Ruan Yuan, 1764-1849

1. The Formative Years: Yangzhou, 1764–86

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pp. 17-36

Although official records indicate Ruan Yuan as being from Yizheng, a county in the Yangzhou Prefecture of Jiangsu Province, actually he was a native of the County of Beihu in the prefecture.¹ It was his grandfather, Ruan Yutang (1695–1759), who first adopted Yizheng as the Ruan native place when he registered for ...

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2. Intellectual Foundations and Political Beginnings: Beijing, 1786–93

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pp. 37-58

It was during this period of Ruan Yuan’s sojourn in Beijing as a candidate for the metropolitan examinations that the direction for his intellectual development and political future was set. As a young man from an obscure background without independent financial means, Ruan Yuan was distinguishable from other candidates ...

3. Director of Studies: Shandong, 1793–5; Zhejiang, 1795–7; and Expectant Official in Beijing, 1797–9

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pp. 59-78

The system of selecting government officials by examination made the position of the director of studies (xuezheng) in each province an extremely important one. Although this office carried no rank of its own, for the holder it could be a stepping stone to higher appointments. During the mid-Qing the director of studies ...

4. Internal Security and Coastal Control: Piracy Suppression in Zhejiang, 1799–1809

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pp. 81-108

In the winter of 1799–1800 when Ruan Yuan first arrived in Zhejiang as governor, his most urgent task was the suppression of coastal piracy.² The initiation and implementation of a comprehensive programme to halt the pirate activities off the southeast coast of China within the directives of Jiaqing remained a major challenge ...

5. Internal Security and Local Control: Investigations of Secret Societies in Jiangxi, 1814–6, and Guangxi, 1817–26

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pp. 109-134

My objective in this chapter is not to analyze the Chinese secret societies from a historical, or economic, or even social perspective. Recent scholarly studies in Chinese as well as in foreign languages, all based on archival documents, have already enlightened readers on the origin and development of the secret societies ...

6. Management of Foreign Relations at Canton, 1817–26

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pp. 135-164

Ruan Yuan was Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi from November 1817 to August 1826. As ‘trade and tribute in the Confucian view were cognate aspects of a single system of foreign relations,’¹ the governor-general at Canton was the highest Chinese authority dealing with foreigners in China on specific issues ...

7. Management of Ethnic Minorities and Border Security in Yunnan, 1826–35

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pp. 165-180

After Canton Ruan Yuan was Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou in Southwest China. Topographically, the region was ‘rugged with high local relief, and the canyons of western Yunnan (were) characterized by a vertical zonation of climate, soils, and vegetation’.¹ These mountainous provinces boasted a multi-cropped ...

8. Ruan Yuan’s Social Welfare Programmes

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pp. 181-198

Whereas this research on Ruan Yuan’s government work heretofore has concentrated on the area of security and control, it was his social welfare programmes in Zhejiang that showed his humanitarian concerns both as an official and as a private individual. As in his handling of other issues, he managed ...

9. Scholar and Patron of Learning of the Mid-Qing Era

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pp. 201-220

As a scholar and patron of learning Ruan Yuan is well known. His intellectual interests encompassed a wide range of research. With more than eighty extant publications with his name as author, compiler, or editor, there are also scores of forewords and epilogues to other scholars’ works, indicating that at least he was familiar ...

10. Son and Father: Man of the Confucian Persuasion

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pp. 223-238

Upon achieving success as an official, Ruan Yuan took on certain responsibilities for his family and community, as expected in the Confucian persuasion. Beneficiaries included his parents, ancestors up to four generations, members of the Ruan clan individually and in general, and, through programmes such as compilation ...

11. The Women in Ruan Yuan’s Life

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pp. 239-258

Despite popular claim that traditional Chinese society deemed a woman ‘virtuous’ (de) only when she was without ‘talents’ (cai ), respectable women in gentry families had been educated in the classics throughout the ages. This fact was especially evident during the mid-Qing when publication of works by women proliferated. ...

12. Glories of Long Service: Grand Secretary in Beijing, 1835–8

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pp. 261-282

In 1835, when Ruan Yuan was seventy-two sui, he was recalled to Bejing, whereby ending a career of more than thrity years in the provinces. Until 1838 when he retired to Yangzhou he remained in the capital, enjoying the life and status of a first rank senior official. His schedule was not demanding, and, although not in the inner court, ...

13. The Golden Years: Retirement in Yangzhou, 1838–49

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pp. 283-304

Ruan Yuan left Beijing for the last time on 12 October 1838, a fortnight after the Mid-Autumn Festival that year, three months after he received permission to retire. Travelling by water, he boarded his boat at Tongzhou, and arrived at Yangzhou on 30 November. The journey by canal was leisurely. Family tradition ...