Over the past century, the evaluation of Hurd has been at opposite poles-China people think he is "the most insidious enemy" and textbooks define him as "one of the main representatives of British aggression against China"; Western sinologists are full of praise, saying that he is "China's unswerving friend", "China's advocate of early modernization" and "a bridge between China and the West" ... No matter how many labels are attached to him with these conceptual words, as an Englishman who participated in almost all major events in the late Qing Dynasty, Hurd is definitely a figure that cannot be ignored in China's modern history.
A relatively safe point of view is that Hurd's control of China Customs is detrimental to China's sovereignty. There is no doubt that he himself is a practitioner of unequal treaty relations. On the other hand, Hurd, as a guest secretary, strongly advocated reform at home and repeatedly expressed his support for China's position, which is worthy of recognition. But the latter point obviously belongs to the secondary level under right and wrong. Because most of these opinions were published without harming Britain's major interests.
To judge Hurd's words and deeds, we can also look at1China's attitude towards internal affairs and diplomacy in the late 9th century. China needs reform. Hurd put forward the 10 reform plan to the Qing government successively, and carried out modernization reform in his own yamen area.
China needs to resist the enemy, and Hurd once encouraged China to resist the enemy. During the Sino-French War, he expressed strong indignation at the French aggression. He wrote to James Duncan Campbell, criticizing the behavior of the French as "a series of vicious, unnecessary, unjust and cruel massacres"! He hoped that "God would repay them" and said firmly, "If I were a China, I would fight". Therefore, during the Sino-French War, Hurd was a leading soldier. He once said to the ministers of the Prime Minister's yamen: "If you are sure that you can fight to the end, I advise you to fight, because justice is on your side and the French labor expedition will be very tired."
China needs to maintain its territorial integrity and sovereign independence, and Hurd once supported China's claim of territorial integrity. After the Boxer Rebellion and Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China, Hurd felt the importance of re-establishing proper Sino-foreign relations. He persuaded the big powers to "accept the compensation that China is willing to bear" and "safeguard the administrative integrity and territorial integrity of China" on the issue of reparations, and advocated in the Sino-British negotiations that "Britain will be allowed to give up its extraterritorial jurisdiction" after China rectified and improved its legal system.
If we don't look at Hurd from teleology, his words and deeds have already explained the position and value of a special person in a special era.
On the other hand, the blatant aggression against China by British military and political figures contemporary with Hurd can also disprove Hurd's historical position; In other words, Britain used both civil and military means to deal with a declining Eastern Empire.