Yinchang

Yinchang or Yin-ch'ang (traditional Chinese: 廕昌; simplified Chinese: 荫昌; pinyin: Yìnchāng) (1859–1928) was a military official and politician in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. He was the Minister of War in the late Qing Dynasty. Later he also became the military Chief of Staff in the Beiyang Government. He was ethnic Manchu, and his family belonged to the Plain White Banner Clan of the Manchu Military Organization (滿洲正白旗); he held the title of Prince of that clan.

In the beginning Yinchang was a student of Guozijian. In 1872 he studied German at the Tongwen Guan, Beijing. In 1877 he was sent to Germany as an attaché to the Chinese Legation in Berlin. During his stay in Germany he studied military science at the same time as Wilhelm II and formed an association with the Krupp family. (He later married a German woman, with whom he had a daughter.) In 1884 he returned to China; in December of that year he served as translator for the Germany military envoy to the Qing Dynasty.

In June 1885 Yinchang was appointed an instructor in military science at the Tientsin Military Academy 天津武備學堂; later he was promoted to be superintendent of the academy. The President of the Republic of China Feng Guozhang was a student under his direction. In winter 1899, he headed the negotiations with Germany for railway and mining rights in Shandong and signed the agreement for these rights in Shandong (山東路礦章程). Later, in 1901, he became a Deputy Lieutenant-General commanding the Plain White Banner Garrison (正白旗漢軍副都統).

Legend has it that during the Boxer Rebellion, when the Eight-Nation Alliance stormed Beijing to relieve the besieged Legations, Yinchang, with his German-equipped soldiers, escorted the Empress Dowager Cixi to safe passage through the back gates of the Forbidden City into Shaanxi Province, where the foreigners could not reach her. In 1901 Yinchang accompanied Zaifeng, Prince Chun to Germany with the special mission to convey China's regret to Kaiser Wilhelm II for the murder of Baron Clemens von Ketteler during the Boxer Rebellion. In August 1901 he was appointed the Chinese Ambassador to Germany (Berlin) and therefore didn't return to China with the Prince. In September he was appointed Chinese Minister to the Netherlands. In 1905 he was recalled and returned to China, and later that year Yinchang was among the reformers who abolished the Imperial examination in the effort to modernize Chinese education. At the end of the year he was appointed the director of the Nobles' College (貴冑學堂總辦) in Beijing. In September 1906 he became Commander-in-Chief in Jiangbei (江北提督), and two months later, became Army Chief of Staff(陸軍部右侍郎). In September 1908 he was reappointed as Chinese Ambassador to Germany, but because of military manoeuvres in Anhwei, he did not proceed to his post until Spring 1909. In March 1910 he was recalled and returned to China, where he was appointed as acting President of the Board of War (陸軍部尚書).

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