Zuo Zongtang Quotes

Zuo Zongtang, Marquis Kejing , sometimes referred to as General Tso, was a Chinese statesman and military leader of the late Qing dynasty.Born in Xiangyin County, Hunan Province, Zuo sat for the imperial examination in his youth but obtained only a juren degree. He then spent his time studying agriculture, geography and military strategy. In 1851, he started his career in the Qing military by participating in the campaign against the Taiping Rebellion. In 1862, he was recommended by Zeng Guofan to serve as the provincial governor of Zhejiang Province. During his term, he coordinated Qing forces to attack the Taiping rebels with support from British and French forces. For this success, he was promoted to Viceroy of Min-Zhe. After capturing Hangzhou from the Taiping rebels in 1864, he was enfeoffed as a first class count. In 1866, as part of the Qing government's Self-Strengthening Movement, Zuo oversaw the construction of the Fuzhou Arsenal and naval academy. That same year, he was reassigned to serve as the Viceroy of Shaan-Gan, where he oversaw industrialisation in Gansu Province. In 1867, he was appointed as an Imperial Commissioner in charge of military affairs in Gansu.

During his term as Imperial Commissioner in Gansu, he participated in the suppression of the Nian Rebellion. In 1875, he was appointed Imperial Commissioner again to supervise military action against the Dungan Revolt. By the late 1870s, he had crushed the Dungan Revolt and recaptured Xinjiang Province from rebel forces. In 1875, the Guangxu Emperor made an extraordinary exception by awarding Zuo a jinshi degree – even though Zuo never achieved this in the imperial examination – and appointing him to the Hanlin Academy. In 1878, in recognition of his achievements, Zuo was promoted from a first class count to a second class marquis. He was reassigned to serve as the Viceroy of Liangjiang in 1881 and appointed to the Grand Council in 1884, before being made an Imperial Commissioner again to oversee naval affairs. He died in 1885 in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, and was given the posthumous name Wenxiang.

While Zuo is best known outside China for his military exploits, he also made contributions to Chinese agricultural science and education. In particular, he promoted cotton cultivation to northwestern China as a replacement for cash crop opium and established a large-scale modern press in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces which published Confucian classics and newer works on agricultural science.The dish General Tso's chicken in American Chinese cuisine was named in honour of Zuo.

Wikipedia

✵ 10. November 1812 – 5. September 1885

“We shall first confront them [the Russians] with arguments…and then settle it on the battlefields.”

Zuo Zongtang

Late Ch'ing, 1800-1911, John King Fairbank, Kwang-ching Liu, Denis Crispin Twitchett, 1980, Cambridge University Press, 0521220297, 93, 754, 2010-6-28 http://books.google.com/books?id=pEfWaxPhdnIC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=We+shall+first+confront+them+%5Bthe+Russians%5D+with+arguments...and+then+settle+it+on+the+battlefields&source=bl&ots=jRX5wodmU9&sig=xZvdGcwnC8SwGFbdpfLoBqE1OJo&hl=en&ei=CchPS4_LE9KmlAfXkI26Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=We%20shall%20first%20confront%20them%20the%20russians%20with%20arguments%20and%20then%20settle%20it%20on%20the%20battlefields&f=false,
Modern Chinese warfare, 1795-1989, Bruce A. Elleman, 2001, Psychology Press, 0415214742, 79, 363, 2010-6-28 http://books.google.com/books?id=Md801mHEeOkC&pg=PA79&dq=We+shall+first+confront+them+%5Bthe+Russians%5D+with+arguments...and+then+settle+it+on+the+battlefields&hl=en&ei=ogqYTOn6KIL98AaQqrwq&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=We%20shall%20first%20confront%20them%20%5Bthe%20Russians%5D%20&f=false,
The rise of modern China, John Immanuel Chung-yueh Hsü, 1995, Oxford University Press, 0195087208, 322, 1017, 2010-6-28 http://books.google.com/books?ei=ogqYTOn6KIL98AaQqrwq&ct=result&id=1aBwAAAAMAAJ&dq=We+shall+first+confront+them+%5Bthe+Russians%5D+with+arguments...and+then+settle+it+on+the+battlefields&q=We+shall+first+confront+,
China and the international system, 1840-1949: power, presence, and perceptions in a century of humiliation, David Scott, 2008, SUNY Press, 0791476278, 104, 2010-6-28 http://books.google.com/books?id=6U_DPS4vfO0C&pg=PA104&dq=We+shall+first+confront+them+%5Bthe+Russians%5D+with+arguments&hl=en&ei=rayuTJ2fHsL38Ab1uNCoCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false,