A briton's China legacy

Criticized by many Chinese and now largely forgotten, Sir Robert Hart, a customs official during the Qing Dynasty, left his mark

By the time Sir Robert Hart left Beijing in 1908, he had been a top customs officer for most of his adult life.

Now, a new biography - Ireland's Imperial Mandarin - takes a close look at that life.

Hart's biographer Mark O'Neill attended the launch of the book in Beijing on March 15. It was published in January.

Foreign and Chinese staff pose for the opening of Yochow (today's Yueyang, Hunan province) customs office. Photos Courtesy of Special Collections & Archives, Queen's University Belfast

Based in Hong Kong, O'Neill is the author of eight books about China. Beijing was the fourth stop on his book tour after Taipei, Hong Kong and Macao, and he says it was the most important one.

"This is because he lived here for 45 years," O'Neill says of Hart at the Bookworm, a bookstore in the Sanlitun area known for its large collections of English language books about China. "He lived very close to where I am standing now."

"Just cross Chang'an Avenue from the Beijing Hotel, walk about 30 meters and turn left - that's the street where Hart lived," he tells a roomful of listeners, both Chinese and foreigners.

"There is a plaque that says in Chinese that Hart lived here," he adds. "This plaque survived the Japanese occupation, the Chinese civil war, the 'cultural revolution' (1966-76) and everything. It's still there."

"In the history of China, there has never been a foreigner like Sir Robert Hart. Nor will there ever be in the future," he says.

Hart was born to a Christian family in Portadown, a small town in what is now Northern Ireland, in 1835, and attended Queen's University in Belfast at the age of 15.

The library of the university, which now houses Hart's diaries and correspondence, was one of the main sources for O'Neill's book.

Three years after graduating, Hart was selected by the British foreign secretary to work in China. That was the start of the most marvelous journey of his life.

In 1854, Hart was sent to Ningbo, Zhejiang province, where he hired a Chinese teacher and studied the Confucian classics, including Analects, Mencius and The Book of Songs.

"Nothing but hard, hard study will conquer the Chinese language, literature and its difficulties; but I am determined to become its master," Hart wrote in his journal.

He was appointed inspector-general for the Imperial Maritime Custom Service of the Qing government in 1863.

In his journal, Hart wrote: "My life has been singularly successful: not yet twenty-nine, and at the head of a service which collects three millions of revenue, in - of all countries in the world! - the exclusive land of China."

Hart knew that such a lofty position could be easily abused through bribes, so he made a set of rules to keep himself and the organization away from corruption.

"I must set a good example, in conduct, to all my subordinates," he wrote.

Hart hired a professional accountant from the treasury in London to draft rules to prevent embezzlement.

Wang Zhenyao, a professor at Beijing Normal University who attended the book launch, says: "A lot of Chinese people criticize Hart, and a lot of people have forgotten him, even the British I talked to when I visited London. Hart is a very important example at this time, when the Chinese government is fighting corruption so hard."

Under Hart, the customs bureau grew - the number of its foreign staff grew from 93 in 1873 to more than 500 in 1885.

Hart wrote: "I must try to induce among such Chinese as I can influence a friendlier feeling towards foreigners; right conduct; and in that way keep things straight and ensure peace."

In a 1988 article, titled Robert Hart: A Man of Two Worlds and published by the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding, writer Martin Lynn points out the mixed identification of Hart: He "stood at the interface between China and the West, representing foreign influence in China, yet being used repeatedly by the Chinese government as its representative in dealing with foreign powers".

In his book, O'Neill says the amount of customs revenue collected rose from 8 million silver taels in 1865 to 14.5 million two decades later, or nearly 20 percent of the national revenue; and to more than 30 million three years before Hart left China.

Part of the funds went to the founding of Tong Wen Guan, the translation service of the Qing government, and to sending the first 120 Chinese children to study in the United States.

Hart also proposed and helped minister Li Hongzhang purchase the first two steel-plated warships, which led to the founding of Qing government's Beiyang Navy.

The book contains details of many of Hart's labors in China, including his negotiation with France to end the Sino-French War in Vietnam in the mid-1880s, and the founding of the imperial post office.

After Hart's departure for Hong Kong from his homeland in 1854, he went back to Europe just twice - once to get married in 1866 and then to oversee the Chinese pavilion at the World's Fair in Paris in 1889.

Hart left China at the age of 73 in 1908.

A photo captured this historic moment - Hart boarding a ship surrounded by customs staff in full dress uniform.

O'Neill chose this photo for his book's cover.

He tries to strike a balance by including comments from Chinese historian Wang Hongbin, whose biography of Hart, published in 2010, says: "Hart was the most important invader representing British interests, who put the interests of that country above those of China."

O'Neill includes this in his preface telling readers: "We leave you to make your own judgment."

Chen Mengwei contributed to this story.

xingyi@chinadaily.com.cn