Admiral Charles William de la Poer Beresford, 1st Baron Beresford, GCB, GCVO, FRSGS (10 February 1846 – 6 September 1919), styled Lord Charles Beresford between 1859 and 1916, was a British admiral and Member of Parliament.

Beresford was the second son of John Beresford, 4th Marquess of Waterford, thus despite his courtesy title as the younger son of a Marquess, he was still eligible to enter the House of Commons. He combined the two careers of the navy and a member of parliament, making a reputation as a hero in battle and champion of the navy in the House of Commons. He was a well-known and popular figure who courted publicity, widely known to the British public as "Charlie B". He was considered by many to be a personification of John Bull, indeed was normally accompanied by his trademark, a bulldog.

His later career was marked by a longstanding dispute with Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Fisher, over reforms championed by Fisher introducing new technology and sweeping away traditional practices. Fisher, slightly senior to Beresford and more successful, became a barrier to Beresfords rise to the highest office in the navy. Beresford rose to occupy the most senior sea commands, the Mediterranean and Channel fleets, but failed in his ambition to become First Sea Lord..

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Written by Lord Charles Beresford in 1899, The Break-up of China is an unprecidented analysis of the state of the trade industry in China. Beresford gives his position and affiliation  in the first paragraph of the preface:

"When I undertook the Mission confided to me by the President of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, I frankly admit that I did not fully grasp the dimensions of a problem the solving of which is only possible by clear thought and decisive action - qualities that have been conspicuously absent from our dealings with China during the late difficulties in the Far East. Although my Report deals mainly with trading and commercial questions, it cannot exclude considerations of high policy, and I am compelled to travel outside the limits originally defined for the scope of my Mission. In framing my Report it is impossible to ignore conditions inseparable from the Commercial Question - viz., matters relating to international...and political complications. The British and American public have been quite bewildered by the controversy which has raged during the last year over the relative merits of the "Open Door" and the "Sphere of Influence.""

.Obviously, when looking at the tenor of the work, one must consider the times in which it was written. At the very end of the long reign of Queen Victoria, the British Imperial mindset was still in operation. The arguement between the "Open Door" policy and the adoption of the "Sphere of Influence" (which was at work in Persia and Afghanistan during the Great Game between The Russian and British Empires) was one of the level of interference, rather than whether interference should occur at all. If, however, it is possible for the reader to look dispassionately at the information given, one will see there is a veritable minefield of facts and observations which give an insight in to not only the state of the Chinese economy, soverignty and stability in 1899, but also into the minset of the British Government, and to a lesser extent the Japanese, American and Russian governments, with respect to the state of China and its possibilities for trade and development.

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LCB. 就是標準型的戰犯喜愛戰爭..

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LCB 企圖妄想成為大清帝國的官員.

(大英帝國駐大清帝國的公使).

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Beresford was commissioned for the report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce, whose interest was directed at the possibilities of trade both with and within the Chinese Empire. The following is a quote from the letter of the President of the ACC, the Hon. Sir Stafford Northcote, Bart., MP:

"It is generally admitted that there is a great possible field for business undertakings; but I, personally, feel some doubt as to whether the organization of the Chinese civil and military administration is sufficiently complete to insure adequate protection to commercial ventures."

For me though, it is the questions of trade and security, along with the relationship with Russia and the improvement of administration which make this book so invaluable. Given the importance that these four issues have played in the dedvelopment of China from a playground for European, Japanese and American business, to a power commanding vast amounts of capital, dominating world trade, a centralised government capable of supressing internal dissention, and the entent reached with its neighbouring colossus, it is intersting to get a ground level view of the situation with respect to these issues from just over 100 years ago. Much has obviously changed.

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.Description:Books  :Non Chinese Books

The Break-Up of China.

HE literal “ cycle of Cathay,” or period of sixty years, — not the vague literary expression of Lord Tennyson, — which has just ended, was probably the most momentous for China, if not for the world at large; for it was in 1839 that the difficulties of intercourse between the East and the West came to the first crisis. The year 1899 seems to mark another crisis, which, as regards the integrity of the Chinese problem, may prove final. Yet the situation in Far Eastern Asia was grasped by onlv a few Western observers before 1895, when the struggle for suzerainty over Corea revealed the helplessness of China, and lifted Japan to a seat in the council of Powers. Though worsted in two foreign wars and nearly wrecked by an internal convulsion, the government of the “ Son of Heaven ” had learned nothing new and forgotten nothing old. The abortive issue of the French attack in 1884 seemed even to give it greater arrogance, and to increase the deference with which it was treated by Europe..

美國,歐洲及日本,再也沒任何能力,戰略,戰術,甚至於國際貿易等各式各樣的方法,瓜分中國.,21.世紀是中國人的世界,當中國統治管理世界之時,就大同世界.天下太平.

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美國,西方國家歐洲,日本, 直到如今的陰謀詭計與國家戰略思想,就是要瓜分中國,分配利益,從鴉片戰爭啟始以來,無數次的侵略戰爭,八國聯軍,日本侵略中國戰爭,朝鮮半島戰爭,越南侵華戰爭,印度侵佔中國邊境戰爭,中國南海由美國幕後策劃支持,越南,菲律賓甚至於歐洲諸國前來,中國南海挑戰,如今美國又利用日本直接挑戰中國,希望中國與日本戰爭,聯合歐盟瓜分中國,座享 其成,美國人與西方人,就是海盜與強盜,自從16世紀大航海時代開始就,向全世界進行,侵略戰爭,取得重要戰略物質,強大自己的武裝,然後繼續的侵略世各國,只如今僅剩中國,這是他們自第二次世界大戰以後夢寐以求的,美國與西方國家包括日本,均無法佔有任何利益削走中國人的一分一毫,中國早已洞悉美國,歐洲及日本的陰謀詭計,已經有萬全的準備,足以應付第3次世界大戰,對抗美國,歐洲及日本的挑戰..

.The Diplomatic and Commercial prestige of Great Britain has been affected by the events in Northern China, but only in a slight degree when compared with the loss of good name involved by forcing concessions from China when she is pros trated by involuntary surrenders to Powers stronger than herself. Hitherto our policy has been to be friend weaker nations. It cannot be said that this policy has lately been followed in the Far East. We have taken advantage of the impotence and distress of the authorities and people of China to advance our own interests, and consequently China has become suspicious of Great Britain; this is not only natural but inevitable.

..“瓜分中國”的英文最貼切的說法是 Scramble for China，這是一個歷史術語，指19世紀末20世紀初列強在中國劃分勢力範圍的時期。其他常用動詞包括 partition China 或 carve up China (瓜分中國)，divide China (分割中國)。 .

..The Scramble for China,^] also known as the Partition of China^[ or the Scramble for Concessions,^] was a concept that existed during the late 1890s in Europe, the United States, and the Empire of Japan for the partitioning of China under the Qing dynasty as their own spheres of influence, during the era of "New Imperialism", following Chinas defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. However, the United States Secretary of State created the Open Door Policy in 1899 which sought to prevent the European powers from trying to carve up China into colonies and proposed that all interested powers had equal access to China The policy was gradually accepted by the major powers so that the concept of the partitioning of China generally lost favor by the early 20th century..