Tong Guowei Explained

Honorific Prefix:First Class Duke
Tong Guowei
Office:Deliberative Minister
Term Start:1682
Term End:1689
Birth Date:1644?
Death Date:1719
Father:Tulai
Relatives:Tong Guogang (brother), Empress Xiaokangzhang (sister)
Children:Longkodo (son), Qingfu (son), Empress Xiaoyiren (daughter), Imperial Noble Consort Quehui (daughter)
Blank1:Clan name
Data1:Tong (佟), later Tunggiya (佟佳)
Blank2:Posthumous name
Data2:Duanchun (端純)
Allegiance:Qing dynasty
Branch:Han Chinese Plain Blue Banner (until 1688)
Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner (since 1688)
Battles:Dzungar–Qing Wars

Tong Guowei (died 1719) was a Qing dynasty official. He was a maternal uncle of Kangxi Emperor.

Life

Tong Guowei was the second (or the third) son of Tulai. According to the Comprehensive history of Eight Banners (欽定八旗通志), The Tong (佟) family from Fushun was a sinicized Jurchen clan, they were incorporated into the Han Chinese Plain Blue Banner[1] . However, Pamela Kyle Crossley stated that they were actually Han Chinese and falsely claimed to be related to the Manchu Tunggiya (佟佳) clan of Jilin, using this false claim to get themselves transferred to a Manchu banner in the reign of the Kangxi Emperor.[2] The Tong family was the most powerful family during the Kangxi period, thus got the nickname "Tong Ban Chao" (佟半朝), which meant "the Tong who fill up half the Court".[2] [3]

In 1674, after the Revolt of the Three Feudatories had begun, Wu Yingxiong, the eldest son of Wu Sangui, plotted a riot in Beijing. Hearing of the plan, Tong Guowei quickly arrested the ringleaders with the aid of thirty guards. He was appointed the commander of the imperial bodyguard (領侍衛內大臣)[4] and Deliberative Ministers in 1682. In 1689 he was granted the hereditary rank First class Duke (一等公). He fought against Dzungars in the Battle of Ulan Butung, in which his brother Tong Guogang was killed in action. Tong Guowei was held responsible for not taking advantage of the victory to pursue the enemy during the battle, and was dismissed from his post as Deliberative Ministers. He accompanied Kangxi on both of the latter's expeditions against Galdan in 1696 and in 1697.[5]

Tong Guowei died in 1719. He was given the posthumous name Duanchun (端純) and awarded posthumous appointment of Grand Tutor (太傅) by Yongzheng Emperor in 1723.[6]

Tong Guogang and Tong Guowei were said to believe in Christianity, though their political lives prohibited their formal conversions. They maintained close relationships with two Jesuit missionaries, Lodovico Buglio and Gabriel de Magalhães.[7]

Family

Notes and References

  1. (Comprehensive history of Eight Banners, Volume 135)
  2. Crossley . Pamela . restricted access The Tong in Two Worlds: Cultural Identities in Liaodong and Nurgan during the 13th-17th centuries . Ch'ing-shih Wen-t'i . June 1983 . 4 . 9 . 21–46 . Johns Hopkins University Press.
  3. News: 一块坊额,见证康熙时期“佟半朝”的恩宠之盛 . 2023-05-23 . zh .
  4. Web site: 佟國維.
  5. T'ung Kuo-wei.
  6. (Draft History of Qing Volume 287)
  7. Web site: Privileges for Being Slaves: Christian Missionaries in the Early Qing Court . Litian Swen .
  8. Web site: 清内大臣佟国纲排行长子吗?. www.axjlzp.com.
  9. Web site: 关于清初佟佳氏佟国纪的宗谱考.