Zhao Shuqiao

Zhao Shuqiao, courtesy name Zhanru, was a politician and legal scholar of Qing dynasty. He was a prominent figure of the "jurisprudence of Shaanxi sect".
Zhao obtained the highest degree in the imperial examination in 1874. He was made the literary official of the Ministry of Justice, later promoted to the assistant director of the Ministry of Justice. He was described as a strict law enforcement official who investigated and dealt with many unjust cases during his tenure, including the "Case of Wang Shuwen". Later, he had served as the magistrate of Fengyang Prefecture, Circuit intendant of Wenzhou, financial commissioner of Zhejiang, governor of Jiangsu and other positions. He was appointed the senior deputy minister of justice in 1897 and promoted to the minister in the next year.
During the Boxer Rebellion, the Boxers occupied Zhuozhou, Zhao was sent there to disperse them. In Gao Shu's Trivial Records of a Golden Bell recorded that Gangyi recommended that Zhao Shuqiao travel to Zhuozhou to "investigate the Boxers and secretly invite them to enter Beijing". Zhao Shuqiao believed that the Boxers could not be relied on, and wrote a memorial to explain. However, because the Empress Dowager Cixi believed deeply in the Boxers, and the courtiers also fawned over the Empress Dowager, he did not dare to hand over the memorial. Soon after, the Boxers swarmed into the capital and busied themselves with burning and killing.
When Beijing fell to the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900, Zhao Shuqiao and other officials fled to Xi'an with Empress Dowager Cixi. During the negotiations for the Boxer Protocol, Zhao was named as one of the masterminds behind the rebellion. The Empress Dowager Cixi planned to execute him however, after hundreds of Xi'an citizens petitioned for his pardon, she finally decided to force him to commit suicide. Zhao committed suicide on 24 February 1901.

Publications

''Ti lao bei kao''