Departures of note

Paul Splingaerd, born a foundling in Brussels in 1842, rose to become a mandarin in the late Qing government. After leaving Belgium in 1865 as a lay helper with the CICM missionaries to Mongolia, he worked at the Prussian Legation in Beijing, where he met geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen. Between 1868 and 1872, Splingaerd guided and interpreted for Richthofen on exploratory journeys through 18 Chinese provinces, reporting on minerals, flora, fauna, and peoples.

In 1881, viceroy Li Hongzhang appointed Splingaerd Customs Inspector at Jiuquan, a remote post on the Xinjiang border. For 14 years, he ran the Suzhou Small Pox clinic and fostered local understanding of Westerners, their culture, and technology. His service earned him recognition as a mandarin, and he became known in China by names like Lin Fuchen and 'Belgian Lin.'

After his Jiuquan assignment, agents of King Leopold II of Belgium enlisted Splingaerd to negotiate revisions to the contract for the Beijing-Hankou railway, the first major railway in China. His successful efforts earned him a knighthood and the Order of the Crown in 1897. Later, Lanzhou mayor Peng Yingjia contacted him to negotiate with Belgian companies for a bridge over the Yellow River. In 1906, Splingaerd returned to Belgium for the first time in 40 years to find engineers and companies for the bridge, but no contract was signed. He died from illness in Xi'an on his way back to Lanzhou.

Splingaerd's son Alphonse, known in China as Lin Ah De, stayed in Lanzhou as an interpreter and counselor for the foreign community. Explorers such as Sven Hedin and Vladimir Obruchev wrote about encounters with the red-bearded Belgian mandarin. His life inspired characters in novels by Vladimir Nabokov and Jean Blaise, and a musical by Tone Brulin. Statues were erected in his honor in Ottenburg, Belgium, in 2006, and in Jiuquan, China, in 2008.