The Court : Emperors, Empresses, Eunuchs, Courtiers and Entertainers. The Jiaqing emperor : Under-estimated ruler ; The Daoguang emperor : Ruler forced to open China to Western powers ; The Xianfeng emperor : Victim and perpetrator of Qing decline ; The Tongzhi emperor : Puppet emperor ; The Guangxu emperor : Reforming emperor ; Imperial Consort Keshun : Polemically romanticized concubine ; Empress Dowager Cixi : Controversial female ruler ; Puyi and Wanrong : Last emperor and empress ; Li Lianying : Celebrated palace eunuch ; Yu Rongling : Diplomat's daughter who brought modern dance to China ; Tan Xinpei : First modern Chinese opera star ; Wang Yaoqing : Peking Opera artist and master teacher -- Religious Figures : Daoists, Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians. Min Yide : Healer, mystic and founder of an elite spirit-writing network ; Wanyan Linqing : Bannerman, official and author ; Yang Wenhui : Father of modern Chinese Buddhism ; Yusuf Ma Dexin : Islamic scholar and hajji ; Hing Xiuquan : Inspirer of the Taiping ; Liang Fa : Chinese evangelist and first Protestant minister -- Militarists : Soldiers, Martyrs, Mercenaries and Pirates. Nergingge : Manchu official and military strategist ; Shi Yang : Female pirate chief ; Wei Yuan : Visionary official and writer of a monumental study of Qing warfare ; Sengge Rinchen : Prince and formidable commander ; MG Charles Gordon : British soldier 'Chinese' Gordon ; Huang Shuhua : Teenage avenger and female martyr ; Yuan Shikai : Soldier, reformer, president and would-be emperor ; Qiu Jin : Poet, feminist and revolutionary -- Artists : Calligraphers, Epigraphers, Painters, Illustrators and Photographers. Deng Shiru : Antiquarian modernizer of Chinese calligraphy ; Yi Bingshou : Chinese official, calligrapher, epigraphist ; Ruan Yuan : Outstanding scholar with an encyclopaedic mind ; Liuzhou : Scholar, maker, believer ; Sun Mingqiu : A master of masquerading ; Zhang Yin : Atmospheric landscape painter ; Qian Du : Poet-painter known for his fresh classicism ; Cao Zhenxiu : Outstanding woman calligrapher and painter ; Fei Danxu : Celebrated artist of figures from life and legend ; Tang Yifen : Poet, calligrapher, painter, composer, dramatist ; Dai Xi : Official and painter of landscapes real and imagined ; Su Renshan : Iconoclast and wartime artist ; Ju Chao : Poet and painter of Lingnan ; Yai Xie : Man of letters and trailblazing patron ; Ren Xiong : Prodigiously innovative artist ; Ren Yi or Ren Bonian : Shanghai artist and portrait painter ; Zhao Zhiqian : Seal artist, calligrapher and painter ; Wu Changshi : Founder of China's artistic modernism ; Qingkuan : Court painter and Qing loyalist ; Wu Youru : News illustrator and painter ; Li Shutong : Bringer of Western oil painting to China via Japan ; Lai Fong : Qing China's most successful photographer --
Observers : Writers, Poets, Translators and Travellers. Yun Zhu : Woman poet and feminist scholar avant la lettre ; Gu Taiqing : Greatest female Manchu poet of the Qing dynasty ; Wu Songliang : Forgotten 'Lyrical Buddha' ; Wu Jianren : Novelist and newspaper man ; Jakdan : Translator and Manchu poet ; Manchu Teacher of the 'One Hundred Lessons' : Creator of a Manchu linguistic identity ; Injannasi : Groundbreaking Mongolian novelist ; Lu Xinyuan : Influential collector of antiquarian texts ; Mūsā Sayrāmī : Chronicler of war and reconstruction ; Wang Tao : Journalist, newspaper publisher, reformer, world traveller ; Shan Shili : Poet, travel writer, proto-feminist ; Li Gui : Survivor and circumnavigator ; Huang Zunxian : Poet and diplomat ; Yan Fu : Polymath who awakened a generation ; Sarah Pike Conger : Survivor of the 1900 siege, friend of Cixi ; Zhang Taiyan : Philologist, revolutionary, founder of national learning ; Naitō Konan : Famous and controversial Japanese historian of China -- Business People : Commodity Traders, Financiers, Entrepreneurs and Media Tycoons. Wu Bingjian : Wealthiest man in the world in the 1830s ; Sir Jamesetjee Jejeebhoy : Parsi-Indian businessman and philanthropist ; Hu Xueyan : Financier and merchant ; Widow Anwu : The most successful businesswoman in late Qing China ; Silas Hardoon and Luo Jialing : Speculators and philanthropists ; Ernest Major : Shanghai publisher and founder of the 'Shenbao' ; Sir Robert Hart : Inspector general of the Imperial Maritime Customs ; Thomas Hanbury : Trader and botanist who helped shape Shanghai ; Kishida Ginkō : Pioneer journalist, entrepreneur and benefactor ; Di Baoxian : Cultural entrepreneur -- Statespeople : Campaigners, Reformers, Diplomats and Philosophers. Yinghe : Manchu politician and man of letters ; Lin Zexu : Troubleshooter ; Bao Shichen : Policy expert ; Zeng Guofan : Victorious general in the Taiping Civil War ; Zuo Zongtang : Military leader and industrial innovator ; Zhang Zhidong : Abolisher of the imperial examinations ; Prince Gong : Architect of modern diplomacy in China after 1860 ; Li Hongzhang : Diplomat brokering an international vision of China ; Guo Songtao : Diplomat and first Chinese minister to Britain ; Chen Jitong : Flamboyant Qing emissary to France ; Sai Jinhua : Cross-cultural courtesan ; Gu Hongming : World thinker and eccentric loyalist ; Kang Youwei : Radical philosopher and reformer ; Liang Qichao : China's first public intellectual ; Duanfang : Manchu statesman, reformer and art connoisseur ; Sun Yat-set : China's first president -- Makers : Craftspeople, Folklorists and Scientists. Su Xuejin : Prize-winning potter from Dehua ; Chen Weiyan : Shiwan potter who experimented with porcelain ; Wu Qijun : Botanist, governor and technocrat ; Zhang Jian : Modernizing industrialist, educator and philanthropist ; Shen Shou : Innovative embroiderer ; Abing : China's greatest folk musician ; Luo Zhenyu : Antiquarian and archaeological pioneer ; Liu E : Hydrologist, antiquarian, novelist ; Ida Kahn : Medical leader and missionary -- Further reading -- Contributors -- Chronology.
|
