Sun Mingen (孫銘恩) | 24 Histories

Overview

Sun Mingen was an official and Scholar.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Posthumous name	Wenjie	文節	Wenjie

Life and dates

Death

AD 1854 四年
Killed by rebels after capture · At Jiangning 江寧
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 227

Attested activity

AD 1854 四年
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 399, passages 220, 222, 226-227

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Child of 孫銘恩之父
father 父
Sources vary in certainty · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 222

Career and standing

literary official without territorial charge 文學之臣，職非守土
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 265
educational commissioner 學政
AD 1854 四年 · Held · At Taiping Prefecture 太平府
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 220
posthumous academician of the Grand Secretariat 內閣學士
AD 1854 四年 · Granted
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 228
enshrined in Halls of Loyalty and Devotion in the capital, Anhui, and Jiangsu 入祀京師及安徽、江蘇昭忠祠
Granted
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 228
hereditary Commandant of Cavalry 騎都尉世職
Granted
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 228
third- or fourth-rank metropolitan official at reduced rank 三四品京堂降補
AD 1854 四年 · Leave granted with demotion · Awaited
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 223

Show 1 more source-backed claim

stern rebuke for suspected evasion 嚴旨切責
AD 1854 四年 · Received · Authority Emperor Wenzong (文宗)
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 223

Places and affiliations

Polity Qing 清 · Relation Served
Strongly inferred · Draft History of Qing 399, passages 220, 223
AD 1854 四年
At Jiangning 江寧 · Relation Imprisoned at
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 226
AD 1854 四年
At Taiping Prefecture 太平府 · Relation Posted to
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 220

Works and attributed material

AD 1854 四年
Memorial · Author
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passages 222-223
城亡與亡，以明吾心！
AD 1854 四年 · Speech · Speaker
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 225

Events and relationships

Donated salary for militia
AD 1854 四年 · Financial · Donor
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 220
Organized militia
AD 1854 四年 · Military · Organizer · At Taiping Prefecture 太平府
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 220
Rebuked routed troops
AD 1854 四年 · Civil · Admonisher
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 221
Refused food
AD 1854 四年 · Resistance · Prisoner · At Jiangning 江寧
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 227
Refused to flee Taiping
AD 1854 四年 · Military · Defender · At Taiping 太平
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 399, passages 224-225
Requested leave for father illness
AD 1854 四年 · Official · Petitioner
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 222

Show 3 more source-backed claims

Seized after defiant cursing
AD 1854 四年 · Capture · Captive · At Taiping 太平
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 226
AD 1854 四年
Relation Ordered to join in defense · Person Pan Xien (潘錫恩) · At Huizhou and Ningguo 徽、寧
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 222
Relation Master of · Person Fan Yuan (范源)
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 226

Assessments and attributes

Assessment died in terrible circumstances; court rewards for loyalty were generous · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 265
Assessment unyielding integrity and a cruel death · Mode edict Source Person Id Emperor Wenzong (文宗)
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 399, passage 228

References in the histories

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 399Volume 399 Biographies 186: Lv Xianji, Zou Minghe, Dai Xi, Tang Yifen, Zhang Fei, Huang Cong, Tao Tingjie, Feng Peiyuan, Sun Mingen, Shen Bingyuan, Zhang Xigeng · 7 passages

Open chapter

時安慶已為賊踞，故事，學政駐太平府，銘恩激勵紳民，舉行團練，捐廉為倡。 Anqing was already in rebel hands. By precedent the educational commissioner resided at Taiping Prefecture. Mingen rallied gentry and commoners, organized militia, and led by donating from his own salary.

潰兵時至，侮官劫市，銘恩諭以大義，稍定。 Routed troops kept arriving, insulting officials and plundering the markets. Mingen admonished them with appeals to duty, and the disorder eased somewhat.

四年，以父病請開缺省視，會有旨命偕在籍前南河總督潘錫恩防守徽、寧，銘恩未之知也。 In the fourth year, when his father fell ill, he asked leave from office to return home and care for him. At the same time an edict ordered him to join the retired former governor-general of the South River, Pan Xien, in defending Huizhou and Ningguo, but Mingen did not yet know of it.

銘恩曰：「城亡與亡，以明吾心！」 Mingen said: 'If the city falls, I fall with it—that is how I show where my heart stands!'

銘恩不食，賊脅源勸降，源叱之，斷其舌，同遇害。 Mingen refused to eat. The rebels forced Yuan to urge him to surrender; Yuan rebuked them, had his tongue cut out, and both were killed.

詔嘉其抗節不屈，遇害甚慘，贈內閣學士，入祀京師及安徽、江蘇昭忠祠，予騎都尉世職，諡文節。 An edict praised his unyielding integrity and the terrible cruelty of his death, posthumously made him academician of the Grand Secretariat, enshrined him in the Hall of Loyalty and Devotion in the capital and in Anhui and Jiangsu, granted the hereditary rank of Commandant of Cavalry, and gave him the posthumous title Wenjie, 'Cultured Integrity.'

馮培元、孫銘恩、沈炳垣、張錫庚，文學之臣，職非守土，死皆慘烈，朝廷報忠之典悉從優渥，固不以成敗論已。 Feng Peiyuan, Sun Mingen, Shen Bingyuan, and Zhang Xigeng were literary officials whose duties did not include holding territory; all died in terrible circumstances, yet the court's rewards for loyalty were altogether generous, for loyalty is not judged by success or failure alone.