Zuo Zongtang

Life & Legacy

Zuo Zongtang (左宗棠, Xiang Chinese: [tso˧˩ tsoŋ˧ tan˩˧]; Wade-Giles spelling: Tso Tsung-t'ang; November 10, 1812 – September 5, 1885), sometimes referred to as General Tso, was a Chinese statesman and army officer of the late Qing dynasty.
Born in Xiangyin County, Hunan Province, Zuo started his career in the Qing military by participating in the campaign against the Taiping Rebellion in 1851. After capturing Hangzhou from the Taiping rebels in 1864, he was enfeoffed as a first class count. In 1866, Zuo oversaw the construction of the Foochow Arsenal and naval academy. That same year, he was reassigned to serve as the Viceroy of Shaan-Gan, where he oversaw industrialization in Gansu Province. In 1867, he was appointed as an Imperial Commissioner in charge of military affairs in Gansu.
During his term as Imperial Commissioner in Gansu, Zuo participated in the suppression of the Nian Rebellion and Dungan Revolt. By the late 1870s, he had crushed the Dungan rebels and recaptured Xinjiang Province from rebel forces. In 1878, because of his achievements, Zuo was promoted from a first class count to a second class marquis. He was appointed to the Grand Council in 1884, before being made an Imperial Commissioner again to oversee naval affairs. He died in 1885 in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, and was given the posthumous name Wenxiang.
Zuo is mostly acknowledged outside China for his military exploits, but he also contributed to Chinese agricultural science and education. In particular, he promoted cotton cultivation to northwestern China as a replacement for the cash crop opium and established a large modern press in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, which published Confucian classics and newer works on agricultural science.