Xu Tong (徐桐) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Xu Tong as an official, scholar, and statesman. This record brings together 25 passages from 7 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Xu Tong	徐桐	Xu Tong
Given	Tong	桐	Tong
Personal name	Tong	桐
Surname	Xu	徐	Xu
Personal name	Xu Tong	徐桐	Xu Tong
Personal name	Xu Tong	徐桐	Xú Tóng
Courtesy	Yinxuan	蔭軒	Yinxuan

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:195:s0060, qingshigao:465:s0158, qingshigao:471:s0033
Sex: male
Explicit · qingshigao:441:s0027, qingshigao:441:s0029, qingshigao:466:s0117

Roles

Official
Scholar
Statesman

Life and dates

Death

Manner: hanged himself / 投繯死 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 聯軍入 · Western Year: AD 1900
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0183

Age

Age: 82 · Reckoning: sui
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0183

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 二十六年 · Regnal Year: 26 · Western Year: AD 1900
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:466:s0117, qingshigao:466:s0013
Source Date: Text: 二十二年 · Western Year: AD 1896
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0016
Source Date: Text: 二十六年 · Western Year: AD 1900
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0023, qingshigao:465:s0024
Source Date: Text: 二十四年 · Western Year: AD 1898
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:471:s0033, qingshigao:471:s0028
Source Date: Text: 二十四年政變後 · Western Year: AD 1898
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0174
Source Date: Text: 五年 · Western Year: AD 1879
Explicit · qingshigao:441:s0029, qingshigao:441:s0027
Source Date: Text: 光緒三年 · Western Year: AD 1877
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:195:s0055, qingshigao:195:s0060
Source Date: Text: 光緒二十六年 · Western Year: AD 1900
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:468:s0026
Source Date: Text: 光緒初 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1875 · End: AD 1879
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0167
Source Date: Text: 光緒四年 · Western Year: AD 1878
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:195:s0065, qingshigao:195:s0070
Source Date: Text: 六年 · Western Year: AD 1880
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0007
Source Date: Text: 十五年 · Western Year: AD 1889
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0015
Western Year: AD 1869 · Source Date: Text: 同治八年
Explicit · qingshigao:391:s0061
Source Date: Text: 同治初 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1862 · End: AD 1865
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0162
Source Date: Text: 咸豐十年 · Western Year: AD 1860
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0161
Source Date: Text: 道光三十年 · Western Year: AD 1850
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0159

Family

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

Child of Ze Chun (澤醇)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: father
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Parent of Xu Chengyu (徐承煜)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: father
Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son

Origins and identity

Ethnicity: Han Chinese Banner / 漢軍
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0158
Label: Han Chinese / 漢
Strongly inferred · qingshigao:195:s0060

Career and standing

Label: Grand Secretary of the Hall of Embodied Benevolence / 體仁閣大學士 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 二十二年 · Western Year: AD 1896
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0016
Label: Chinese Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate / 都察院漢左都御史 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒三年丁丑 · Western Year: AD 1877
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:195:s0060
Label: Minister of Rites / 禮部尚書 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒初 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1875 · End: AD 1879
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0167
Label: service in the Upper Study Halls / 上書房行走 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 同治初 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1862 · End: AD 1865
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0162
Label: Reviser / 檢討 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 咸豐十年 · Western Year: AD 1860
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0161
Label: Hanlin bachelor / 庶吉士 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 道光三十年 · Western Year: AD 1850
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0159
Label: Compiler / 編修 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0159
Label: duty at Hongde Hall / 入直弘德殿 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0162
Label: Assistant Grand Secretary / 協辦大學士 · Action: held · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 十五年 · Western Year: AD 1889
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0015
Label: Minister of Personnel / 吏部尚書 · Action: held · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 十五年 · Western Year: AD 1889
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0015
Label: Chancellor of the Hanlin Academy / 翰林院掌院學士 · Action: held
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0014
Label: Grand Tutor of the Upper Study Halls / 上書房總師傅 · Action: held
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0014
Label: Expositor of the Hanlin Academy / 侍講學士 · Action: promoted
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0162
Label: Vice Minister of Rites / 禮部侍郎 · Action: promoted
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0164
Title: Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent / 太子少保 · Action: granted
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0167
Title: Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent / 太子太保 · Action: promoted
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0015
Label: dismissed from office / 罷職 · Action: dismissed
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0160
Label: offices stripped and mourning honors revoked / 褫職，奪卹典 · Action: punished · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 和議成 · Western Year: AD 1901
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0187
Label: public execution waived because already dead / 論棄市，以先死議免 · Action: sentence-waived · Negated: false
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0187

Places and affiliations

Label: Qing / 清 · Relation: served
Explicit · qingshigao:195:s0060, qingshigao:466:s0117
Polity: Qing / 清 · Relation: served
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0158
Place: Plain Blue Banner of the Han Chinese Banners / 漢軍正藍旗
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0158

Learning and skills

Credential: Presented Scholar / 進士 · Action: earned · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 道光三十年 · Western Year: AD 1850
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0159
Belief: Song Neo-Confucianism / 宋儒說 · Relation: adherent-of
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0172

Works and attributed material

Work: Essentials of the Great Learning in Outline / 大學衍義體要 · Relation: author
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0163
Work: Veritable Records of Emperor Wenzong / 文宗實錄 · Relation: compiler
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0161
Kind: memorial · Role: author · Action: accused-embezzlement
Explicit · qingshigao:471:s0033
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Text: 民氣可用 · Quoted: true · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 二十六年 · Regnal Year: 26 · Western Year: AD 1900
Explicit · qingshigao:466:s0117, qingshigao:466:s0013
Kind: memorial · Role: author · Other Person Id: Wu Kedu (吳可讀)
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0168, qingshigao:465:s0169, qingshigao:465:s0170
Kind: memorial · Role: author
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0163, qingshigao:465:s0165, qingshigao:465:s0166, qingshigao:465:s0003, qingshigao:465:s0171, qingshigao:465:s0005, qingshigao:465:s0006
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Yuan Chang (袁昶)
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0176
Kind: speech · Role: speaker
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0007, qingshigao:465:s0008, qingshigao:465:s0009, qingshigao:465:s0010, qingshigao:465:s0011, qingshigao:465:s0012, qingshigao:465:s0024

Events and relationships

Kind: political · Role: opponent · Action: opposed-pardon · Other Person Id: Chonghou (崇厚) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 六年 · Western Year: AD 1880
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0007
Kind: personal · Role: victim · Action: plundered
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0026
Kind: political · Role: advocate · Action: supported-heir-selection · Other Person Id: Pujun (溥俊) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 方太后議廢帝 · Western Interval: Start: AD 1898 · End: AD 1900
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0020
Kind: personnel · Role: officeholder · Action: transferred · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 光緒四年戊寅 · Western Year: AD 1878
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:195:s0070
Kind: political · Role: supporter · Action: welcomed-Boxers · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 二十六年 · Western Year: AD 1900
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0023, qingshigao:465:s0024, qingshigao:465:s0025
Relation: co-memorialist-with · Person Id: Weng Tonghe (翁同龢)
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0168
Relation: close-to · Person Id: Zaiyi (載漪)
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0021
Relation: political-ally-of · Person Id: Chongqi (崇綺)
Explicit · qingshigao:468:s0026

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: conservative opponent of Western learning · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:465:s0172

Source notes

Historicity: historical
Explicit · qingshigao:195:s0060

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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賀壽慈九月丙寅遷。徐桐左都御史。 On the bingyin day of the ninth month, 賀壽慈 was transferred. 徐桐: Left Censor-in-Chief.

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.

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

Open chapter

五年，主事吳可讀以死請為穆宗立嗣，祖廕被命集議，與徐桐等請申不建儲，彝訓疏存毓慶宮。 In the fifth year the clerk Wu Kedu offered his life in a petition to name an heir for Emperor Muzong; Zuyin was ordered to convene deliberation and, with Xu Tong and others, urged adherence to the rule against establishing an heir and preservation of the precedents of the Yuyu Palace.

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 · 18 passages

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徐桐剛毅趙舒翹啟秀英年裕祿毓賢。 Xu Tong; Gang Yi; Zhao Shuqiao; Qi Xiu; Ying Nian; Yu Lu; Yu Xian.

徐桐，字蔭軒，漢軍正藍旗人，尚書澤醇子。 Xu Tong, whose style was Yinxuan, came from the Plain Blue Banner of the Han Chinese Banners; his father was Minister Ze Chun.

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.

時擅訂約，下群臣議，乃條摘其不可行者：曰、各城定界； When Chonghou took it upon himself to negotiate the Russian treaty, the matter was laid before the full court. Xu Tong listed the terms that could not be accepted: delimiting the cities of Ili and Tarbagatai;

六年，廷議徇俄人請，將赦崇厚罪，桐力持不可，謂：「揆度機要在樞廷，折衝俎豆在總署，講信修睦在使臣。 In 1880, when the court debated yielding to Russian pressure and pardoning Chonghou, Xu Tong stood firm against it, arguing: "Strategic judgment rests with the Grand Council; negotiation at the council table rests with the Zongli Yamen; building trust and good relations rests with the envoys.

桐崇宋儒說，守舊，惡西學如仇。 Xu Tong revered Song Neo-Confucianism, clung to the old ways, and hated Western learning like a mortal foe.

官至烏魯木齊都統，以講學為桐所傾服。 He eventually became commander-in-chief at Urumqi, and Xu Tong looked up to him as a scholar.

方太后議廢帝，立端王載漪子溥儁為「大阿哥」，桐主之甚力，實皆豫師本謀也。 During the debate over deposing the emperor and elevating Prince Duan's son Pujun as "Great Heir Apparent," Xu Tong pushed hard for it—the scheme was Yu Shi's in essence.

既而桐被命照料，益親載漪。 Once Xu Tong was charged with supervising the boy, he grew even closer to Prince Duan.

桐謂：「中國當自此強矣！」 Xu Tong declared: "From this day China will grow strong!"

袁昶、許景澄之死，舉國稱冤，而桐則曰：「是死且有餘辜！」 When Yuan Chang and Xu Jingcheng were executed, the nation called it a miscarriage of justice; Xu Tong said: "They deserved worse than death!"

已，聯軍入，桐倉皇失措，承煜請曰：「父芘拳匪，外人至，必不免，失大臣體。 When the allied armies entered Beijing, Xu Tong panicked. Chengyu urged him: "Father sheltered the Boxers; when the foreigners arrive you cannot escape without disgracing your rank.

桐乃投繯死，年八十有二矣。 Xu Tong hanged himself at the age of eighty-two.

和議成，褫桐職，奪卹典，旋論棄市，以先死議免。 After peace was made Xu Tong's offices and mourning honors were revoked; public execution was debated but waived because he had already died.

啟秀端謹有風操，為徐桐所賞。 Qi Xiu was upright and principled, and Xu Tong held him in high regard.

自政變後，桐最被盻遇，欲引參機務，乃舉啟秀自代。 After the 1898 coup Xu Tong was the Empress Dowager's favorite; wanting a proxy in policy, he recommended Qi Xiu to take his place.

日本軍拘啟秀及徐承煜嚴守之，承煜，桐子也。 Japanese troops seized Qi Xiu and Xu Chengyu and held them under close guard; Chengyu was Xu Tong's son.

及事敗，各國議懲首禍，徐桐等皆不能免。 When the cause collapsed, the powers demanded the ringleaders be punished, and Xu Tong and his circle could not escape.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 466Volume 466 Biographies 253: Xu Yongyi, Xu Jingcheng, Yuan Chang, Li Shan, Lian Yuan · 1 passage

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大臣負清望者徐桐、崇綺，皆謂：「民氣可用。」 Respected ministers Xu Tong and Chongqi both declared, "The people's spirit can be harnessed."

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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於是崇綺再出，與徐桐比而言廢立，甚得太后寵，恩眷與桐埒。 Chong Qi thus returned to power; like Xu Tong he spoke openly of deposing and installing rulers, won the empress dowager's deep favor, and received imperial grace equal to Tong's.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 471Volume 471 Biographies 258: Sheng Xuanhuai, Rui Cheng · 1 passage

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已而徐桐劾兩局有中飽，適剛毅按事南下，銜命察覆。 Soon Xu Tong accused both bureaus of skimming funds; Gangyi was then investigating in the south and was ordered to review the case.