In the middle decades of the nineteenth century, the viability of the Ch'ing dynasty was severely tested. Massive internal uprisings, defeat in two foreign wars, and continued external threats could have toppled the two-century-old Manchu ruling house. Only the timely emergence of ‘a galaxy of extraordinarily able officials’ saved it from extinction. They put down the rebellions, worked hard at reconstruction, attempted to upgrade the bureaucracy, and tried to restore the old order. To block further imperialist inroads, they adopted aspects of Western diplomatic practices and military technology. By dint of dedication and effort, these men tried to bring about a dynastic revival – the Ch'ing Restoration – and prolonged the life of the dynasty by half a century.

This book is about one of those ‘extraordinary able officials’ whose life and career were an integral part of the late Ch'ing experience. This man was Shen Pao-chen (1820–79), who began his journey to the top of Ch'ing officialdom after passing the civil service examinations. At the relatively young age of forty-one (1862), he was already the governor of an important province in the rich Yangtze valley. Then, in 1867, abandoning the security of high office and the chance for an early promotion to the rank of governor-general, he accepted the leadership of China's first fully fledged modern naval dockyard and held that position for more than eight years. His career closed with a four-year term as governor-general of Liang Kiang, which comprised the key provinces of Kiangsu, Anhwei, and Kiangsi.