In loving memory, this book is dedicated. to my parents. Hsioh-ren Wei ( ) Yingbao Liu Wei ( ) and

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "In loving memory, this book is dedicated. to my parents. Hsioh-ren Wei ( ) Yingbao Liu Wei ( ) and"

Dominick Austin
6 years ago
Views:

3 In loving memory, this book is dedicated to my parents Hsioh-ren Wei ( ) Yingbao Liu Wei ( ) and to my pal Der Alte Fritz (Frederick Wade Mote, )

5 Hong Kong University Press 14/F Hing Wai Centre 7 Tin Wan Praya Road Aberdeen Hong Kong Hong Kong University Press 2006 ISBN-13: ISBN-10: All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Secure On-line Ordering British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Printed and bound by United League Graphic & Printing Co. Ltd., in Hong Kong, China Hong Kong University Press is honoured that Xu Bing, whose art explores the complex themes of language across cultures, has written the Press s name in his Square Word Calligraphy. This signals our commitment to cross-cultural thinking and the distinctive nature of our English-language books published in China. At first glance, Square Word Calligraphy appears to be nothing more unusual than Chinese characters, but in fact it is a new way of rendering English words in the format of a square so they resemble Chinese characters. Chinese viewers expect to be able to read Square Word Calligraphy but cannot. Western viewers, however are surprised to find they can read it. Delight erupts when meaning is unexpectedly revealed. Britta Erickson, The Art of Xu Bing

6 Contents Preface and Acknowledgements Chronology of Ruan Yuan s Government Appointments List of Illustrations Notes on Transliteration and Other Matters Reign Titles of Qing Emperors vii xiii xvii xix xx Introduction 1 Part One The Making of a Scholar-Official 1 The Formative Years: Yangzhou, Intellectual Foundations and Political Beginnings: Beijing, Directors of Studies: Shandong, ; Zhejiang, ; 59 and Expectant Official in Beijing, Part Two The Provincial Official at Work 4 Internal Security and Coastal Control: Piracy Suppression in 81 Zhejiang, Internal Security and Local Control: Investigations of Secret 109 Societies in Jiangxi, , and Guangxi, Management of Foreign Relations at Canton, Management of Ethnic Minorities and Border Security in Yunnan, Ruan Yuan s Social Welfare Programmes 181 Part Three Ruan Yuan at Leisure 9 Scholarship and Patron of Learning of the Mid-Qing Era 201

7 vi Contents Part Four The Private Ruan Yuan 10. Son and Father: Man of the Confucian Persuasion The Women in Ruan Yuan s Life 239 Part Five The Senior Statesman 12. Glories of Long Service: Grand Secretary in Beijing, The Golden Years: Retirement in Yangzhou, Conclusions 305 Appendices I. Ruan Genealogy A. Ancestors of Ruan Yuan 318 B. Descendants of Ruan Yuan 320 II. Pirate Fleets in Zhejiang, III. Scholars Associated with Ruan Yuan 323 IV. Ruan Yuan s Publications 329 V. The Liu Fenggao Affair 336 VI. Ruan Yuan as Director-General of Grain Transport 339 Bibliographies I. Archival Sources 343 II. Published Sources in Chinese 348 III. Published Sources in Western Languages 367 Glossary and Index 381

8 Preface and Acknowledgements Thirty years have elapsed since I first began this project. It was a hot summer day in 1976 when I called on Beatrice Bartlett, renowned authority on Qing documents, at that time conducting research in the newly opened Qing Archives at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. I had moved to Hong Kong after years in the United States where I attended Chapin, Bryn Mawr and New York University, absorbed in a world of Western learning, and had not utilized my Chinese background at all. Betsy convinced me to become involved in mid-qing research. I was wallowing in the nineteenth century in any case, mainly on Europe and the United States. What Betsy wanted was for me to use the Qing Archives to expand my horizon as a historian to include China of the nineteenth century. We decided that I should pursue a doctorate at the University of Hong Kong, which follows the British system, so that I could focus on thesis work from the outset. Betsy suggested Ruan Yuan, whose name had been mentioned to her by the late Professor Mary C. Wright of Yale years ago. I decided to undertake a biographical study principally because I liked people, and, in theory at least, presumably since I was passing the first flush of youth, I could approach the subject with more compassion and insight. There was yet no book-length study on a major scholar-official of the early nineteenth century before the Opium War making extensive use of extant archival documents. So I began to search for such an individual. I had requirements. The individual on whom I was to expend time and energy had to meet certain criteria. As one major reason for this venture was to use the archival documents, I had to select someone whose position was high enough for him to enjoy the right to memorialize the throne. This person should also have left sufficient literary remains for me to see him away from his correspondence with the emperor and from the bureaucratic language that pervaded official documents. I wanted to work in the era before the Opium War, before Western influences began to intrude into Chinese traditions and values, not withstanding of course, what the Jesuits had brought in an earlier century. I

9 viii Preface and Acknowledgements wanted to read poetry to savour literature, and I wanted to read informal writings by his contemporaries, because I wanted to indulge in gossip. I wanted this individual to be interested in calligraphy and in ancient bronzes, and I preferred that he come from somewhere along the Yangzi. The last point was to allow me to take advantage of my command of all the dialects up and down the river to denote any sense of humour this individual might possess, and to appreciate all the jokes there were. After much research and deliberation, I chose Ruan Yuan who appeared to suit my requirements more than adequately. Subsequent discovery that he sported a superb attitude on women and the environment was icing on an already delicious cake. Perhaps it was fate that I should spend so long working in the Qing archives. The first time I ventured into the National Palace Museum Library in Taipei where the archives were housed, for some reason I can no longer fathom, I was carrying a bottle of whisky. This bottle I dropped, right in the middle of the Reading Room. It smashed into smithereens, spilling the content. This act of splashing golden liquid all over the place turned out to be a good omen. The Qing emperors had not enjoyed sacrifices solid or liquid since the Revolution that toppled the dynasty many years before. Appreciating my offering, the spirits of the emperors must have cleared the way for me to read their records. The scholars at the Museum were generous with their facilities, including the Library, the Archives, the Rare Books Collection and the vault where the Imperial Library collections were kept. They also shared their wealth of knowledge in Qing studies. Like all scholars who have worked in the Museum, I owe a debt to the late Director Chiang Fu-ts ung *, who encouraged and promoted Qing archival research. I am grateful to the successive curators of the archives: Chang P e-de, Wang P u, and Wu Che-fu, who had allowed me into the inner sanctum of the Museum to peruse certain documents. Zhuang Jifa, a specialist in my era, was there to answer queries any time day and night. Further, I am beholden to Chang Lin-sheng, without whose generosity in sharing her expertise in the Classics I could not have managed to absorb my readings so readily. She also introduced me to Professor Kong Decheng, the senior member of the seventy-sixth generation of Confucius, with whom I came to share much light-hearted banter on the women in Ruan Yuan s life. Meanwhile, other priorities took over my life; the years passed and I am working on Ruan Yuan still. The adage all good things come to those who wait certainly held true in my case. A friend of my parents, Professor Xu Guoliang, was in Suzhou. One of his comrades in the Cow Shed days of the Cultural Revolution, Professor Qi Longwei, was Professor of History at the then Teacher s * deceased

10 Preface and Acknowledgements ix College in Yangzhou. Professor Qi s invitations to the city gave me the chance to meet local scholars and enabled me to visit Ruan Yuan s final residence, to meet his descendants and other residents in the neighbourhood. From them I learned local traditions passed down since Ruan Yuan s time. They also took me to see sites associated with Ruan Yuan. Particularly poignant was the still extant Ruan graves at Leitang, including those of Ruan Yuan, his father and grandfather. I am grateful to the libraries for allowing me access to their collections, especially the National Palace Museum Library and the University of Hong Kong Libraries. I would like to acknowledge the following libraries and their staff: Beijing, The First Historical Archives, The National Library Rare Book Collection, The Institute of Qing Historical Research of the National People s University; Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Harvard-Yenching Library; Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong libraries, The Library of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Library of the Chinese International School, The Hong Kong Central Library, and the Library of The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts; Leiden, the Oriental Department at the University of Leiden Library; London, The Oriental Manuscripts Collection, the Map Collection, the Parliamentary Papers Collection, and the Main Collection of The British Library; New York, The New York Public Library; Oxford, The Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford Libraries; Princeton, The Gest Library of Princeton University; Taipei, The National Palace Museum Library, The National Central Library, The National Taiwan University Libraries, The Fu Ssu-nien Library of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica; Washington DC, The Library of Congress. My heartfelt thanks go to the following individuals: Beatrice Bartlett, of course who was with me all the way from conceptualization to the finish, without her guidance and encouragement this work would not even have begun. Throughout the years she has supplied advice, exhortations, documents as well as scholarly studies which I, in the wilderness away from the centres of Qing studies, would have missed otherwise. L. Y. Young chaired the panel that investigated the value of my thesis, with Thomas Metzger of the University of California as External Examiner and Ho Ping-yoke, then at the University of Hong Kong, as Internal Examiner. Their comments and suggestions were most useful and much appreciated. The late Dr and Mrs Han Li-wu were especially helpful. Dr Han was Minister of Education in 1937 whose responsibilities included moving the Palace treasures and archives to safety. He was a trustee of the National Palace Museum, whose introduction opened many doors for me in Taipei. Frederick W. * and Hsiao-lan Mote are on all my lists of very special people, by nourishing my parents, siblings, spouse, children, grandchildren, and not the * deceased

11 x Preface and Acknowledgements least myself, with intellectual, emotional, and culinary delights for the past scores of years. In addition, I would like to thank the following friends and scholars whose names I have not yet mentioned: Chan Long *, Ming Chan, Edward Chen, Cheng Congde, Stephen Cheung, Frank Ching, Lloyd Eastman *, Fang Hao *, David Faure, Sydney Fung, Kent Guy, Hu Congjing, Huang Aiping, Michael Ipsen, Beatrice Kam, Charles Kam, Taksing Kam, Mayching Kao, Philip Kuhn, T. C. Lai, Barbara Lau, Jennifer Lau, Gennie Lee, Lucille Lee, William M. S. Lee, Leng Shao-chuan, S. T. Leong *, Marion Levy Jr. *, W. K. Ling, Dimon Liu, Lo Kingman, Adam Lui, Phyllis Lusher, Marilyn McMahon, Mei Guang, Dian Murray, Susan Naquin, Rosemary Questead, Leonard Raynard *, Celia Riely, Elizabeth Sinn, So Yu-ming, Lynn Struve, Tang Zhenchang *, Emilie Thomson, Mark Thomson, Daniel Tretiak, Tu Wei-yun, Mary Turnbull, Denis Twitchett, Wang Ching-hung, Wang Junyi, Wang Siu-lun, Wang Yigong, Katherine Wetherell *, Wei Qingyuan, Kamille Wong, Joyce Wu, Wu Rui-xiu, Silas Wu, Xiao Ping, Constance Yeung, John D. Young *, Zhao Weihang, and Zhou Jiming. I would like to thank the Centre of Asian Studies and the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong, for providing facilities as well as camaraderie throughout the years, and in particular sanctuary as I put the finishing touches to this manuscript. I extend my gratitude to the staff at Hong Kong University Press in particular Colin Day, Publisher, and Clara Ho, editor, for creating a respectable publication from my bundles of chaos. Further, I would like to thank my good friends, Cecil Sze, for drawing the maps on the computer, and Dr Nancy Leung for diagnosing various diseases suffered by Ruan Yuan and members of his family. Towards the end of this project when I was looking for illustrations, Patrick Connor of Martyn Gregory of London came up with wonderful pictures. His generosity and diligence led to the discovery of a heretofore unknown portrait of Ruan Yuan sat when he was Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi at Canton. My family deserves a few words. My husband, Richard M. Liu, has suffered long, and is more than generous and kind. His support has made it possible for me to indulge in the life of an independent scholar in pursuit of Ruan Yuan. Our daughter, Katharine, has edited the manuscript and made my life generally easier by taking over the running of a household. It was she who convinced me that I should become familiar with word processing. Learn to give up the dialling mentality of your generation, she exhorted, and be not afraid to push buttons. * deceased

12 Preface and Acknowledgements xi Our other daughter Phebe, now a mother of four delightful young women, at one time had set a place for Ruan Yuan at the dinner table because he was so much a part of our family life. She made the original genealogical charts. I am gratified also to the girls for their knowledge in French and their patience in helping me digest the sources in that language. My final thoughts, affection, and gratitude are for my parents, Hsioh-ren Wei and Yingbao Liu Wei and for Fritz Mote, my friend since This book is dedicated in their memory. Betty Wei Hong Kong, January 2006

14 Chronology of Ruan Yuan s Government Appointments Office Location Rank 1 Appointment Hanlin Bachelor=!"# Beijing 1790 Proof Reader (Wu Ying Dian)!" Beijing 1789/5 Imperial Diarist! Beijing 1790/2 On Duty at Imperial Study!"# Compiler Second Class!" Beijing 7A 1790/3 Junior Supervisor of Instruction Beijing 4A 1791/3! Senior Supervisor of Instruction Beijing 3A 1791/11! Sub-Chancellor of Grand Secretariat Beijing 2B! On Duty at Wen Yuan Ge= Director of Studies (Shandong)! Jinan 1793/6 Director of Studies (Zhejiang)! Hangzhou 1795/8 1. Even before the imperial era (221 BC) Chinese civil service and personnel had been graded systematically by rank (pin ). The Qing followed the Ming system in grading the offices and the officials into nine ranks, each further divided into two degrees (deng ), therefore eighteen categories in total, in descending order from Rank 1A to 9B. Stipends in terms of cash (tael of silver) and rice (in quantity of shi ) were also specified. See H. S. Brunnert and V. V. Hagelstrom, Present Day Political Organizations of China (1910), and Charles O. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China (1985). For a simplified chart of the ranking system and stipends, see Immanuel Hsü, The Rise of Modern China (1995 edition), p. 62.

SUBJECT PROFILE Chinese Studies (History & Literature)

Profile- Chinese Studies 1 SUBJECT PROFILE Chinese Studies (History & Literature) Covering the topics on Chinese historiography, political and diplomatic history, history by period - from early to 1949,