The Research Of The Famous Official Pan Shi'en In The Qing Dynasty

Pan Shi'en(1769-1854),styled Huaitang,and literary name Zhixuan,was also known by his posthumous title “Wen Gong”.With his official career covering the reign of Emperor Qianlong,Emperor Jiaqing,Emperor Daoguang and Emperor Xianfeng,he was a historical figure of great importance in the middle and late Qing Dynasty,who at one time was grand secretary and grand minister of the court.Born in a celebrated family in Jiangnan(southern region of the Yangtze River),and very well educated by society-influential teachers,he was able to socialize with people of social and political influence.After being an official,he had a close relationship with officials of reputation and scholars of great achievement,such as Ji Yun,Liu Yong,Ruan Yuan and Lin Zexu.He was of great diligence all his life,therefore rich in composition and compilation,his works involving history,Confucianism and literature,all,though seemingly disarray to the layman who might think he touched almost all scholarships therefore was lacking deepness and originality,well actually ordered and consistently governed by Neo-Confucianism.To nourish his character,he put the teachings and wisdom of previous sages into application.To regulate the government and public morality,he turned for source and wisdom to Confucian loving kindliness.To socialize with people and deal with worldly affairs,he was firmly practical.Because of his usually admirable pragmatism and steady-handedness in administrating the imperial court,he made great contributions to selecting officials,rectificating official administration and protecting national economy and maintaining people's livelihood.What follows is his characteristics of official governance-mainly sorted into two classes: first,he,being an official,was prudent by nature,adhering to his belief of moderation;second,he worked diligently,everlastingly devotional to his duties.However,during the reign of Jiadao,social crisis was in the air,inside and outside the court alike,followed by incubating disloyalty of some of the subjects.In such times,Pan Shi'en was unavoidably criticized,centralizing in his professional integrity,and he was considered as one “who is devotional to his duties only forself-preservation”.Despite the fact that he made no particularly great achievements,nor did he establish society-leading thoughts,and thus was thought of as mediocre,he earned him the accolade "an Honorable Minister of Four Emperors in Succession",chiefly due to the political wisdom of "mellowness" and "pragmatism" viewed by the Chinese as part of humanistic tradition.History has witnessed that in any dynasty there have been those who have showed admirable loyalty,righteousness and bravery,and those,though no one wishes,have been evil-doers with their hearts only beating for their own good,with a third party,in addition to the two in opposite,consisting of those who have just “followed the rules and dared not to walk out of their prescribed tracks”.With respect to reflection on history,“praising the good and punishing the evil” is absolutely needed,but some appropriate affirmation should be given to those who are just “ordinary”.Throughout his life,Pan Shi'en read sage-books widely,practiced sage-teachings devotionally,dedicated himself to political affairs wholeheartedly,thought of profits good for people kindly,and by so doing achieved great achievements by just doing them “ordinarily”.Deserved attention should be paid to his deeds whether great or not,and the roles he played during his life should be a lesson from which we can derive reflection.