On May 5, on the occasion of his state visit to France in Paris, President Xi Jinping published a signed article entitled "Inheriting the spirit of establishing diplomatic relations between China and France and jointly promoting world peace and development" in the French Le Figaro newspaper, It mentioned the past events in the history of Sino French exchanges: "More than 150 years ago, French people participated in the construction of China's Fujian Shipping Administration and Fujian Shipping Academy, and France was the first country to accept Chinese students sent to France by the Chinese government; a hundred years ago, Chinese youth went to France to study, and some of the aspiring youth later made outstanding contributions to the establishment and development of New China. France is the first Western country to officially establish diplomatic relations with New China. "
We invite Chen Yue, President of Mawei Shipping Culture Research Association and member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC in Mawei District, Fuzhou City, to tell the story of Fujian Shipping Administration and Fujian Shipping Academy in China.
"The way of self-improvement"
From the beginning of 2023, a cultural and tourism park called "China Shipping Culture City" has been opened in the east suburb of Fuzhou, Fujian Province, on the river bank of the main urban area of Mawei. There are China Shipping Culture Museum, "Most Remembering of Shipping" Theater, "Engine Workshop" built in 1867, "Tiewei Factory" built in 1898, French Bell Tower built in the 1920s Large cranes
Back more than 150 years ago, this tourist attraction was once the focus of the whole China. In 1866, in order not to suffer from the humiliation of the defeat of the two Opium Wars, to find a way of self-improvement, and to find the Chinese people's own position in the drastically changed world, an organization called "Shipping Administration" was established in Mawei, Fuzhou.
According to the description of Zuo Zongtang, the founder of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, in order to establish the institution of "shipping administration", he actually kept thinking, planning, reconsidering, and revising for three years - "three years of pregnancy". After he had found a reliable solution to all the challenges and problems he foresaw, he finally made an official announcement on June 25, 1866.
The long memorial with nearly 4000 words arrived in the capital in July. On July 14, the Qing Dynasty gave an imperial edict, which gave a rare high praise. It praised Zuo Zongtang's plan as "the way of China's self-improvement".
"Self-improvement" is a hot word constantly mentioned in Chinese society after the first Opium War in 1840. The ancient China suddenly found itself in a completely unfamiliar world. Western powers from the other side of the sea joined hands and opened the door of China with unheard of strong ships. The once "great power of the Heavenly Dynasty" was suddenly facing a crisis of survival, constantly suffering from unprecedented humiliations such as defeat, land expropriation, and compensation. In order to protect the country and its species, "self-improvement" became the way to save the country's fate in the eyes of the Chinese people at that time.
How can we achieve national self-reliance? How to find a path to self-improvement? After finally overcoming the psychological and moral barriers of admitting their own shortcomings and learning from the "foreigners" frankly, another new problem comes one after another: the western steam powered ships crossing the sea represent the scientific and technological crystallization of the industrial revolution. How can China, which knows nothing about it and has no foundation, obtain such scientific and technological equipment.
Since the early 1860s, the governors of Liangjiang and the prime ministers of various countries' affairs yamen have made explorations and attempts through Henry Wall, an American foreigner, and Li Thailand, the chief tax officer of British customs, hoping to quickly achieve self-improvement by directly purchasing western advanced ship equipment. However, the results of these efforts are disappointing. Due to the lack of experience in international exchanges and the lack of full consideration of the need for personnel who can control equipment while acquiring equipment, several self-improvement efforts of the "ship buying" model ended in failure.
It is precisely because of these lessons that Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, played a completely different self-improvement plan in 1866, which was more practical and reliable. Because of this, he was praised as "the way to self-improvement".
Foreigner Riyige
The China Shipping Culture Museum in Mawei, Fuzhou was founded in 1997. The museum was originally located at the foot of Majian Mountain in Mawei, Fuzhou. It is a 5-storey building built near the mountain. In 2022, in order to highlight the shipping culture and promote research and cultural and museum work, Fuzhou City and Mawei District moved the China Shipping Culture Museum to the former site of the century old shipping administration, and transformed a large building that was originally an industrial warehouse of Mawei Shipyard into a new museum, becoming a classic example of the activation and utilization of industrial heritage.
In the new exhibition hall, there is an exhibition area called "The Western Face of Horsetail" which is easy to attract attention. A white statue of Westerners is prominently displayed in the exhibition cabinet. The statue looks at the visitors coming and going as if they want to tell something.
This statue is a special gift given to Fuzhou by the then French Foreign Minister Fabius on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France in 2014. The statue's owner is a Frenchman named Riyige. The important technical basis of Zuo Zongtang's self-improvement plan in 1866 came from this Frenchman.
Born in 1835 in Riyige, the coastal city of Lorient, France, with a modest family background, he was admitted to the French Naval Preparatory School at the age of 15 and the French Naval School at the age of 17, and later became a junior officer. At the age of 22, Riyige came to China. Because of his talent for language learning, he soon mastered Chinese in Guangzhou. Relying on this rare "specialty", Riyige served as the tax department of Ningbo Customs when he was 26 years old, and also met Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Zhejiang at that time.
Zuo Zongtang was deeply impressed by the foreigner who was able to communicate directly with him. He appreciated the character of Riyige: conscientious, modest, friendly to Chinese people. What's more, Riyige was also familiar with various communication habits, rituals and ceremonies of Chinese society and officialdom at that time, and was a "China hand".
In the golden autumn of 1864, Riyige and his colleague Dekebei met the most important opportunity in Zuo Zongtang's life when they visited him. Zuo Zongtang suddenly told the Frenchman who can speak Chinese and write Chinese characters his own idea: Can we directly learn western technology and build a factory in China that can build new warships? And let the Chinese people fully master the management and operation of this factory, as well as the design, construction and driving of warships. At that time, what puzzled Zuo Zongtang was where to find Westerners who were willing to transfer technology to China, and suddenly appeared in front of Riyige, which made him see some possibility.
In terms of ship design and construction, Riyige is completely a layman without any relevant professional knowledge and technical background. As far as engineer education and navy education are concerned, Riyige is almost a stranger. His only relevant identity at that time was just an ordinary lieutenant in the French navy.
Surprisingly, at that time, Riyige suddenly proposed to help Zuo Zongtang realize this grand dream.
What kind of force drives Riyige, who is only 29 years old, to dare to undertake such a task with great uncertainty? Riyige did not reveal his heart in his later life. Perhaps it was his long life experience in China that made him have an impulse to help the ancient empire move towards modernization; Or maybe it is the high reward that Zuo Zongtang promised to give. There must be brave men under the heavy reward... Today's people can only speculate.
Zuo Zongtang was overjoyed and gave full trust to Japan Yige's statement. Zuo Zongtang was also satisfied with Riyige's performance. From the end of 1864, Riyige went to consult professional French naval engineers and began to prepare the list of equipment and materials needed to build a fully functional shipyard, as well as various plans and budgets to teach Chinese people to master these industrial and naval technologies. Just like a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, but also somewhat "ignorant and fearless". He does not understand the Japanese concept of shipbuilding industry and naval education. He gave a bold commitment that if he participated, China could learn shipbuilding industry and naval technology in five years.
Since the two Opium Wars, the dream of self-improvement that the Chinese government and the people had been struggling for but could not get has become within reach on the letter of commitment of Riyige, which made Zuo Zongtang deeply satisfied.
It was with Riyige's plan that Zuo Zongtang made a speech on June 25, 1866, lamenting Chen Haiquan's importance of "making great profits in the southeast, but not in the water", pointing out that building shipyards, cultivating talents, and building a navy are the only way to recover the sea power and achieve self-improvement. "To prevent the harm of the sea and reap its benefits, we must reorganize our sailors.". And he put forward his own plan: instead of achieving self-improvement by purchasing warships from western countries, China will introduce advanced western technology to enable China to own its own shipyard, design and build new ships, cultivate engineering and naval talents, and become a sustainable "long-term plan for the sea".
The story of friendship between China and France began to be written in the mutual trust and cooperation between Zuo Zongtang and Japan Yige.
"Power is in your hands"
In the exhibition hall on the first floor of the China Shipbuilding Culture Museum, there is a national first-class cultural relic called "the treasure of the town museum" - the straight planer (commonly known as the slotting machine in modern times) made in France in 1867, which is one of the first batch of equipment imported from France when the ship administration was founded. This machine tool has been working since October 30, 2019, before it was recruited into the museum.
Around this planer, visitors will basically notice the inscriptions on the machine and the industrial aesthetics of curve design. In fact, the real value of this machine is not limited to this, it symbolizes an unreserved trust and cooperation.
When this equipment was born, it was one of the core industrial technologies in western countries - machine tools. At that time, in China, machine tools were vividly referred to as "tools of making machines", that is, machines that can produce machines, and in modern times, they are called "machine tools". In the era of the industrial revolution, the core of all industrial technologies is the steam engine, and the machine tools for processing and manufacturing steam engines are the key equipment for producing such core equipment, and the source of "industrial magic". Although modern China broke through diplomatic resistance and was able to obtain warships, steam engines, artillery and other advanced equipment from the West, these were only industrial products, which did not make it possible for China to replicate and create itself. Machine tools are totally different. Once the equipment is mastered, it means that China has the industrial hardware capability to produce various machines, even machine tools themselves. Zuo Zongtang describes this splendid scene as "turning one into a hundred, turning a hundred into tens of millions".
Zuo Zongtang planned to set up an unprecedented coastal defense organization - shipping administration in Mawei, Fuzhou, Fujian. At the same time, he also set a grand goal and rules of conduct - "exercise power over oneself". The initial equipment and technology of this organization will be taught by western countries, and the ultimate goal is to make everything in the hands of the Chinese people. No problem of blackmail and control for outsiders is allowed in technology introduction and learning. This idea of firmly holding the initiative, firmly protecting sovereignty, and learning to be exhaustive has become the working principle of shipping administration, which has lasted for a century and a half since its inception. In today's shipping culture, cultural and tourism innovation and other work, we can still feel the power of passing through time everywhere.
Based on this consideration, Zuo Zongtang made a request to Riyige. Riyige must help to prepare foreign technical teams, introduce equipment and introduce management. On more than 300 mu of shipping land in Mawei, Fuzhou, it is necessary to establish a research and development and production organization for various equipment needed to build modern ships. The shipping administration should not only have the ability to design and build hardware and software for the hull, but also have the ability to design and build all relevant equipment such as steam engines, boilers, marine instruments, ship doors and windows, cables, sails, sampans, etc. The foreign technical team set up and led by Riyige must achieve this goal, and at the same time, let the Chinese learn to manage and organize industrial production in a few years, and learn to innovate their own design.
In view of all the painful lessons since the two Opium Wars, Zuo Zongtang, in order to prevent this technical cooperation from being attached with political conditions by the Western government, tried to limit the cooperation to the level of private cooperation with Japan and Italy, and standardized the responsibility and power relationship with Japan and Italy by contract.
In February 1867, the French Ri Yige, who was asked to "teach people how to fish", returned to the motherland and began to make "tools for making" for China's shipping administration. He hired a technical team to prepare to export industrial technology and naval technology to China.
National cooperation
When the news spread, it caused an uproar in the western world at that time. Head of the General Taxation Department of the Chinese Customs, Hurd, seriously warned Japan Yige, and spread all kinds of rumors in the high-level official circles of the Qing Dynasty and the French diplomatic circles, with the intention of thwarting the "crazy" plan. In France, Riyige himself has also encountered many obstacles. As a Frenchman, it is difficult for many Westerners to understand this practice and grasp the scale when he wants to pass on the core technology of industry and navy to China. In the western world, Riyige is almost regarded as a figure who wants to become a "fire thief" like Prometheus.
Finally, on July 25, 1867, the French Naval Ministry reported that the French King Napoleon III personally summoned the "fire robbers". To Riyige's surprise, Napoleon III believed that Riyige had in fact built a bridge between France and China for friendly cooperation, which was the beginning of hope, and expressed his appreciation for the move of Riyige, It is authorized to export machinery and technology to China, and requires Riyige to fulfill its obligation to work for China with due diligence.
The cooperation between China and France in shipping administration, which was originally limited to the private level, has thus been upgraded to the level of cooperation between countries. This was also the first equal technical cooperation between China and the West without any political conditions after 1840.
On December 23, 1866, the civil work of the ship administration started in Mawei. The first ship administration appointed Hu Xueyan to take charge of the overall planning of the project, and recruited thousands of workers from Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Hong Kong and other places, forming the earliest industrial worker group in China.
In January 1867, in the Dingguang Temple at the foot of the mountain in Fuzhou, some strange sounds came out: "Ah, bah, z, d", which was the voice of a group of Fuzhou teenagers who began to read "A, B, C, D". The shipping school has started teaching, which is an important part of China France cooperation. This is the first modern university in China and the first French style university. At the beginning of school, the school building in Mawei had not been built yet. The students began to learn basic language and mathematics in Baita Temple and Xianta Street in the city, and Laboshun Yanghang in Mawei and other places.
In the era when the imperial examination was the mainstream of education, Chinese society was still puzzled by this strange school in Fuzhou. It was impossible for families with better family circumstances to let their children off the path of making progress in the imperial examination. In order to solve the problem of insufficient students, the Shipping School offered a special treatment of not only no school fees, but also 4 liang silver per month to support the family of students. A group of children from poor families in Fuzhou entered the shipping school, including Yan Fu, whose father had just died, Lin Taizeng, whose parents had both died, and Lin Taizeng, who depended on his widowed sister-in-law to live, and Liu Butang, who was adopted by his biological parents.
A few months later, shipping officials suddenly appeared in the Central Academy in Hong Kong and began to preach and mobilize. Some middle school students who had learned foreign languages and basic science were attracted from Hong Kong to Fuzhou and joined the ranks of students in the shipping school, including Deng Shichang, Li He, Lin Guoxiang, etc.
On October 6, 1867, a group of blond Frenchmen suddenly arrived in the ancient horsetail. Riyige arrived at the shipping administration with technicians hired from Europe. Some Frenchmen, considering that they would work in China for many years in the future, also brought their wives and children to the shipping administration. Since then, a total of 45 French, British and Russian technicians have successively arrived in Mawei. With the assistance and management of Riyige's translation, this group of westerners cooperated with the Chinese personnel of the ship administration and held different positions, such as chief engineer, workshop director, workshop foreman, school professor, captain of training ship, etc
China has entered the world of modern industry and navy.
Shipbuilding success
In the years from 1867 to 1874, the ship administration, the first coastal defense modernization organization in China, located in Mawei, became the hope for self-improvement that attracted national attention at that time. The largest shipbuilding industry in Asia was established; Fifteen steam powered warships including gunships, cruisers, transport ships and other ships were built; The Chinese themselves have mastered the design and construction of large steam engines; China's first modern university was built; The earliest vocational and technical education school in China - Shipbuilding Arts Park was founded; The first batch of Chinese engineers, the first batch of managers of production enterprises, the first batch of professional and technical workers, the first batch of professional naval officers in China... accompanied by China's first self-supporting telegraph, China's first independently drawn modern nautical chart, China's first telecommunications school, China's first engineering drawing agency China's first naval recruit training institution, etc. Since then, modern industry and modern navy are no longer distant dreams.
At the beginning of 1874, French Riiger and his western technical team passed the assessment of China and confirmed that all the contract objectives set in 1866 had been achieved. Shen Baozhen, the minister of shipping administration, played with emotion and applied for awards for these Westerners. On the medals awarded to these foreign technical teams, the inscription was "Fuzhou Shipbuilding Success". As a reward for Japanese Yige, Shen Baozhen also customized a sable yellow jacket for him after the invitation, which is still treasured in the former residence of Japanese Yige in France.
When he left, Riyige proposed to the Minister of Shipping that if we want to further consolidate the achievements of the cooperation between China and France in shipping, we should send the outstanding students of the shipping school to Europe to study directly, and "explore the source and seek truth" from the source of industrial technology and modern naval knowledge.
It was under the promotion and contact of this Frenchman that in 1877, the shipping administration launched the first program of studying in Europe, opening the history of China sending public students to Europe. The famous Paris Normal University, Paris Polytechnic University, Paris Political College, Paris Bridge and Road College, etc. in France were all places where the international students of shipping administration studied.
When the cooperation between China and France was successful, Riyige thought of Zuo Zongtang, who was grateful to him, and wrote to him to report that he had completed the original agreement. When the letter and grape wine sent by Yige arrived in Lanzhou, thousands of miles away from Fuzhou, Zuo Zongtang, then governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, was very moved and replied to express his feeling of parting with the French friend: he looked forward to returning to Fujian again in the future. At that time, if he saw a Chinese built warship on the sea, it would be like meeting a French friend again.
(The author of this article is the president of Mawei Ship Administration Culture Research Association and a member of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC in Mawei District, Fuzhou City. The picture in this edition is China Ship Administration Culture Museum.)
