Kung Te-cheng () (23 February 1920 – 28 October 2008) was a 77th generation descendant of

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

in the main line of descent. He was the final person to be appointed

Duke Yansheng The Duke Yansheng, literally "Honorable Overflowing with Wisdom", sometimes translated as Holy Duke of Yen, was a Chinese title of nobility. It was originally created as a marquis title in the Western Han dynasty for a direct descendant o ...

and the first

Sacrificial Official to Confucius The Duke Yansheng, literally "Honorable Overflowing with Wisdom", sometimes translated as Holy Duke of Yen, was a Chinese title of nobility. It was originally created as a marquis title in the Western Han dynasty for a direct descendant o ...

. He helped formulate and was in charge of officiating the modern Confucius ceremony held annually in the Republic of China (

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

). In addition to Ceremonial Official, he held numerous posts in the Republic of China government, including member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

from 1946 to 1991, President of the

Examination Yuan The Examination Yuan is the civil service commission branch, in charge of validating the qualification of civil servants, of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). It has a president, a vice president, and seven to nine members, al ...

from 1984 to 1993, and senior advisor to the President of the Republic of China from 1948 to 2000. He held professorships at

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

, Fu Jen Catholic University, and Soochow University.

Birth and early life

Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1980-111-72, China, Tsingtau, Herzog und Herzogin Kungfutse

Kung was born in his

family estate An estate is a large parcel of land under single ownership, which would historically generate income for its owner. British context In the UK, historically an estate comprises the houses, outbuildings, supporting farmland, and woods that s ...

Qufu Qufu ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Shandong province, East China. It is located about south of the provincial capital Jinan and northeast of the prefectural seat at Jining. Qufu has an area of 815 square kilometers, and a total population of ...

, Shandong. He was the third child and only son of Kong Lingyi (孔令貽), Duke Yansheng, by his second concubine, Wang Baocui (王寶翠). His father's name contained the character 令 Ling because it was the

generation name Generation name (variously zibei or banci in Chinese; tự bối, ban thứ or tên thế hệ in Vietnamese; hangnyeolja in Korea) is one of the characters in a traditional Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean given name, and is so called because ea ...

for 76th generation descendants of Confucius. On 6 June 1920, shortly after his birth, he was appointed

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Xu Shichang Xu Shichang (Hsu Shih-chang; ; courtesy name: Juren (Chu-jen; 菊人); October 20, 1855 – June 5, 1939) was the President of the Republic of China, in Beijing, from 10 October 1918 to 2 June 1922. The only permanent president of the Beiyang ...

in accordance with an imperial tradition dating back to 1055 of bestowing the title on the eldest male in each generation of the main line of descent. His father, Kong Lingyi (1872 – 8 November 1919), had died before Kung Te-cheng's birth. Kung Te-cheng became the last person to be granted the centuries-old dukedom when the title was abolished by the Nationalist Government in 1935 and replaced with that of Ceremonial Official to Confucius (大成至聖先師奉祀官, literally "Ceremonial Officer of the Great Accomplished and Most Sacred Teacher").

Political career

The Japanese offered him the position of puppet

Emperor of China ''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heav ...

in 1937, but Kung declined the offer. In January 1938, Kung fled the Japanese invasion of Shandong to

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers whe ...

. The Japanese blew up his Sacred Mount Taishan residence. Premier

H. H. Kung Kung Hsiang-hsi (; 11 September 1881 – 16 August 1967), often known as Dr. H. H. Kung, was a Chinese banker and politician in the early 20th century. He married Soong Ai-ling, the eldest of the three Soong sisters; the other two married Pres ...

, also a descendant of Confucius, greeted Duke Kung Te-cheng as he arrived. TIME magazine addressed him by the title "Duke Kung", and referred to his residence as the "ducal seat". In response to talk of Japanese offers to make him "ruler of China", Kung said: "I have never even been approached by the Japanese! I consider myself at the orders of the Chinese Government. I am a patriot, ready to take up arms and fight the Japanese as soon as I reach the age of military service—that is 18 years... my wife is expecting a child." He was a member of the

National Assembly of the Republic of China The National Assembly was the authoritative legislative body of the Republic of China, commonly referred to as Taiwan after 1949, from 1947 to 2005. Along with the Control Yuan (upper house) and the Legislative Yuan (lower house), the Natio ...

from 1946 to 1991 and helped draft the 1947

Constitution of the Republic of China The Constitution of the Republic of China is the fifth and current constitution of the Republic of China (ROC), ratified by the Kuomintang during the session on 25 December 1946, in Nanjing, and adopted on 25 December 1947. The constitution, ...

. From July 1956 to April 1964 he was Director of National Palace Museum in Taipei. Kung served as President of the

from 1984 to 1993. He was a senior adviser to the President of the Republic of China from 1948 to 2000.

Family

Kung's name included 德 Dé, the

for 77th generation descendants of Confucius. Kung's father, Kong Lingyi (孔令貽) (

, 1872 -

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

8 November 1919), inherited the Dukedom Yansheng in 1876, upon the death of his father, the 30th

. Kong founded a county school in

and was also president of the Four Clans Teachers' College (founded in conjunction with the descendants of

Yan Hui Yan Hui (–481 BC) was a Chinese philosopher. He was the favorite disciple of Confucius and one of the most revered figures of Confucianism. He is venerated in Confucian temples as one of the Four Sages. Names Yan Hui is also known by his c ...

, Mencius, and Zeng Zi). In 1889, he was appointed to the

Guozijian The Guozijian,Yuan, 194. sometimes translated as the Imperial College, Imperial Academy, Imperial University, National Academy, or National University, was the national central institution of higher learning in Chinese dynasties after the Su ...

. Following the

Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a ...

, Kong was given a government post in the new government but declined the position. Kong was a supporter of

Yuan Shikai Yuan Shikai (; 16 September 1859 – 6 June 1916) was a Chinese military and government official who rose to power during the late Qing dynasty and eventually ended the Qing dynasty rule of China in 1912, later becoming the Emperor of China. H ...

and was given a First Grade Medal and Sash of Auspicious Glory and the rank of Prince of the First Rank by Yuan in 1915. Kong Fanhao - western bixi - seen from W - P1060277

Kong Fanhao - western bixi - seen from W - P1060277

Kong Lingyi had a total of two wives and two concubines. His first wife, Lady Sun (孫氏), was the daughter of Sun Yuwen (孫毓汶) (1833 - 1899), an Imperial Envoy, and she was one year older than Kong. Lady Sun's grandfather, Sun Ruizhen (孫瑞珍) (1783–1858), was a scholar and official during the Guangxu Emperor's reign. Kong and Lady Sun married in 1888, but she died of illness without issue in 1899, aged 28. Kong's first concubine, Lady Feng, similarly did not have any children, and she died in 1928. Kong's second wife, Tao Wenpu, (陶文譜, known as ''Lady Tao'' ��氏, was the youngest daughter of Tao Shiyun (陶式鋆), Magistrate of Daming Prefecture, and Kong married her in 1905; compared with Lady Sun, though Tao family was rich at the time, it wasn't as prominent as Sun family. She bore Kong one son who died at the age of three years. Lady Tao was described as a petty, jealous woman who mistreated Kung Te-cheng's mother, Kong Lingyi's second concubine Wang Baocui (王寶翠) (1894 -

, 11 March 1920), the daughter of a peasant from Zunhua County,

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0 ...

. On 4 October 1919, Kong Lingyi went to

after receiving news of his father-in-law, Tao Shiyun's, death. Soon afterwards, Kong was afflicted with a subcutaneous ulcer on his back. He died on 8 November 1919 at the Mansion of the Duke of Yansheng (衍聖公府) in Beijing. At the time of his father's death, Kung Te-cheng's mother, Wang Baocui, was five months pregnant, and on 23 February 1920, she gave birth to Kung. Seventeen days later, on 11 March 1920, Wang died. Kung had two older sisters, both borne by his mother Wang Baocui. The elder, Kong Deqi (孔德齊) (b. 1915), married the youngest son of Feng Shu (馮恕), a Beijing calligrapher and founder of Beijing Electric Lamp Company, in 1932, but died as a young woman. The younger, Kong Demao (孔德懋) (b. 1917), married Ke Changfen (柯昌汾), third and youngest son of

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

historian Ke Shaomin (柯劭忞) and Wu Zhifang, daughter of Qing dynasty prose writer Wu Rulun, in 1935. Ke Shaomin's

sworn brother Blood brother can refer to two or more men not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is in modern times usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where each person makes a small cut, usually on a finger, hand or ...

was President Xu Shichang. Kong Demao has one daughter, Ke Lan, one son, Ke Jian, and one grandson (the son of Ke Lan), Liu Yong. She lives in mainland China and has written a book about her experiences growing up at the family estate in Qufu. Kung married Sun Qifang, a granddaughter of

scholar-official

Sun Jianai The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

, who was the first president of Peking University, on 16 December 1936. Sun was born in Shouxian,

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

, and his family's business combine (one of the first in modern China) includes the Fou Foong Flour Company, the largest

flour mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

in Asia. They had four children, two sons and two daughters: *Kong Wei'e (孔維鄂) (b. 9 December 1937), elder daughter of Kung Te-cheng, married an American officer who is known as 詹姆士．康格爾 in Chinese on 29 December 1959, and they had one child, Sean (who has a Chinese name 包尚恩 given by Kung Te-cheng);Shichun Wang, ''儒者行：孔德成先生傳'' (Linking Publishing, Taipei, 2013) she lives in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. *Kong Wei-yi (孔維益) (1939 - 25 February 1989), elder son of Kung Te-cheng and the 78th lineal descendant; married Yu Yuejie (于曰潔) on 17 January 1971 and had one son, the 79th lineal descendant Kung Tsui-chang (b. 1975), and one daughter, Kung Tsui-mei (孔垂梅, b. 1972) *Kong Weilai (孔維崍) (b. 1941), second daughter of Kung Te-cheng; married in 1960s to Lee Sha (李莎) and have a son and a daughter *Kong Weining (孔維寧) (1947 - 10 June 2010), second son of Kung Te-cheng; married Wu Ya (吳涯) on 7 December 1974 and had two daughters, Kong Chuijiu (孔垂玖) and Kong Chuiyong (孔垂永) His children all have 維 Wei in their name since it is a

, signifying that they are 78th generation descendants of Confucius.

Death

On 20 October 2008, Kung was sent to

Tzu Chi Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, known for short as the Tzu Chi Foundation ( zh, t=佛教慈濟慈善事業基金會, p=Fójiào Cí Jì Císhàn Shìyè Jījīn Huì, l=Buddhist Compassionate Relief Charity Foundation), is a Taiwanese in ...

hospital in

Sindian City Xindian District () is an inner city District (Taiwan), district in the southern part of New Taipei City, Taiwan. Name Xindian's name originated during the Qing Dynasty close to 300 years ago. According to legend, a person named Lin and others ...

. He acquired

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

and

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

when he arrived at the emergency department. Kung died 8 days later, on 28 October 2008 at 10:50 am, of heart and respiratory failure. The ROC Ministry of the Interior appointed his grandson Kung Tsui-chang to succeed him as Sacrificial Official to Confucius.

Ancestry

References

External links

Taiwan Confucian Temple ceremonyTaipei Confucian Temple local website

Website of the Kong/K'ung family (mainly in Chinese)Obituary in ''Wall Street Journal'' Nov. 1, 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kung, Te-Cheng 1920 births 2008 deaths Fu Jen Catholic University faculty Senior Advisors to President Chen Shui-bian Taiwanese educators Deaths from multiple organ failure People from Qufu Taiwanese Presidents of the Examination Yuan Republic of China politicians from Shandong Chinese Confucianists Descendants of Confucius Politicians from Jining Taiwanese people from Shandong Chinese Civil War refugees Senior Advisors to President Chiang Kai-shek Senior Advisors to President Chiang Ching-kuo Senior Advisors to President Lee Teng-hui National Taiwan University faculty Soochow University (Taiwan) faculty