As is known to all, Tsinghua University (then Tsinghua Preparatory School for Students Studying in the U.S.) dating back to the year 1911, was established with the money won back from America’s Boxer Indemnity. However, few know that the person who went through repeated negotiations, endeavored to push the U.S. to return excessive indemnity, proposed to use the sum on education and thus contributed to the establishment of Tsinghua University is none other than Liang Cheng, the Chinese envoy to the U.S. at that time.
Liang Cheng (1864–1917), once named Wuxu, alias Yizhong, is a native of Panyu, Guangdong Province. He received a good home education in an early age and at the age of 12 he was sent to study in the U.S. as one of the fourth group of boys sent by the Qing government in 1875. In 1878, he entered a school and then Amherst Institute in Massachusetts. Later, he came back to China earlier than planned as the project was terminated by the Qing government.
He put his abilities into good use after returning to China
After returning to China, Liang Cheng took up a post in the foreign sector of the Qing government. In 1885, following Zhang Yinhuan, he served in the Chinese Embassy to the U.S., Spain and Peru and later was promoted to attache. Zhang thought highly of him as he made much contribution to the negotiation with the U.S. on the case "entry restrictions on Chinese workers".
In 1894, after China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese war, Liang Cheng followed Zhang Yinhuan and other important officials to negotiate in Japan and was appointed a candidate official in Zhili Province (approximately the present Hebei Province) after returning to China. Later, he entered the cabinet by Li Hongzhang as a secretary in foreign language. After the Boxer movement, Liang followed the Prince Zaifeng as the chief retinue to go to Germany for "apology". The Germen intended to humiliate the Qing envoy so as to revenge on Clemens von Ketteler, the ambassador who was killed in the Boxer movement. Thanks to Liang Cheng’s negotiation strategy, Zaifeng was speared the humiliation of kneeling before the German Emperor.
In 1902, Liang Cheng followed Beile (a knighthood in Qing Dynasty) Zaizhen to Britain to attend the coronation ceremony for the British Emperor Edward VII. At this time, Liang was already well known as a diplomat. In the summer of the same year, Liang Cheng, in the capacity of independent diplomat and third-grade minister, was appointed ambassador to the U.S., Spain and Peru and reached the U.S. in March of the next year. In autumn, his post was modified as the ambassador to the U.S. and Mexico.
During his term in office, Liang achieved several diplomatic victories, such as forbidding the inhuman "Pact on Chinese Workers" by the U.S. and Mexico and negotiating the redemption of Yuehan railway, etc.
Seize the chance to win back the balance of the Boxer Indemnity
The Peace Treaty of 1901 stipulated that the Boxer Indemnity to the Allied Forces of Eight Powers be paid in silver (liang). However, in reality, most countries demanded that the indemnity be paid in gold, which would be beneficial to these countries but add a burden to Chinese finance. The U.S. once agreed to China’s request that the balance of the indemnity be paid in Guanping silver (a type of silver ingot used in import and export tariff). However, when other countries disapproved such method, the U.S. changed its mind.
At the end of 1904, Qing government sent Liang Cheng to negotiate with the U.S. concerning the payment in Guanping Silver. For this purpose, Liang visited the U.S. Secretary of State John Hay on several occasions. Although John Hay was moved by his words, he still refused the proposal on account of unanimity with other countries.
Since John Hay mentioned that the indemnity was in fact excessive, Liang Cheng took the opportunity to ask the U.S. to take the initiative to cut down on the indemnity. At the same time, Liang sent an express proposal to the Qing government suggesting negotiating with the U.S. on returning the excessive amount of the indemnity. On January 19, 1905, the Foreign Ministry of the Qing government received a petition from Liang Cheng on the difficulty of the negotiation. The petition also mentioned the U.S. statement that the Boxer Indemnity was indeed too much and suggested redeeming the indemnity instead of dwelling on the issue of paying in gold or in silver.
From then on, Liang Cheng shifted the emphasis of his mission to cutting down on the amount of the indemnity and waited for a chance to address the issue of paying in gold or in silver.
The U.S. interfered in the use of the indemnity
After nearly 3 months’ hard work, "redemption" seemed possible. On May 13, the Foreign Ministry of Qing government received another report from Liang Cheng. It first revealed that the redemption seemed to be successful. Liang also disclosed that in the negotiation the U.S. tried to find out the use of the sum redeemed. Liang responded instantly that it was the domestic affair of China and could not be announced in advance. The U.S. reminded that once the negotiation succeeded and the large sum of indemnity was redeemed there would be a lot of officials who would fatten their own pockets with it. Therefore, he advised the Qing government to specifically announce the use of the sum to be redeemed before getting it and suggested that the use had better be "establishing educational institutions and financing foreign study" (later modified as education and cultivating talents). Liang Cheng therefore responded to the U.S. government:
Once the sum is returned, it will be used for establishing schools and sending students to study abroad. In this way, the U.S. government will be pleased to have the sum spent wisely and to see the grand cause of education carried out. Even if a few officials might raise objections, yet the proper cause will certainly win support throughout China and the large sum of money will not fall into improper hands.
After seeing Liang Cheng’s petition, Yuan Shikai, a Beiyang minister in charge of foreign affairs at that time, instantly proposed that the redeemed sum be used on building roads. However, the Foreign Ministry of Qing government seemed to have seen through Yuan’s real intention. Instead of strongly refuting his proposal, the ministry sent two similar responses to Yuan Shikai and Liang Cheng to the effect that although Yuan’s proposal was reasonable, yet due to various conditions, the government would not put forward such a proposal to the U.S. in case the later might "interfere out of suspicion".
During the same time, John Hay died of illness. The next Secretary of State Eilhu Root was also "sympathetic" toward China and was a friend of Liang. After Root took office, the negotiation on "redemption" continued. However, many negative incidents happened between U.S. and China, such as the Americans’ maltreatment of overseas Chinese, China’s purchasing the contract of Meihua Development Co. to build Yuehan railway, the killing of an American priest in Lianzhou, Guangdong, etc. President Roosevelt therefore put aside the redemption issue and nothing new turned up until early 1907.
At the same time, Liang Cheng continued to work from different perspectives to get support for China’s reasonable request, meeting reporters, making speeches and trying to persuade senators. It is said that under the pressure of public opinion, Root became discontented and his attitude changed drastically. He insisted on not redeeming the sum.
Ling Cheng stepped down and returned to China after completing his diplomatic mission
Afterwards, Liang Cheng avoided direct contact with Root and focused on the relation with the new Home Secretary and Strauss the Commerce Secretary (both being friendly to Liang) to make the previous proposal to the President. The two secretaries requested the President Roosevelt to recheck the actual expenditure of the American army in April 1907. After conferring with Liang Cheng and Root, Roosevelt agreed to a recheck and promised a prompt response.
Just as when Liang Cheng was experiencing the hard time in negotiation, there came a setback. As Liang did not mention a single word concerning Yuan Shikai’s proposal in the process of "redeeming the indemnity", Yuan failed to realize his plan and bore grudges on Liang. Sometime between April and May 1907, Liang Cheng received a telegram from the Foreign Ministry dispatching him back to work in Peking. However, Liang could not afford to fail at the last hurdle, so he managed to delay his return with correspondences.
On June 15, Liang Cheng received an official note from the U.S. concerning the final figure to be paid by China, i.e. "USD 11,655,492.69", and "the difference between this figure and the original figure would be exempted."
It might be that Liang Cheng thought that the whole thing would be successful and that he should directly report the negotiation to the Empress Dowager Cixi and the Emperor Guangxu, the highest authority of Qing government, before returning to China. Therefore, he submitted a direct report to them and therefore made a conclusion to his negotiation in the U.S.
Just on the same day when Liang Cheng left the U.S., the Secretary of State Root notified him for a talk, in which Liang got to know that the President Roosevelt had decided to return half of its Boxer Indemnity to China.
On December 31, 1908, Root issued an official notice to the American Ambassador in China W.W. Rockhill that "in the decree of December 28, 1908 the President directed the redemption to begin on January 1, 1909". At the same time, he did not forget to send a letter to Liang Cheng, telling him that the negotiation on redemption of the indemnity and on spending such redemption on education had finally succeeded.