Li Hongzhang (1823–1901), Chinese statesman and general and one of the most important people of Foreign Industry Initiative. Zhang shared some of the same opinion with Li while they have politic conflicts.

Zhang and Li were not of the same party but meanwhile, they were not politic enemies.

They had different viewpoints on foreign affairs and war against France and Japan.

Li was the chief negotiator of the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895), which ended the First Sino-Japanese War. In 1896 he negotiated the treaty that granted Russia the right to build the Trans-Siberian RR across N Manchuria.

Li protected foreigners when he was viceroy of Guangzhou during the Boxer Uprising (1900), and he was able to reduce the demands of the foreign powers for reparations. His moderately progressive internal policy included modernization of the army and railroad building.