World Heritage

Zheng Guanying: the late-Qing reform thinker who completed《盛世危言》at the Mandarin’s House in Macau

Zheng Guanying

A late-Qing reform thinker, comprador and industrialist who worked for foreign firms and modern Chinese enterprises such as the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company. His major work《盛世危言》(Words of Warning in a Prosperous Age) argued for learning from the West to enrich and strengthen China, and was widely influential. From 1884 he retired to the Mandarin’s House (鄭家大屋) in Macau, where he revised the work that became this book. The Mandarin’s House is today part of the Historic Centre of Macao, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.