Weng Tonghe (翁同龢)

Overview

The translated histories identify Weng Tonghe as a calligrapher, official, poet, and scholar. This record brings together 33 passages from 9 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Weng Tonghe	翁同龢	Weng Tonghe
Title	Minister	尚書	Shangshu
Courtesy	Shuping	叔平	Shuping
Given	Tonghe	同龢	Tonghe
Surname	Weng	翁	Weng
Personal name	Weng Tonghe	翁同龢	Weng Tonghe
Personal	Weng Tonghe	翁同龢
Personal name	Weng Tonghe	翁同龢	Wēng Tónghé
Posthumous	Wengong	文恭	Wengong

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:195:s0070, qingshigao:437:s0136, qingshigao:465:s0168
Sex: male
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0097, qingshigao:441:s0035, qingshigao:441:s0039, qingshigao:466:s0009

Roles

Calligrapher
Official
Poet
Scholar
Statesman
Teacher
Writer

Life and dates

Death

Place: at home / 家 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒三十年 · Western Year: AD 1904 · Age: Value: 75 · Reckoning: sui
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0160

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 二十年 · Regnal Year: 20 · Western Year: AD 1894
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:466:s0009, qingshigao:466:s0008
Source Date: Text: 光緒三十年 · Western Year: AD 1904
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0160
Source Date: Text: 光緒二十四年 · Western Year: AD 1898
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0147
Source Date: Text: 光緒二十年 · Western Year: AD 1894
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0126
Source Date: Text: 光緒五年 · Western Year: AD 1879
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:195:s0076, qingshigao:195:s0081
Source Date: Text: 光緒元年 · Western Year: AD 1875
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0115
Source Date: Text: 光緒八年 · Western Year: AD 1882
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0120
Source Date: Text: 光緒六年 · Western Year: AD 1880
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:468:s0089
Source Date: Text: 光緒初 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1875 · End: AD 1879
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:465:s0167, qingshigao:465:s0168
Source Date: Text: 光緒四年 · Western Year: AD 1878
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:195:s0065, qingshigao:195:s0070
Source Date: Text: 光緒四年 · Western Year: AD 1878
Explicit · qingshigao:443:s0004
Source Date: Text: 十六年 · Western Year: AD 1890
Explicit · qingshigao:441:s0039, qingshigao:441:s0035
Western Year: AD 1869 · Source Date: Text: 同治八年
Explicit · qingshigao:391:s0061
Source Date: Text: 咸豐六年 · Western Year: AD 1856
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0098
Source Date: Text: 宣統元年 · Western Year: AD 1909
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0161
Source Date: Text: 翁同龢等請試修邊地 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1886 · End: AD 1889
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:437:s0136

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Child of Weng Xincun (翁心存)
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Child of Mother of Weng Tonghe
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son

Origins and identity

Label: Han Chinese / 漢
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:195:s0070

Career and standing

Label: Grand Councillor / 樞臣 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 二十年 · Regnal Year: 20 · Western Year: AD 1894
Explicit · qingshigao:466:s0009, qingshigao:466:s0008
Label: Grand Councilor / 軍機大臣 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒二十年 · Western Year: AD 1894
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0126
Label: Grand Councilor / 軍機大臣 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒八年 · Western Year: AD 1882
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0120
Label: Chinese Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate / 都察院漢左都御史 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒四年戊寅 · Western Year: AD 1878
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:195:s0070
Label: posthumous title Wengong / 文恭 · Action: posthumously-granted
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0162
Status: rank-restored · Action: received · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 宣統元年 · Western Year: AD 1909
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0161
Status: dismissal · Action: ordered · Label: dismissed never to be employed again / 革職永不敘用 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒二十四年十月 · Western Year: AD 1898
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0154, qingshigao:436:s0159
Status: dismissal · Action: ordered · Label: leave office and return home / 開缺回籍 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒二十四年四月 · Western Year: AD 1898
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0148, qingshigao:436:s0152

Places and affiliations

Label: Qing / 清 · Relation: served
Explicit · qingshigao:195:s0070, qingshigao:466:s0009
Polity: Qing / 清 · Relation: served
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0097, qingshigao:465:s0168
Place: Changshu, Jiangsu / 江蘇常熟 · Relation: native-of
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0097
Place: Tianjin / 天津 · Relation: traveled-to · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒二十年 · Western Year: AD 1894
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0132

Learning and skills

Credential: Presented Scholar, first of the first class / 一甲一名進士 · Action: earned · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 咸豐六年 · Western Year: AD 1856
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0098
Skill: calligraphy / 書法 · Level: renowned
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0167

Works and attributed material

Work: Pinglu Studio poetry drafts, 8 juan / 瓶廬詩稿八卷 · Relation: author
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0166
Work: Pinglu Studio prose drafts, 20 juan / 文稿二十卷 · Relation: author
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0166
Kind: memorial · Role: author
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0107, qingshigao:436:s0108, qingshigao:436:s0109, qingshigao:465:s0168, qingshigao:465:s0169
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Guangxu Emperor (光緒帝)
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0137

Events and relationships

Kind: political · Role: remonstrator · Action: halted-Yuanmingyuan-repairs
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0111, qingshigao:436:s0112, qingshigao:436:s0113, qingshigao:436:s0114
Kind: petition · Role: co-petitioner · Action: joined petition on Confucian temple sacrifices
Explicit · qingshigao:443:s0006
Kind: diplomatic · Role: negotiator · Action: opposed-ceding-territory-in-peace-treaty · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒二十年 · Western Year: AD 1894
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0137, qingshigao:436:s0143, qingshigao:436:s0144
Kind: political · Role: advocate · Action: pressed-for-war
Explicit · qingshigao:466:s0009
Kind: tutoring · Role: tutor · Action: taught the emperor with Sun Jianai · Other Person Id: Sun Jianai (孫家鼐)
Explicit · qingshigao:443:s0004
Kind: personnel · Role: officeholder · Action: transferred · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒五年己卯 · Western Year: AD 1879
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:195:s0081
Relation: teacher-of · Person Id: Emperor Tongzhi (同治帝)
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0103
Relation: co-memorialist-with · Person Id: Xu Tong (徐桐)
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0168
Relation: teacher-of · Person Id: Guangxu Emperor (光緒帝)
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0116
Relation: successor-of · Person Id: Sun Yuwen (孫毓汶)
Explicit · qingshigao:466:s0009

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: incurred dislike for deciding matters on his own authority · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0201
Assessment: long monopolized decisions; later suffered slander and dismissal · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:436:s0163, qingshigao:436:s0164, qingshigao:436:s0165

Source notes

Historicity: historical
Explicit · qingshigao:195:s0070

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 195Volume 195 Tables 35: Ministers of Boards and Courts Chronological Table 9 Lower · 2 passages

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徐桐五月戊辰遷。翁同龢左都御史。 On the wuchen day of the fifth month, 徐桐 was transferred. 翁同龢: Left Censor-in-Chief.

翁同龢正月庚午遷。潘祖蔭左都御史。三月乙卯遷。童華左都御史。 On the gengwu day of the first month, 翁同龢 was transferred. 潘祖蔭: Left Censor-in-Chief. On the yimao day of the third month, was transferred. 童華: Left Censor-in-Chief.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 391Volume 391 Biographies 178: Wo Ren, Li Tangjie, Wu Tingdong · 1 passage

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八年，疏言大婚典禮宜崇節儉，及武英殿災，复偕徐桐、翁同龢疏請勤修聖德，停罷一切工程，以弭災變，並嘉納之。 In 1869 he urged frugality for the imperial wedding rites; after fire struck the Hall of Martial Glory, he joined Xu Tong and Weng Tonghe in asking the emperor to deepen his virtue and halt all building projects to appease Heaven's warning—and the court welcomed their counsel.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 436Volume 436 Biographies 223: Shen Guifen, Li Hongzao, Weng Tonghe, Sun Yuwen · 22 passages

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與翁同龢皆主戰，並爭和約，卒不能阻。 He and Weng Tonghe both favored war and fought the peace treaty together, but in the end could not stop it.

翁同龢，字叔平，江蘇常熟人，大學士心存子。 Weng Tonghe, courtesy name Shuping, was from Changshu in Jiangsu, son of Grand Secretary Weng Xincun.

同龢居講席，每以憂勤惕厲，啟沃聖心。 At the lectern Tonghe constantly urged diligence and restraint upon the young emperor and nurtured his mind.

同龢面陳江南輿論，中外人心惶惑，請聖意先定，待時興修。 Tonghe reported in person the public mood in Jiangnan: officials and people at home and abroad were anxious; he asked the emperor to settle his mind first and undertake repairs when the time was right.

明年四月，上典學毓慶宮，命授讀，再辭，不允。 The following April the emperor began his studies at the Palace of Accumulated Joy; Tonghe was ordered to tutor him, declined twice, and was not allowed to refuse.

六年，廷臣爭俄約久不決，懿旨派惇親王、醇親王及同龢與潘祖廕每日在南書房看摺件電報，擬片進呈取進止，至俄約改定始止。 In 1880 the court disputed the Russian treaty for months; an imperial decree assigned Princes Dun and Chun, together with Tonghe and Pan Zuyin, to review memorials and telegrams daily in the Southern Library and draft recommendations for the throne, continuing until the treaty was revised.

十年，法越事起，同龢主一面進兵，一面與議，庶有所備。 In 1884 war broke out between France and Vietnam; Tonghe argued for advancing troops while negotiating, so the court would not be caught unprepared.

同龢善伺上意，得遇事進言。 Tonghe was skilled at reading the emperor's mind and seized occasions to offer counsel.

每事必問同龢，眷倚尤重。 On every matter he consulted Tonghe; his reliance on him was especially heavy.

時日韓起釁，同龢與李鴻藻主戰，孫毓汶、徐用儀主和。 When war broke out between Japan and Korea, Tonghe and Li Hongzao favored fighting while Sun Yuwen and Xu Yongyi favored peace.

會海陸軍皆敗，懿旨命赴天津傳諭李鴻章詰責之，同龢並言太后意決不即和。 When both navy and army were defeated, an imperial decree sent him to Tianjin to rebuke Li Hongzhang; Tonghe also reported that the Empress Dowager was firmly set against immediate peace.

於是命恭親王督辦軍務，同龢、鴻藻等會商辦理。 Prince Gong was then ordered to supervise military affairs, with Tonghe, Hongzao, and others to consult and handle matters jointly.

及和議起，同龢與鴻藻力爭改約稿，並陳：「寧增賠款，必不可割地。」 When peace talks began, Tonghe and Hongzao fought vigorously to revise the draft treaty, arguing together: "Better to increase indemnities than to cede territory."

同龢以俄、英、德三國謀阻割地，請展期換約，以待轉圜。 Tonghe argued that Russia, Britain, and Germany were working to block territorial cession and asked to postpone ratification in hope of a better outcome.

四月，硃諭：「協辦大學士翁同龢近來辦事多不允協，以致眾論不服，屢經有人參奏。 In April an edict in vermilion ink stated: "Associate Grand Secretary Weng Tonghe has of late handled affairs in ways that accord poorly with others, provoking widespread dissatisfaction and repeated impeachments.

翁同龢著即開缺回籍，以示保全。」 Weng Tonghe is forthwith to leave office and return home, as an act of leniency."

十月，又奉硃諭：「翁同龢授讀以來，輔導無方，往往巧藉事端，刺探朕意。 In October another vermilion edict read: "Since Weng Tonghe began tutoring, his guidance has been inept; he often craftily seized pretexts to probe my intentions.

前令其開缺回籍，實不足以蔽辜，翁同龢著革職，永不敘用，交地方官嚴加管束。」 The earlier order to send him home in truth does not cover his guilt; Weng Tonghe is dismissed from office, never to be employed again, and handed over to local officials for strict supervision."

後追諡文恭。 He was later given the posthumous title Wengong.

同龢久侍講幃，參機務，遇事專斷。 Tonghe long served at the imperial lectures and on confidential affairs, deciding matters on his own authority.

翁同龢、李鴻藻主緩，俄、法、德三國亦請毋遽換約。 Weng Tonghe and Li Hongzao favored delay; Russia, France, and Germany also asked that ratification not be rushed.

桂芬以持重見賞，同龢以專斷致嫌。 Guifen was valued for his steadiness; Tonghe incurred dislike for deciding matters on his own authority.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 437Volume 437 Biographies 224: Rong Lu, Wang Wenshao, Zhang Zhidong, Qu Hongji · 1 passage

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翁同龢等請試修邊地，便用兵； Weng Tonghe and others proposed trial lines in frontier regions to facilitate troop movement;

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 441Volume 441 Biographies 228: Pan Zuyin, Li Wentian, Sun Yijing, Xia Tongshan, Zhang Jiaxiang, Zhang Yinglin, Zhang Renfu, Zhang Hengjia · 1 passage

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時與翁同龢並稱翁潘雲。 At the time he and Weng Tonghe were jointly styled the Weng-Pan clouds.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 443Volume 443 Biographies 230: Sun Jianai, Zhang Baixi, Tang Jingchong, Yu Shimei, Shen Jiaben · 2 passages

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光緒四年，命在毓慶宮行走，與尚書翁同龢授上讀。 In the fourth year of Guangxu he was ordered to serve at the Yuying Palace, and together with Minister Weng Tonghe he taught the emperor his lessons.

江西學政陳寶琛疏請以先儒黃宗羲、顧炎武從祀文廟，議者多以爲未可，家鼐與潘祖蔭、翁同龢、孫詒經等再請，始議准。 When the Jiangxi educational commissioner Chen Baochen memorialized that the earlier Confucians Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu be admitted to sacrifices in the Confucian temple, many officials argued against it. Jianai joined Pan Zuyin, Weng Tonghe, Sun Yijing, and others in petitioning again, and only then was the proposal approved.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 465Volume 465 Biographies 252: Xu Tong With: Yu Shi, Yu Shi Son: Cheng Yu, Gang Yi, Zhao Shuqiao, Qi Xiu, Ying Nian, Yu Lu With: Ting Yong, Yu Xian With: Li Tingxiao · 1 passage

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主事吳可讀請豫定大統，以屍諫，桐與翁同龢等謂其未悉本朝家法：「當申明列聖不建儲彝訓，俾知他日紹膺大寶之元良，即為承繼穆宗之聖子。 When Principal Clerk Wu Kedu petitioned to settle the succession in advance and died remonstrating, Xu Tong and Weng Tonghe argued he misunderstood dynastic law: "The ancestral rule against naming an heir in advance should be reaffirmed, so all would know the heir who one day receives the throne is the son who succeeds Emperor Muzong.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 466Volume 466 Biographies 253: Xu Yongyi, Xu Jingcheng, Yuan Chang, Li Shan, Lian Yuan · 2 passages

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日朝搆为，舉朝爭議和戰，樞臣孫毓汶被劾罷，翁同龢繼入，主戰益力。 When Japan provoked conflict, the court split over peace and war; Grand Councillor Sun Yuwen was impeached out of office, and Weng Tonghe took his place and argued for war even harder.

用儀論事與同龢忤，遂出樞廷，並解總署事。 Because Yongyi's policy views clashed with Weng Tonghe's, he was expelled from the Grand Council and stripped of his Yamen post as well.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 468Volume 468 Biographies 255: Chong Qi Son: Bao Chu Deng, Zhi Jun, Yan Mao Younger Brother: Yan Zhi, Se Pu Zheng E, Wang Yirong, Xi Yuan, Zong Shibaofeng, Zong Shishoufu Younger Brother: Shou Fandeng, Song Chengxiang, Wang Tieshan · 1 passage

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懿榮泛涉書史，嗜金石，翁同龢、潘祖廕並稱其博學。 Yirong read widely in history and loved epigraphy; Weng Tonghe and Pan Zuyin both praised his learning.