Sheng Xuanhuai

Sheng Xuanhuai (November 4, 1844—April 27, 1916, 盛宣懷) was the Minister of Transportation during the Qing Dynasty.

Taking active part in the Self-Strengthening Movement, He actively advocated using Western technology in saving the country from destitution. His influence was mainly felt in the southern part of China, specifically in Shanghai. He founded the famous Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the first southern university with an emphasis in mechanical engineering, architecture and Western military equipment. The university had and still has a close cooperative relationship with the Jiangnan ship building company, the largest ship building factory in China.

He played a significant role in reforming the education system in Shanghai and promoted Shanghai to be the most technological city in China.

In 1902, Sheng and British diplomat James Mackay negotiated and signed the Sino-British "Mackay Treaty," which anticipated the abolition of extraterritoriality in China.

References

*Feuerwerker, Albert. "China's Early Industrialization; Sheng Hsuan-huai (1844-1916) and Mandarin Enterprise." Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958.