Sept. 27, 1846–1900, July 28, martyr in the Boxer Uprising of 1900, was a native of T'ung-lu, Chekiang. He came from a well-to-do family and among his ancestors were a. number of scholars. His father, Yüan Shih-chi 袁世紀 (T. 用疇, H. 鑛巖), helped in fighting the Taiping rebels and was posthumously given the hereditary rank of a Yün-ch'i-yü. Most of the writings of Yüan Ch'ang's ancestors were destroyed in 1861 when the Taiping forces took T'ung-lu; and in the course of that conflict two of his uncles and eight of his brothers lost their lives. In 1866 he attended the Academy, Ku-ching Ching-shê (see under Juan Yüan), in Hangchow; and there, a year later, he became a chü-jên. In 1874 he purchased the rank of a secretary in the Grand Secretariat. Two years later he became a chin-shih and was appointed a secretary in the Board of Revenue, but he had to wait many years before there was a vacancy. Late in 1876 he left Peking and went to Nanking where he stayed in the Hsi-yin 惜陰 Academy, probably as an assistant to the principal, Hsüeh Shih-yü 薛時雨 (T. 慰農, 澍生, H. 桑根老人, 1818–1885), who was an uncle of Yüan's wife.
Yüan Ch'ang returned to Peking in 1878 and five years later was admitted by examination to the Tsungli Yamen, or Foreign Office (see under I-hsin), as a Chinese secretary. F'or a number of years he had been interested in foreign affairs, and took this opportunity to advance his know ledge of China's international relations. He soon became an important member on the staff of the Tsungli Yamen, as evidenced by his being selected in 1885 to serve as a secretary to the mission which negotiated at Tientsin the treaty of peace with France over the Annam question (see under Fêng Tzŭ-ts'ai). During his eleven years (1883–94) in the Tsungli Yamen he served concurrently as an assistant department director of the Board of Revenue (1888–94), as one of the eighteen assistant examiners in the metropolitan examination of 1892, and in other capacities.
In 1894 he was appointed intendant of the Circuit of Southern Anhwei (Hui-Ning-Ch'ih-T'ai-Kuang Tao 徽寧池太廣道) with headquarters at Wuhu, a treaty port on the Yangtze River. The pest was important because the incumbent had to regulate foreign trade, collect customs' duty and maintain cordial relations with foreigners. It was also a lucrative post, given usually to a secretary of the Tsungli Yamen who had made a good record. During his five years as intendent he effected the following reforms in his Circuit: (1) He encouraged education by enlarging the physical plant of the local Academy, Chung-chiang Shu-yüan 中江書院, which, owing to a contribution by him, of over 4,000 taels was enabled to engage a learned principal and later to build up a library. Instruction was given not only in the Confucian classics, history, philosophy and belles lettres, but also in current events and science. (2) By himself setting a good example he promoted honesty and clean living among his subordinates. (3) During the critical period of the Sino-Japanese war he promoted good relations with Europeans by training a militia to keep his part of the Yangtze area tranquil and to protect Christian churches and other foreign property. (4) He encouraged commerce and trade. (5) By reforms in the tax system he increased the government's revenue. In 1894 he remitted 8,000 taels to Peking for the war chest against Japan; and in the following year his tax reforms resulted in a surplus of 18,000 taels, all of which he sent to Peking. (6) He encouraged agriculture by teaching the farmers better methods; and conserved their land by erecting a dike, fourteen li in length, along the Yangtze. To this enterprise, which employed some 67,500 workmen, he personally contributed more than 5,000 taels.
In May 1898 Yüan Ch'ang was promoted to be provincial judge of Shensi, and a month later lieutenant-governor of Kiangsu, but he declined both posts. The year 1898 was a critical one for China, being marked by forced territorial concessions to various Western powers. In this crisis the Emperor ordered the governors of provinces to submit their plans—or those of their subordinates—to increase the country's revenue for national defense and for training a modern army. Yüan Ch'ang submitted, through the governor of Anhwei, a memorial of some twenty thousand words. In it he stressed the danger from foreign aggression, and from internal deterioration, as evidenced by a corrupt officialdom, by luxurious living, and by empty formalism—the internal dangers being regarded by him as the more serious. He analyzed the intentions of the various foreign governments toward China and concluded that Germany and France were not an immediate menace. England, being interested chiefly in commerce, had, in his opinion, no territorial designs. China would do well to enter into an alliance with her and negotiate a loan. Since Japan and China are near neighbors and use the same written characters, he thought it prudent to deal with Japan on the plane of dignity and good faith,
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