Wei Yuan
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Wei Yuan (Chinese:
Biography
[edit]From an early age, Wei espoused the New Text school of Confucianism 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 into Xinjiang.
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 (《
British India was suggested as a potential target by Wei Yuan after the Opium War.[4]
The creation of a government organ for translation was proposed by Wei.[5]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ Parker (1888).
- ^ Fairbank, John King (1978). The Cambridge History of China: Late Chʻing, 1800-1911, pt. 2. Cambridge University Press. pp. 148–. ISBN 978-0-521-22029-3.
- ^ Fairbank (1978), pp. 152–.
- ^ Fairbank (1978), pp. 146–.
Sources
[edit]- Hummel, Arthur W. Sr., ed. (1943). . Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. United States Government Printing Office.
- 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" Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine. Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed.
- Wei Yuan (1888), Parker, Edward Harper (ed.), Chinese Account of the Opium War, Shanghai: Kelly & Walsh.