LI HONGZHANG

This quotation illustrates an interesting characteristic of the British colonial military. The British military, under “Chinese Gordon” were assigned to help the government of the Empress Cixi put down a The Taiping Rebellion. However, the British army used just enough force to achieve the military objective, and would take prisoners and kill as few Chinese as possible. This was unsatisfactory to Earl Li who wanted all the rebels killed. His forces were not strong enough or brave enough to beat the rebels, but they were very adept at slaughtering defeated soldiers and their followers and supporters. Li, like most of the Chinese elite at the time, placed very little value on individual Chinese lives. However the fact that Gordon and his men did value individual Chinese lives highly impressed the Empress who was intent on modernizing China against the wishes of most of her court and nobility.

This quotation illustrates an interesting characteristic of the British colonial military. The British military, under “Chinese Gordon” were assigned to help the government of the Empress Cixi put down a The Taiping Rebellion. However, the British army used just enough force to achieve the military objective, and would take prisoners and kill as few Chinese as possible. This was unsatisfactory to Earl Li who wanted all the rebels killed. His forces were not strong enough or brave enough to beat the rebels, but they were very adept at slaughtering defeated soldiers and their followers and supporters. Li, like most of the Chinese elite at the time, placed very little value on individual Chinese lives. However the fact that Gordon and his men did value individual Chinese lives highly impressed the Empress who was intent on modernizing China against the wishes of most of her court and nobility.