From June 25 to July 3, 1998, US President Clinton paid an official goodwill visit to China. On June 29, he delivered a passionate speech at Peking University.
When talking about the long history of Sino-US relations, Clinton mentioned an interesting episode. He said: "Looking out the window of the White House where I live in Washington, D.C., the monument to our first president George Washington towers into the sky. It is a very tall obelisk, but there is a small stone monument on top of this big monument. , with words praising the United States engraved on it: The United States 'does not have the title of prince, does not follow the rules of hereditary rule, and pays public attention to public affairs, creating an unprecedented situation in ancient and modern times. What a miracle.'
This is a strange saying. It was not written by an American, but by Xu Jishe, the governor of Fujian, China. The Chinese government gave it to our country as a gift in 1853. I am very grateful for this gift from China. "Clinton also said that this Chinese character monument is " Witnesses of communication and exchanges between the United States and China 150 years ago."
For a time, this Chinese character tablet aroused the interest of many people. So why does a tablet with Chinese characters appear on the towering Washington Monument? Why can Chinese characters appear on such a solemn monument? An important figure must be mentioned here-Xu Jishe.
Fujian Governor Xu Jishe wrote a letter praising Washington who was later dismissed from his post and returned to his hometown
Xu Jishe (1795-1873), a native of Wutai, Shanxi, came from a scholarly family. He passed the national examination at the age of 19. In 1826, he became a Jinshi and was appointed as a scholar of the Hanlin Academy. He later served as editor of the Hanlin Academy, Shaanxi Road Supervisor and Magistrate of Xunzhou, Guangxi.
When the Opium War broke out in 1840, Xu Jishe was appointed as the Shaodaotai of Yanjin in Fujian, overseeing the mountainous areas in the upper reaches of the Min River. Due to the tightness of the coastal front line, he was ordered to also take charge of the Ting-Zhang Long Road, and the road office was located in Zhangzhou. In the years after the Opium War, he had been serving in the southeastern coast. In 1842, he was appointed as the inspector of Guangdong, in 1843, as the chief envoy of Fujian, and in 1846, he was appointed as the governor of Fujian.
The Opium War greatly touched Xu Jishe. The Qing Empire, which had a vast territory and a history of two hundred years of prosperity, was completely defeated when faced with foreigners from tens of thousands of miles away. He keenly felt that China had been arrogant in the past, so he began to take advantage of every opportunity to study the outside world. In 1848, he published Asia's first systematic introduction to world geography, "Ying Huan Zhi Lue".
"Yinghuan Zhilue" has 10 volumes.
The book uses a lot of text to study the United States. Xu Jishe showed great interest in this country established by colonies. He introduced the founding history and political system of the United States in detail, especially the achievements of Washington, the first president of the United States.
He wrote: "After Washington established his own country, he handed over power and lived a peaceful life. Everyone refused to let him go and insisted on establishing him as emperor. Washington said to everyone : 'It is selfish to build a country and pass this power to your descendants. Your responsibility is to choose talented people to hold national leadership positions. ' Later, he still followed some of the previous practices within a country. Establish a state; each state establishes a governor and a lieutenant governor, with the lieutenant governor assisting the governor; the term is four years; each governor also elects a national president who specializes in managing alliances and wars. "
Xu Jishe believed that a man like Washington who led the masses to seize "the world" but completely gave up the unification of the king and implemented democratic politics was unprecedented in the eyes of the Chinese at that time, so he praised Washington greatly.
Xu Jishe’s introduction and admiration of Western political systems and Washington also brought him unexpected consequences. Because at that time, China was ruled by a feudal autocratic system, and no government official was allowed to publicly allude to and criticize the autocratic feudal system.
In 1851, Xu Jishe was dismissed as governor of Fujian and stayed in Beijing as Shaoqing of Taipu Temple, becoming his deputy in charge of horse administration. The next year, he was demoted and returned to his hometown.
The U.S. government solicited Washington monuments from China
I happened to hear about Xu Jishe when I was disappointed
Although Xu Jishe’s praise of Washington brought disaster to him, But his remarks aroused great repercussions in the United States.
One phenomenon worth noting is that with the increasing collapse of society in the late Qing Dynasty, Ningbo at that time, as one of the "five trade ports", had increasingly frequent interactions with foreigners, and Ningbo native Zhang Sigui (1816- 1888) and the American missionary Ding Hailiang contributed to Xu Jishe's American story.
Ding Yuliang was the translator of "The Public Law of All Nations", the first book about the world in China at that time, and was familiar with the "Four Books" and "Five Classics".
In June 1850, Ding Weiliang was sent to China to preach. In the first 10 years, he mainly lived in Ningbo, and Zhang Sigui was his Chinese teacher.
After Xu Jishe compiled "Yinghuan Zhilue", he was impeached by the official of the Central Government. This incident aroused strong indignation among the enlightened reformers in Fujian and Zhejiang, and Zhang Sigui was one of them. Zhang Sigui was familiar with "Yinghuan Zhilue" and regarded Xu Jishe's comments on George Washington as a classic. He was deeply moved every time he praised it and regarded it as the finishing touch in "Yinghuan Zhilue".