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Sheng Xuanhuai is a person who cannot be ignored in the history of modern China. People have mixed opinions about him. Li Hongzhang praised him for his "ambition to correct the times, tenacity in his work, talent and insight, and ability to be of great use." However, the author of the "Draft History of Qing Dynasty" scolded him for "infringing on the rights and laws, deceiving the emperor, distorting policies, causing disasters, and being the chief evildoer who misled the country." In Sun Yat-sen's eyes, Sheng Xuanhuai was "enthusiastic about public welfare, and very trustworthy in the economic world." In Lu Xun's view, Sheng Xuanhuai was an out-and-out "traitor, bureaucratic capitalist, local tyrant and evil gentry." What exactly did Sheng Xuanhuai do in his life, and why do people have mixed opinions about him?

Sheng Xuanhuai, also known as Xingsun, was born in Wujin, Jiangsu in 1844. His grandfather and father had both held official positions. At the age of 26, he was introduced by his father to work in Li Hongzhang's shogunate. He was highly appreciated by Li Hongzhang for his outstanding work. At that time, China's coastal and inland shipping were controlled by British and American shipping companies. Sheng Xuanhuai believed that if China wanted to become rich and strong, it must develop industry and commerce, and to develop industry and commerce, transportation rights and interests could not be monopolized by foreigners. So he suggested to Li Hongzhang to establish the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company to take back the shipping benefits from foreigners. After Li Hongzhang's recommendation, he became the first director of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company. From then on, Sheng Xuanhuai used Li Hongzhang's power to establish one Westernization enterprise after another, and he also reciprocated. Every time he established an enterprise, "there were some virtual shares to give to Hongzhang." Of course, he also took advantage of his position to embezzle and embezzle state-owned assets.

After Li Hongzhang was transferred to be the governor-general of Zhili, Sheng Xuanhuai followed him there. In Tianjin, he founded the China Telegraph Bureau, presided over the construction of dozens of telegraph lines across the country, and founded the Telegraph School to train specialized talents.

In 1896, Sheng Xuanhuai went to Hubei and took over the Hanyang Iron Works from Zhang Zhidong, which was in serious deficit. In view of the shortcomings of the ironworks, such as lack of fuel and poor quality of steel, he sent people to look for coal mines along the river. Finally, he found suitable coal in Pingxiang, Jiangxi, and introduced the latest smelting technology from the West to solve these problems. In order to ensure the sales of the steel rails produced by the ironworks, he proposed to Zhang Zhidong to set up a special railway company to build the Lu-Han Railway. He went to Beijing to Emperor Guangxu to advocate the various benefits of building railways. In the end, the emperor approved this request and he was responsible for supervising the Railway Corporation. Through his efforts, the Hanyang Iron Works became the "first powerful factory" in East Asia. But on the other hand, in order to expand the ironworks, he did not hesitate to borrow large amounts of money from Japan for the mines, which made China lose the sovereignty of Daye Iron Mine.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Sheng Xuanhuai had controlled a number of enterprises such as steamships, telegraphs, railways, banks, and textiles, and controlled half of China's economy. According to statistics, he created a total of 11 firsts in China: the first private joint-stock enterprise, the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company; the first telegraph office; the first inland steamer company; the first Bank of China; the first railway line; the first steel joint venture; the first higher normal school; the first mining company; the first public library; the first modern university; and the founding of the Chinese Red Cross. At this time, Sheng Xuanhuai's life had reached its peak.

After Li Hongzhang's death, Sheng Xuanhuai was alone and Yuan Shikai seized control of the Railway Bureau and Telegraph Bureau. A few years later, Zaifeng came to power and Yuan Shikai lost power and retired. Sheng Xuanhuai came out and moved around, and finally became the Minister of Posts and Communications (equivalent to the Minister of Transportation) in 1908. In May 1911, the Imperial Cabinet was established. At that time, there was a fierce debate about whether the railway should be state-owned or privately run, especially in Sichuan, Guangdong, Hunan and other places, where many people had already bought shares in the railway company. At this time, Sheng Xuanhuai did not give any compensation to the people, forcibly nationalized the railway, and borrowed foreign debts to build the Yuehan and Sichuan-Hankou railways, which undoubtedly offended the public. This directly aroused the railway protection movement in Hunan, Sichuan and other places, and the resulting Wuchang Uprising completely buried the Qing Dynasty. On October 26 of that year, Sheng Xuanhuai was dismissed from public office. Seeing that things were not going well, the 67-year-old Sheng Xuanhuai hurriedly took a boat to flee to Japan. Later, he made arrangements with many people and spent more than 5 million taels of silver before he could buy peace.

At the beginning of the Republic of China, the finances were stretched to the limit. In order to raise funds, Sheng Xuanhuai went to Japan, intending to obtain a loan from Japan on the condition that the Sino-Japanese joint venture Hanyeping Company be established. In April 1916, Sheng Xuanhuai died in Shanghai. Before his death, he instructed that half of the more than 11.6 million taels of silver he left behind be donated to charity. After his death, the Sheng family spent 300,000 oceans on his funeral. 64 people were hired to carry the coffin, and the funeral procession was 5 miles long. Many Shanghai citizens witnessed this luxurious funeral. It is said that in order to prevent tomb robbery, his coffin was kept in Liuyuan for more than two years until 1919, when it was buried in the family cemetery.

This controversial figure in modern history eventually turned into a handful of earth.