Wei Yuan (; April23, 1794March26, 1857), born Wei Yuanda (),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theo ...

s Moshen () and Hanshi (), was a Chinese

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

from Shaoyang, Hunan. He moved to

Yangzhou Yangzhou, postal romanization Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province (Suzhong), East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with it ...

in 1831, where he remained for the rest of his life. Wei obtained the provincial degree ('' juren'') in the

Imperial examinations The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

and subsequently worked in the secretariat of several statesmen such as Lin Zexu. Wei was deeply concerned with the crisis facing China in the early 19th century; while he remained loyal to the

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-speak ...

, he also sketched a number of proposals for the improvement of the administration of the empire.

Biography

From an early age, Wei espoused the New Text school of

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

and became a vocal member of the statecraft school, which advocated practical learning in opposition to the allegedly barren evidentiary scholarship as represented by scholars like Dai Zhen. Among other things, Wei advocated sea transport of grain to the capital instead of using the Grand Canal and he also advocated a strengthening of the Qing Empire's frontier defense. In order to alleviate the demographic crisis in China, Wei also spoke in favor of large scale emigration of

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive v ...

into

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwes ...

. Later in his career he became increasingly concerned with the threat from the Western powers and maritime defense. He wrote ''A Military History of the Holy Dynasty'' (《聖武記》, ''Shèngwǔjì'', known at the time as the ''Shêng Wu-ki''), the last two chapters of which were translated by Edward Harper Parker as the ''Chinese Account of the Opium War''. Wei also wrote a separate narrative on the

First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...

(《道光洋艘征撫記》, ''Dàoguāng Yángsōu Zhēngfǔ Jì''). Today, he is mostly known for his 1844 work, '' Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms'', which contains Western material collected by Lin Zexu during and after the

. British India was suggested as a potential target by Wei Yuan after the Opium War. The creation of a government organ for translation was proposed by Wei.

References

Citations

Sources

* * Leonard, Jane Kate
''Wei Yüan and China's Rediscovery of the Maritime World.''
Cambridge, MA: Council on East Asian Studies, 1984. * Mitchell, Peter M. "The Limits of Reformism: Wei Yuan's Reaction to Western Intrusion." ''Modern Asian Studies'' 6:2 (1972), pp. 175–204. * Tang, Xiren
"Wei Yuan"
''

Encyclopedia of China The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, begin ...

'', 1st ed. * .

Biography

References

Citations

Sources

See also