Ni Wenwei

Life

His examination career included the statuses of linsheng (廩生), baigong (拔貢), juren (舉人), and jinshi (進士); in 1849 he was selected as a baigong, in 1851 he passed the Shuntian provincial examination as a juren, and the following year he passed the metropolitan examination for the jinshi degree.

The jinshi placement is given in two forms: second class, ninth place, and second class, tenth place.

He was selected as a Hanlin shuji shi and, after completing his Hanlin service, was appointed to the Huguang Section of the Board of Punishments.

He served with Yan Shusen (嚴樹森) and Li Hongzhang (李鴻章) in suppressing the Nian movement.

In 1871 he was promoted to langzhong in the Jiangsu Section of the Board of Punishments, and the following year became prefect of Jingzhou in Hubei.

On the seventeenth day of the intercalary seventh month of the seventh year of Guangxu, he was promoted from Guangdong provincial surveillance commissioner to provincial administration commissioner of Guangxi; on the twenty-fourth day of the first month of the eighth Guangxu year (March 13, 1882), he became governor of Guangxi. He later governed Guangdong while concurrently administering its educational affairs.

In 1887 he became governor of Henan and was granted the additional title of tidu (提督).

While serving as governor of Henan, he was provincial-examination supervisor and chief examiner of the military examination in the fourteenth year of Guangxu, educational commissioner in the fifteenth year, and military-review commissioner in the sixteenth year.

After taking office, he worked to control the Yellow River floods; in 1890 he concurrently served as acting governor-general of the Hedong River Conservancy and died of illness that year.

Family and associations

His genealogy traces back to 倪彥銘, the founding and first-migrant ancestor; 倪學統, the eighth-generation ancestor and taigaozu; 倪柱, the high ancestor and fourth-generation ancestor; 倪偉 and 倪維瑾, great-grandfathers; and 倪良忠, grandfather.

Among his close relatives were his maternal half-brother 倪文藻, sons 倪世熙 and 倪世燾, daughter 梅倪氏, and grandson 倪長齡.

He was a friend of 秦樹聲 and 張謇.

His teachers included 王植、蔣文慶、李菡、季芝昌、張雲藻、車克慎.

They also included 張寅、張觀美、萬兆霖、劉國霖、史鴻舉、張錫蕃.

Scholarship and writings

He was also a calligrapher, painter, and Neo-Confucian scholar.

He authored the one-juan 《禹貢說》; 《兩彊勉齋文集》 was in six juan and also appears under the title 《兩疆勉齋詩文集》.

Other titles associated with him include 《古今體詩》, 《奏議》 in eight juan, 《尺牘》 in ten juan, 《黃河全圖》, 《南條伍說》, 《江監潛沔水利指掌圖》, 《荊州府志》, 《萬城堤志》, and 《詩賦》。