Wesin 倭

Wo-jên 倭仁 (T. 艮峰), d. June 8, 1871, official, a Mongol of the Plain Red Banner, was born in Honan where his family, of the Wu-ch'i-ko-li 烏齊格里 clan, was a part of the garrison forces in that province. Wo-jên, however, being interested in literary pursuits, became a chin-shih in 1829 and was selected a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. Made a compiler in 1832, he was quickly promoted through various offices until in 1844 he was made director of the Court of Judicature and Revision. In the meantime, he served as an examiner in the metropolitan examinations of 1835 and 1836, and as director of the provincial examination of Fukien in 1837. In 1850, in response to a decree of the newly-enthroned Emperor Wên-tsung soliciting suggestions on the conduct of government, Wo-jên submitted a memorial in which he advised the Emperor to study hard, and order his mind so that he could differentiate clearly between good and bad officials. Wo-jên characterized the good as likely to be clumsy in speech, generous, farsighted, unaggressive yet unbending, and predisposed to argue with and admonish the Emperor, whereas the bad could be known by their cleverness and their use of flattery. Significantly enough, the memorial was well received. It is worth noting that Ch'i-ying [q.v.], who in response to the same request laid emphasis on ability rather than on high ethical conduct, was dismissed--and officially at least, the memorial which Wo-jên wrote was the ostensible reason. Late in 1850 Wo-jên was given the rank of a deputy lieutenant-general and was sent to Turkestan as assistant agent at Yarkand. In 1852 he submitted a memorial advising the Emperor to be tolerant of critics and to be frugal. This time, however, he was rebuked for inadequate attention to business in his charge. Because in 1853 he had lodged accusations, without sufficient evidence, against a Mohammedan prince, he was lowered three grades in rank and recalled to Peking. The following year he was recommended to the throne as one to direct the training of recruits, but the Emperor refused to appoint him on the ground that he was not versed in military matters. He was given, however, the rank of an expectant sub-expositor of the Hanlin Academy and was ordered to serve in the Palace School for Princes as tutor to I-tsung [q.v.], receiving his appointment in 1855. After several promotions, he was made in 1866 vice-president of the Board of Ceremonies at Mukden, and a year later was transferred to the Board of Revenue, being concurrently in charge of civil affairs in the Mukden metropolitan area (Fêng-t'ien-fu). In 1861 he was sent to Korea to announce the accession to the throne of Emperor Mu-tsung (i.e. Tsai-ch'un, q.v.). Then he was summoned to Peking and made president of the Censorate. In 1862 he became president of the Board of Works and was appointed tutor to the child Emperor, holding concurrently the coveted cilancellorship of the Hanlin Academy. The two Dowager Empresses (see under Hsiao-ch'in) considered him as man of upright character as well as a widely informed scholar.

At this time Wo-jên submitted to the throne some proverbs and quotations which he had edited with notes. His manuscript was given by a decree the title 啟心金鑑 Ch'i-hsin chin-chien (Golden Mirror for Instruction of the Heart) and was deposited in the hall, Hung-tê tien 弘德殿, which was the Emperor's study. In the same year (1862) he was made a Grand Secretary with supervision of the Board of Revenue. Thereafter he was given many concurrent posts and was recognized as a powerful minister and an authority on the teachings of the Sung Neo-Confucian philosophers. Being anti-foreign and opposed to the policy of Westernization begun by I-hsin and Wên-hsiang [qq.v.], he became the leader of a large group of arrogant and self-righteous officials who opposed all reforms based on foreign patterns, but who perhaps smoked opium in private or bought foreign toys for their children. In 1866, when the T'ung-wên Kuan (see under I-hsin) enlarged its foreign language curriculum to include such subjects as mathematics and astronomy, a decree was issued encouraging officials below the fifth grade, who had chü-jên or chin-shih degrees, or who were junior members of the Hanlin Academy, to enter the College. Wo-jên protested in a memorial on the ground that it was better for a nation to be established on ceremonies and on ethical codes than on tactics and clever contrivances; that the basic need of China was not technical skill, but cultivation of the heart; and that in any case the study of mathematics under foreign teachers was unnecessary when Chinese could be found who had mastered the subject. In reply, a decree was issued ordering him to recommend some mathematicians and astronomers to teach in a separate school, but he declined the responsibility on the plea that he did not wish to make any hasty recommendations. He was then ordered to serve in the Tsungli Yamen as one of the ministers in charge of foreign affairs. In effecting this appointment, I-hsin probably wished to give Wo-jên an opportunity to inform himself on foreign relations, in the hope that he might thus come to favor reform measures. Wo-jên begged to be excused from such service on the ground that he was by nature "conservative" and was afraid of making mistakes. When these excuses were not accepted, he pleaded illness and was granted leave. Finally he was relieved of all his posts except that of tutor to the Emperor. In 1869 he memorialized that the Emperor's impending marriage should be conducted inexpensively. When the Imperial Printing Press, Wu Ying Tien (see under Chin Chien), was destroyed by fire that summer (1869) he and the other tutors submitted a joint memorial in which they interpreted the fire as a portent from Heaven and advised the Emperor to be frugal and circumspect in his conduct. In the spring of 1871 he became ill, and in June he died. He was canonized as Wên-tuan 文端 and his name was celebrated in the Temple of Eminent Statesmen.

The writings of Wo-jên, printed in 1875 under the title Wo Wên-tuan kung i-shu (公遺書), 5 + 1 chüan, contain his memorials, his poems and short articles in prose, excerpts from his diaries on philosophical and ethical topics, and the above-mentioned Ch'i-hsin chin-chien. He also produced a work concerning his journey to Yarkand, entitled 莎車紀行 So-ch'ê chi-hsing. A son of Wo-jên, named Fu-hsien 福咸 (d. 1860), when acting as intendant of Southern Anhwei, defended, for three months in 1860, the city of Hsüan-ch'êng against an attack of the Taipings, but was killed after the city surrendered. Another son, Fu-yü 福裕 (d. 1900), was at one time governor of the Mukden metropolitan area (1894-95), but was cashiered. When the Allied Forces took Peking, after the Boxer Uprising in 1900, he committed suicide by taking poison, and with him died his family and the families of several cousins. One cousin who then committed suicide was Fu-jun 福潤 (T. 餘庵) who had served as governor of Shantung (1891-94) and of Anhwei (1894-96). The wife and daughter of another cousin, named Fu-mou 福楙, onetime sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat, also committed suicide. This daughter of Fu-mou was betrothed to Tsai-fêng (see under I-huan), the second Prince Ch'un, and after her death the prince was free to marry a daughter of Jung-lu [q.v.]. This seems to have been the episode which a Manchu lady once narrated to Mrs. Conger, the wife of the American Minister in Peking (reference in bibliography).

Wo-jên was widely known for his emphasis on frugality. To promote this virtue, he is reported to have organized a club known as the "Bran Eating Society" (吃糠會). Whether he himself observed the injunction to eat bran instead of white flour is not clear, but a story gained currency that when neighbors looked over his back wall, which had collapsed after a heavy rain, they observed that very tasty food was being prepared in his kitchen. It cannot be doubted that his professed advocacy of the strict moral injunctions of the Sung Neo-Confucianists was a factor in raising him to high offices and to wealth. His opposition to the introduction of Western knowledge was due in part to his ignorance, and in part to a general feeling among the Hanlin group---of whom he was a leading member--that their private interests would be jeopardized if newer ideas were not checked at the source. Men of this type were superstitious and believed in geomancy, in ghosts and in astrology. They despised foreigners because China had several times been humiliated by them. But instead of investigating foreign mays and studying how to meet them, they banned these things indiscriminately, opposing all things of Western origin and all persons who knew about them. Of such a group Wo-jên was the ideal leader, and after his death Hsü T'ung and Lien-i (for both see under Jung-lu) and other sponsors of the Boxers took his place. Much of the obscurantism which led to the Boxer Uprising, and all but ruined China, may he laid at the door of Wo-jên. If this conclusion seems harsh, it must be remembered that the sons of I-tsung were all notorious sponsors of the Boxers and that I-tsung was a pupil of Wo-jên.

[ 1/397/1, L; 2/46/17b; 5/5/23a; Wo-wên-tuan kung i-shu; Hsieh Chang-t'ing [q.v.], Tu-ch'i-shan-chuang Wên-chi, 7/lla; Fêng Shu, Kêng-tzû hsin-hai chung-lieh hsiang-tsan (see bibl. under Ch'ung-ch'i); 庚子京師褒卹錄 Kêng-tzû Ching-shih pao-hsûeh lu 1/7s; Conger, Sarah Pike, Letters from China (1909), p. 279; Chin-shih jên-wu chih (see Wêng T'ung-ho), p. 6h.]

FANG CHAO-YING

號艮峰 謚文端 行二 道光辛巳恩科舉人 己丑科進士 翰林院編修 文華殿大學士 弘德殿行走 總理戶部事務 工部尚書 正白旗蒙古都統 盛京戶部侍郎 葉爾羌辦事大臣 欽命冊封朝鮮大理寺卿 上書房行走 道光丁酉科福建鄉試正考官 丙申科會試同考官 乙未科會試同考官 鄉試同考官 同治壬戌會試正總裁 庚午科順天鄉試正考官 癸亥戊辰科殿試讀卷大臣 乙丑科朝考閱卷大臣 壬戌教習庶吉士 辛酉科拔貢 朝考閱卷大臣 署奉天學政 崇文門監督 誥授光祿大夫 晉贈太保 入祀賢良祠 御賜祭葬 予諡文端

著有《帝王盛軌輔弼嘉謨進呈》賜名《啟心金鑑》 有《日記》《嘉善錄》《爲學大旨》《吏治輯要》《莎車行紀》諸書行世

《清史稿》卷391

倭仁，字艮峰，烏齊格里氏，蒙古正紅旗人，河南駐防。道光九年進士，選庶吉士，授編修。歷中允、侍講、侍讀、庶子、侍講學士、侍讀學士。二十二年，擢詹事。二十四年，遷大理寺卿。文宗即位，應詔陳言，略曰：「行政莫先於用人，用人莫先於君子小人之辨。夫君子小人藏於心術者難知，發於事蹟者易見。大抵君子訥拙，小人佞巧；君子澹定，小人躁競；君子愛惜人才，小人排擠異類；君子圖遠大，以國家元氣為先，小人計目前，以聚斂刻薄為務。剛正不撓、無所阿鄉者，君子也；依違兩可、工於趨避者，小人也。諫諍匡弼、進憂危之議，動人主之警心者，君子也；喜言氣數、不畏天變，長人君之逸志者，小人也。公私邪正，相反如此。皇上天亶聰明，孰賢孰否，必能洞知。第恐一人之心思耳目，揣摩者眾，混淆者多，幾微莫辨，情偽滋紛，愛憎稍涉偏私，取捨必至失當。知人則哲，豈有他術，在皇上好學勤求，使聖志益明，聖德日固而已。宋程顥雲，'古者人君必有誦訓箴諫之臣'。請命老成之儒，講論道義，又擇天下賢俊，陪侍法從。我朝康熙間，熊賜履上疏，亦以'延訪真儒'為說。二臣所言，皆修養身心之要，用人行政之源也。天下治亂系宰相，君德成就責講筵。惟君德成就而後輔弼得人，輔弼得人而後天下可治。 」疏入，上稱其切直，因諭大小臣工進言以倭仁為法。未幾，禮部侍郎曾國籓奏用人三策，上復憶倭仁言，手詔同褒勉焉。

尋予副都統銜，充葉爾羌幫辦大臣。大理寺少卿田雨公疏言倭仁用違其才，上曰：「邊疆要任，非投閒置散也。若以外任皆左遷，豈國家文武兼資、內外並重之意乎？」咸豐二年，倭仁復上敬陳治本一疏，上謂其意在責難陳善，尚無不合，惟僅泛語治道，因戒以留心邊務，勿託空言。候補道何桂珍上封事，言倭仁秉性忠貞，見理明決，生平言行不負所學，請任以艱鉅，未許。三年，倭仁劾葉爾羌回部郡王阿奇木伯克愛瑪特攤派路費及護衛索贓等罪，詔斥未經確訊，率行參奏，下部議，降三級調用。

四年，侍郎王茂廕等請命會同籌辦京師團練，上以軍務非所長，寢其議。尋命以侍講候補入直上書房，授惇郡王讀。五年，擢侍講學士。歷光祿寺卿、盛京禮部侍郎。七年，調戶部，管奉天府尹事，劾罷盛京副都統增慶、兵部侍郎富呢雅杭阿。及頒詔中外，命充朝鮮正使。召回京，授都察院左都御史。同治元年，擢工部尚書。兩宮皇太后以倭仁老成端謹，學問優長，命授穆宗讀。倭仁輯古帝王事蹟，及古今名臣奏議，附說進之，賜名啟心金鑑，置弘德殿資講肄。倭仁素嚴正，穆宗尤敬憚焉。

尋兼翰林院掌院學士，調工部尚書、協辦大學士。疏言：「河南自咸豐三年以後，粵、捻焚掠，蓋藏已空，州縣誅求仍復無厭。朝廷不能盡擇州縣，則必慎擇督撫。督撫不取之屬員，則屬員自無可挾以為恣睢之地。今日河南積習，祗曰民刁詐，不曰官貪庸；祗狃於愚民之抗官，不思所以致抗之由。惟在朝廷慎察大吏，力挽積習，寇亂之源，庶幾可弭。」是年秋，拜文淵閣大學士，疏劾新授廣東巡撫黃贊湯貪詐，解其職。

六年，同文館議考選正途五品以下京外官入館肄習天文算學，聘西人為教習。倭仁謂根本之圖，在人心不在技藝，尤以西人教習為不可；且謂必習天文算學，應求中國能精其法者，上疏請罷議。於是詔倭仁保薦，別設一館，即由倭仁督率講求。復奏意中並無其人，不敢妄保。尋命在總理各國事務衙門行走。倭仁屢疏懇辭，不允；因稱疾篤，乞休，命解兼職，仍在弘德殿行走。八年，疏言大婚典禮宜崇節儉，及武英殿災，復偕徐桐、翁同龢疏請勤修聖德，停罷一切工程，以弭災變，並嘉納之。十年，晉文華殿大學士，以疾再乞休。尋卒，贈太保，入祀賢良祠，諡文端。光緒八年，河南巡撫李鶴年奏建專祠於開封，允之。

初，曾國籓官京師，與倭仁、李棠階、吳廷棟、何桂珍、竇垿講求宋儒之學。其後國籓出平大難，為中興名臣冠；倭仁作帝師，正色不阿；棠階、廷棟亦卓然有以自見焉。倭仁著有遺書十三卷。子福咸，江蘇鹽法道，署安徽徽寧池太廣道，咸豐十年，殉難寧國，贈太僕寺卿，騎都尉世職；福裕，奉天府府尹。從子福潤，安徽巡撫。光緒二十六年，外國兵入京師，闔家死焉。