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Strengthen the Country and Enrich the People

The Reform Writings of Ma Jianzhong

By Paul Bailey

Published January 13th 1998 by Routledge – 240 pages

Series: Durham East Asia Series

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Description

Ma Jianzhong was a close adviser to the powerful Qing government official, Li Hong-zhang, and wrote several essays between 1878 and 1890 outlining his plans for economic and administrative reform. He was the first Chinese to advocate the creation of a specialized and professional diplomatic corps. His contribution to the late nineteenth-century Chinese discourse on the state and the economy has hitherto been neglected. Paul Bailey's translation of his essays will contribute to a wider understanding of the origins and circulation of reform ideas in the late Qing.