Feng Guifen

Life

Born into a wealthy family, Feng was quick-minded and eager to learn; he became known for his literary talent and early on qualified as a shengyuan, a licentiate in the county-school system.

In the twentieth year of the Daoguang reign (1840), he placed second in the first class of the metropolitan examination—the bangyan—and was appointed an editor in the Hanlin Academy. He served as an assistant examiner for Shuntian Prefecture in 1843, as chief examiner for the Guangxi provincial examination in 1844, and as an instructor of shujishi in the twenty-fifth year of Daoguang (1845). He was also a disciple of Lin Zexu.

His official career included you zhongyun (右中允) in the Right Junior Secretariat of the Court of the Heir Apparent, with the honorary rank of a fourth-grade metropolitan official; other titles associated with him included signatory clerk in the Judicial Office, a staff appointment, and consular officer.

At the beginning of the Xianfeng reign he organized militia while residing in his native place. In 1853, when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom established its capital at Nanjing, he was ordered to organize militia in Suzhou near Nanjing against the Taiping forces and was promoted to you zhongyun (右中允).

When Taiping forces captured Suzhou in 1860, Feng fled to Shanghai and joined the Quanfang Bureau, organized by gentry from Jiangsu and Zhejiang together with British, French, and American consuls. At the beginning of the Tongzhi reign he entered Li Hongzhang’s staff; after 1862 he took part in Li’s Xiang Army to help suppress the Taiping movement and used his experience with British and American weapons to create the Huai Army.

Scholarship and associations

In his youth Feng excelled at parallel prose; from middle age he devoted himself to classical prose and placed particular value on statecraft and practical learning. His central proposition was that Chinese ethical and ritual teachings should remain the foundation, supplemented by the techniques of wealth and strength developed by other countries; he was regarded as a forerunner of reformist thought.

His fields also included calligraphy, mathematics, and traditional Chinese philology. In Shanghai he established the Guangfangyan Institute to cultivate talent in Western learning, and in his later years he successively lectured at academies in Jinling, Shanghai, and Suzhou.

Feng explained to Li Hongzhang the harm caused by Jiangnan’s heavy tax burden; after Li brought the matter before the court, the burden was reduced to some extent. Li Hongzhang also praised the precision and breadth of Feng’s learning.

Feng’s friends included Yu Yue, Yao Ying, Chen Huan, and Chen Shi, while his teachers and mentors included Li Zhaoluo, Lin Zexu, Li Shenqi, and Li Shangzhi. His students included Qin Shuzhang, Guan Ligeng, Yuan Baohuang, Ye Changchi, Wu Dacheng, Wang Songwei, Zhu Peiyuan, Liu Shangxian, Xu Dunren, Xia Congwu, Sun Wenkai, Xu Songfen, Xu Fengxian, Wang Mingqing, Pan Qifeng, Yu Zengru, Chen Qixi, and Huang Lirang. He also wrote prefaces for works by Wu Cai and Zhang Lunying.

Works

His works included 《校邠廬抗議》 in two juan, 《說文解字段注考正》 in fifteen juan, 《顯志堂詩文集》, and 《顯志堂稿》. He also wrote 《說文部首歌》, 《弧矢算術細草圖解》 in one juan, 《周禮職官分屬歌》 in one juan, and 《山海經表目》 in two juan.

Death and posthumous recognition

On the thirteenth day of the fourth month in the thirteenth year of Tongzhi (1874), Feng died of illness at his residence and was buried on Mount Tianchi; in the second year of Guangxu, he was enshrined in the Shrine of Celebrated Officials and Worthies of the Native Place.