Li Hongzhang

Li Hongzhang (1823–1901), Marquess Suyi, was a Chinese politician, general, and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty who was the principal architect of China's foreign policy and modernization for four decades. Mentored by Zeng Guofan, Li raised the Huai Army, which played a decisive role alongside Charles Gordon's 'Ever Victorious Army' in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864).

As Viceroy of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang, Li led the 'Self-Strengthening Movement' (Ziqiang Yundong), pioneering modern steamship navigation, railways, telegraph networks, coal mining, and founding the modern Beiyang Fleet. Appointed China's supreme diplomat in an era of imperialist humiliation, Li bore the painful burden of negotiating peace treaties, including the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) and the Boxer Protocol (1901), with Western powers referring to him as 'the Bismarck of the East'.