge. In 1871, at Li Hongzhang’s instruction, he drafted the regulations for the China Merchants’ Steam Navigation Company, which also became the first commercial enterprise regulations drafted and managed by Chinese. In 1872, he became a deputy director of the China Merchants’ Steam Navigation Company and later promoted to director. In 1875, he went to Hubei to survey coal and iron mines. In 1876, he negotiated with the British envoy and recovered the Wuqing Railway, which had been constructed by British merchants without authorization. In 1877, he acquired the American China Merchants’ Steam Navigation Company for 22.2 million taels of silver. In 1880, the Tianjin Telegraph Bureau was established, and he served as its director. In 1881, the Jinzhou Mining Bureau was established in Shanghai, and he became its director; that same year, the China Telegraph Bureau was officially established, and he served as its director. In 1882, he negotiated with Britain and Denmark to recover the rights to telegraph lines. In 1886, he became the Military Commissioner of Shandong’s Denglaqing and the supervisor of the Yantai East Customs. In 1892, he went to Shanghai to rebuild the Shanghai Machine Weaving Bureau. In 1895, he submitted a proposal to establish a winery in Yantai, which was approved. In 1897, the Railway Company was established in Shanghai, and he served as its director; the China Merchants’ Bank was also established in Shanghai, and he became its director. In 1902, he served as the Qing Dynasty’s Minister for Business and Tax Affairs and concurrently as the Deputy Minister for Commercial Treaties. In 1907, he became the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, overseeing railways, telegraphs, navigation, and postal affairs; that same year, the Han-Zhi-Ping Company was established, and he became its general manager. In 1909, he served as the president of the China Red Cross Society. In 1916, he passed away.