Qishan (civil servant)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Qishan (born January 18, 1786 , † August 3, 1854 ) was a Mongolian nobleman who held high state offices during the Qing Dynasty under Emperor Daoguang . The high point of his career were negotiations with Charles Elliot in Guangzhou during the First Opium War . Many of his contemporaries viewed him as a traitor, and he was arrested and convicted during the war, but later rehabilitated.

origin

Qishan came from a noble family. His ancestor Enggeder had joined Nurhaci when he united the Jurchen in the Eight Banners . Qishan's father served as Lieutenant General ( Dutong ) of the Banner Garrison in Rehol .

Career

At sixteen, Qishan was given a post in the court administration due to his parentage. In 1819 he received the office of governor of Henan . He later also served as the governor of Shandong , governor-general of Liangjiang ( Jiangxi , Jiangsu and Anhui ), and military commander of the Chengdu garrison . Once he was reprimanded and downgraded due to inadequate measures relating to the construction of the dyke. In 1831 he received the governorship general of Zhili.

Opium war

Qishan is often assigned to a faction that was inclined to legalize opium in China. However, there is no written evidence of this by himself. He himself carried out a policy of repression against opium in Zhili and advocated a hard line in communication among dignitaries. A large opium find in Zhili under Qishan's rule in 1838 induced Daoguang to send Lin Zexu to Canton to suppress the opium trade .

As governor-general of Zhili, he was appointed by Emperor Daoguang in August 1840 to negotiate with the British fleet under Charles Elliot , which lay in front of Hai He . He was able to persuade Elliot to withdraw from the north Chinese waters back to Canton in order to negotiate there. In order to give him the necessary authority, he was transferred to the post of governor general of the southern provinces of Lianguang .

The Chuenpi Convention negotiated by him in January 1841, which contained a replacement payment for the opium confiscated from Lin and the surrender of Hong Kong, modeled on Macau, as concessions. Cantonal trade should also be resumed. The agreement was rejected by both the British government and the Emperor.

He was arrested in March 1841 on suspicion of bribery by the British and his property was confiscated. During the war he was sentenced to death, but soon afterwards pardoned for forced labor. In 1843 he was rehabilitated as Lieutenant General von Rehal. In the course of the course he again took up various posts in the Empire, but was not recalled to Canton.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Mao Haijiang: The Qing Empire and the Opium War - The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty. Cambridge 2016, pp. 1-5
  2. ↑ Mao Haijiang: The Qing Empire and the Opium War - The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty. Cambridge 2016, p. 12 f.
  3. ↑ Stephen R. Platt: Imperial Twilight - The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age. New York, 2019, pp. 412-416
  4. ↑ Mao Haijiang: The Qing Empire and the Opium War - The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty. Cambridge 2016, pp. 489-491
  5. ↑ Julia Lovell: The Opium War. London 2011, p. 139
personal data
SURNAME Qishan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jing'an
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chinese civil servant and nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH January 18, 1786
DATE OF DEATH August 3, 1854