Weng Tonghe
| Weng Tonghe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of Revenue 户部尚書 | |
| In office 3 January 1886 - 15 June 1898 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1830 |
| Died | 1904 (aged 73–74) |
| Relations | Weng Tongshu 翁同書 |
| Parents | Weng Xinchun 翁心存 |
| Military service | |
| Awards | Zhuangyuan of 1856 imperial examinations |
Weng Tonghe (Chinese: 翁同龢; pinyin: Wēng Tónghé; Wade–Giles: Weng T'ung-ho, 1830–1904, courtesy name Shuping 叔平) was a Chinese Confucian scholar and imperial tutor during the Qing dynasty. In 1856, he was awarded the highest degree in the imperial examinations and he subsequently became a member of the prestigious Hanlin Academy.
Weng Tonghe's father was an official who had been persecuted by an influential faction at the imperial court led by Su Shun. However, in 1861, a coup took place bringing about the deposition of Su Shun and his faction, and the new government, led by Yixin, Prince Gong, Empress Dowager Ci'an and Empress Dowager Cixi placed the senior Weng to high office.[1](Weng would die in 1862, however).
In 1865, Weng Tonghe was appointed as a tutor to the Tongzhi Emperor,[2] joining another tutor by the name of Wo Ren,[3] as well as a lecturer to the two dowager empresses.[4] In 1873, Emperor Tongzhi took up the reigns of power and two years later, he was dead.
He apparently had been exonerated from the disastrous failure of the education of Emperor Tongzhi, as he was appointed as a tutor of Emperor Tongzhi's successor, the Guangxu Emperor.[5] As tutor to the Emperor Guangxu, he emphasized the boy-emperor's filial duties to Dowager Empress Cixi, making her an object of fear and reverence for him.[6]
Along with his role as tutor, he accrued increased political power, occupying several important posts in Qing administration, including Vice President and later President of the Board of Revenue, Director of the Censorate and President of the Board of Punishment. He also served on the Grand Council 1882–84 and participated in decisions made in the First Sino-Japanese War.[7]
He was also known for being a patron of Kang Youwei, a man whom Weng began to dissociate with by the spring of 1898,[8] and in light of this connection, it's been argued that Dowager Empress Cixi removed him from office. However, it apparently was the emperor himself who removed him from office in June 1898, after the two got into a quarrel.[9]
References
- ↑ A Mosaic of the Hundred Days: Personalities, Politics and Ideas of 1898 (Harvard University Study Center, 1984), pgs. 51 & 52
- ↑ Kwong, Luke S.K. A Mosaic of the Hundred Days: Personalities, Politics and Ideas of 1898 (Harvard University Study Center, 1984) pg. 51
- ↑ Seagrave, Sterling Dragon Lady: the Life & Legend of the Last Empress of China (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992) pg. 117
- ↑ Kwong, ibid.
- ↑ Kwong, pg. 45
- ↑ ibid. pg. 50
- ↑ Kwong, pg. 51
- ↑ Kwong, pg. 146
- ↑ Ibid. pg. 162
- Weng Tonghe (1830-1904) Calligraphy Gallery
- Hummel, Arthur William, ed. Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644-1912). 2 vols. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1943.
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