Li Hongzhang's three descendants are all billionaires: revealing Li Hongzhang's legendary family.
Global people magazine.
Li Hongzhang's life, accompanied by the ups and downs of the Qing Dynasty for 40 years, went from prosperity to decline until extinction. He was a controversial figure both before and after his death. Kang Youwei called Li Hongzhang a "reform comrade". Liang Qichao commented on him like this: "I respect Li Hongzhang's talent, I cherish Li Hongzhang's knowledge, and I mourn Li Hongzhang's experience ..."; * * * in Lecture Hall Collection, he said that "the water is shallow and the boat is big" and lamented that Li Hongzhang, a big ship, could not sail in the shallow water of the late Qing Dynasty, and was in a dilemma. ...
After Li Hongzhang fell from the peak of power, he clearly realized that the Qing Dynasty was just a "broken house" and he was just a "paperhanger". Although the "paperhanger" has a way to frame the "broken house" beautifully, it will never stand the wind and waves.
Look at Li Hongzhang's family background again. Because of Li Hongzhang, it was first red, then big black, and then gradually out of the trough. In different times and historical periods, the Li family has different survival rules.
Schematic diagram of Li Hongzhang's family background.
Global person Magazine reporter recently visited the former residence of Li Hongzhang in Hefei, Anhui Province, and visited several descendants of Li Hongzhang's family in Shanghai and Beijing. Through their stories, the reporter learned that there are many politicians, diplomats, entrepreneurs, scientists and artists in the Li Hongzhang family ... They now live in China, Hongkong, Singapore, the United States, Canada and Nigeria. For the whole family and Li Hongzhang, they have different understandings and complex emotions.
Li Hongzhang's family, the predecessors had the power to control the ruling and opposition, and later generations traveled all over the world.
Bring the Li family into the officialdom.
In the middle of the bustling pedestrian street in Hefei, Anhui Province, there is a typical residential building in Jianghuai area in the late Qing Dynasty, with neat layout and rigorous structure. This is the former residence of Li Hongzhang, an important military and political official in the late Qing Dynasty. Entering the mansion, from south to north are the gate, front hall, middle hall and Zouma Building (Miss Building) in turn. Many people use "Li Fu Ban Jie" to describe the splendor of the Li family.
Li Hongzhang's ancestor, surnamed Xu, moved from Jiangxi to Hefei, Anhui in the Ming Dynasty. One hundred years later, the eighth ancestor of Li Hongzhang adopted his son Xu Zhen to his good friend Li Xinzhuang, and Xu inherited Li's surname from then on. When Xu Zhen came of age, he made the rules of the Li family: he was not allowed to marry his surname, but he was not forbidden to intermarry with Xu. Since then, the Li family has flourished and there are many tribes. Li Zhen is regarded as the first hero of the Li family.
At first, the Li family made a living by farming and studying for generations, and had no chance to become famous in the imperial examinations. Their economic situation is not good and their social status is not high. When Grandpa Li Hongzhang was in power, at the end of the year, many people went to the Li family to ask for debts. Li Wenan, Li Hongzhang's father, is a kind-hearted and excellent poet. 1834, 35-year-old Li Wenan studied hard for many years and took the entrance examination of Jiangnan Middle School. Four years later, at the age of nearly forty, he was finally admitted to Jinshi, and later worked in the punishments department.
Although his life was over half at this time, he made the Li family, a middle peasant family by the water, "rise with Hakka overnight and become a famous family in Luxian County". Li Wenan was the first person to let this family go out of Anhui, to the officialdom, to the capital and to the coast. He is the only scholar in the first seven generations recorded by Li Jiayou's genealogy.
But more important is his "life". Scholar Li Wenan, neither too early nor too late, happened to be in the same year as Zeng Guofan, who made a splash a few years later. This relationship used to be called "the same year". At that time, this was an extremely subtle and important interpersonal relationship, far exceeding the relationship between fellow villagers and classmates in the sense of "material interests", because being admitted to the Jinshi at the same time meant being an official at the same time and having common contacts and references.
Although Li Wenan is introverted and "low-middle", he knows everything and his eyesight is not bad. He has been watching Zeng Guofan closely. Zeng Guofan was just an ordinary Beijing official at that time. He is the first lecturer of Imperial College and a bachelor of cabinet. Li Wenan arranged for his two sons, Li Zhanghan and Li Hongzhang, to learn from Zeng Guofan, which was probably Li Wenan's greatest contribution to the family.
Li Hongzhang: He was in power before his death, but his resentment remained when he died.
The Li family began to prosper from Li Hongzhang's generation. Li Hongzhang was born in the fifth day of the first month of the third year of Qing Daoguang (1823). He has been gifted and studious since childhood. According to legend, once his father, Li Wenan, took the exam for Li Hongzhang, and the first question was "A thousand lines of ponytails are blown by the wind". Xiao Hongzhang blurted out: "Rizhao Longlin has ten thousand points of gold." Not only neat, but also very imposing. Enlightened at the age of seven, completed four books at the age of eight or nine. The teacher likes him very much and often praises him in front of Li Hongzhang's father.
Under his father's arrangement, he studied under Zeng Guofan's Li Hongzhang at the age of 2/kloc-0, won a scholarship at the age of 24, and entered imperial academy at a young age. Zeng Guofan's principle of "knocking out teeth and swallowing blood" has a great influence on Li Hongzhang's character. More importantly, when Li Hongzhang founded the Huai Army, Zeng Guofan gave great help and directly gave Li Hongzhang the command of the eighth battalion of Xiang Army, which was also the team that Li Hongzhang founded the Huai Army. Later, Huai Army became the capital of Li Hongzhang's prosperity, and it was also the basis of Li Hongzhang's rapid rise in officialdom. He is the absolute leader of this army, and the Huai Army is "Li Jiajun".
Li Jiachang (the second elder from the left in the middle row) took a group photo with his family in the United States.
1870, with the support of Huai, Li Hongzhang became the most powerful governor of Zhili and minister of Beiyang. He sat in this position for 25 years, the longest in the Qing Dynasty. During this period, he was different from most officials in Qing Dynasty: he was very interested in foreign science and technology and domestic economic activities. Li Hongzhang created many firsts: the first railway in modern China, the first iron and steel plant, the first machine factory, the first modern military academy, the first modern naval fleet ... 1874 awarded a bachelor's degree in Wenhua Temple, and 1894 awarded the Three Eyes Hualing, which was praised by Liang Qichao as "the first person in China at that time" in modern history.
1874, Li Hongzhang put forward the idea of "external and internal reform", but due to the limitations of the times and individuals, "harmony and reform" failed. On behalf of the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang signed a series of unequal treaties with the great powers: the Sino-British Yantai Treaty, the Sino-French New Testament, the treaty of shimonoseki, and the Xin Chou Treaty ... Since then, he has been labeled as a traitor.
190 1 year, Li Hongzhang died in the grief of "too old to be a tiger or a leopard". His eyes were still bright when he died. On my deathbed, I shed tears and left a poem: "I worked hard and knew I was dead before I left the saddle." For 300 years, I have injured my country and hanged my people 8 thousand miles away. Autumn wind sword tears lonely minister, the setting sun flag general altar. The dusty atmosphere in the sea is still not calm and it is not appropriate to wait and see. " Sad and painful, heartbreaking! Nearly 10 years after Li Hongzhang's death, the Qing Dynasty, which he fought for all his life, also perished.
One person "gets rich" and the whole family is exposed.
But when Li Hongzhang was in power, the Lee brothers were more or less exposed. Li Hongzhang has eight brothers and sisters, and he ranks second. Li's eldest brother, from the official to the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, is a staunch supporter of Li Hongzhang and Huai Group.