ABSTRACT
The viceroyalty of Hsi-liang, from 18 April 1903 to 3 March 1907, was crucial in the decline both of viceregal government in Szechwan and of the imperial system of which it formed a characteristic and essential part. Hsi-liang was governor-general for four years, 1903 to 1907, and at risk of overschematization his terms of office can be analysed on a fourfold chronological basis. There was however one important difference between 1894 and 1903: the climate of opinion had changed. Hsi-liang’s approach to Szechwan — to call it a programme would over-assess its activism — was sophisticated. The railway project set the tone for Hsi-liang’s relations with the empire, the province and the foreigner. By the end of 1903, thanks to Ts’en Ch’en-hsüan’s measures against the Boxers, a good harvest, and Hsi-liang’s stabilization, order had been restored to Szechwan. To the end, therefore, Hsi-liang remained the Confucian administrator, more frightened of over-extension than inactivity.
