Study On Lin Shaonian’s Pacification And Government Of Guizhou Province

Lin Shaonian lived in the social transitional period fromtraditional society to modern society. Most of his life wasspent in officialdom. He successively served as the governorsof Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Henan, and left a deep impressionto the world during that period, especially when he governedGuizhou province. However, it was also a time when Qinggovernment pursued a new policy. He became the strong advocateand supporter of the new policy in the late Qing dynasty. Inpolitics, he advocated constitutional monarchy and became thefirst local governor who petitioned the emperor to set up aconstitution; He cut and increased the garrisons and punishedsome illegal chieftains to enhance the combat effectiveness ofthe troops; He took vigorous actions to consolidate enclaves,which strengthened the effective management of the governmentand promoted the local social and economic development.Ineconomy,he advocated a monetary reform and recommendedinvesting in state-of-the-art facilities to mint copper coins,which set a precedent for the monetary reform in Guizhouprovince; He established Anshun Minerals-ResourcesCorporation and developed mineral resources vigorously, suchas lead and iron, which was helpful to the high-efficiency exploration and utilization of resources, and finallystimulated the modernization of Guizhou ’s economy; Heencouraged farming and developed agricultural economy, whichpromoted the sustained and steady growth of agriculturalproduction and economy to some extent. For the school education,he tried to develop education case by opening new types ofschool, such as Sericulture School, Immigrant School，AllegroMilitary School and so on, which had trained a large number ofnew talents；He advocated the revitalization of female schooland persisted in basic education of girls,which improved theeducational level of female education to some extent, andcultivated a group of outstanding female talents; He sent alarge number of students to study abroad, which set theprecedent for studying abroad of Guizhou province,and fostereda large number of applicable person needed in New Policies.Through hard work,Lin Shaonian played an important rolein the implementation of New Policies of latter stage of QingDynasty, and promoted the modernization of politics, economyand education in Guizhou province. But on the other hand, asa local governor who had the real power, he represented theinterests of the ruling classes, and was essentially in theserve of them, which is mainly manifested in his brutal suppression upon people’s Anti-Qing uprising. So in his NewPolicies measures, there were also some inevitablelimitations.