Wei Yuan

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Wei Yuan (Chinese: 魏源; pinyin: Wèi Yuán; April 23, 1794 – March 26, 1857), born Wei Yuanda (魏遠達), courtesy names Moshen (默深) and Hanshi (漢士), art name Liangtu (良圖), was a Chinese scholar-official, historian, geographer, and a major reformist thinker of the late Qing Dynasty of China. Born in Shaoyang, Hunan, he lived during the reigns of the Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, and Xianfeng emperors, and he is widely known as one of the first Qing scholar-officials to advocate for the reformation of the Qing military and government, and for the adaptation of western policies following the Qing's defeat in the First Opium War. Wei viewed the war as a signal that the Qing was significantly underdeveloped in comparison to western powers, prompting his advocacy for innovation and learning from the west to allow the Qing to catch up to the west technologically and militarily. Wei was born in 1794 in Shaoyang, Hunan. Having passed the provincial imperial examination in 1822 and officially becoming a Qing statesman in 1825, this meant Wei first became a Qing official before he began his philosophical work in 1826. Notwithstanding this however, Wei actually compiled most of his work regarding such advocacies regarding western learning after moving to Yangzhou, Jiangsu in 1831, where he remained for the rest of his life. Posterior to the First Opium War, Wei worked closely with political philosopher Lin Zexu and Mongol nobleman Qishan, both of which had first-hand experience in the war. Wei was deeply concerned with the crisis facing China in the early 19th century, and while he remained loyal to the Qing dynasty, he also sketched a number of proposals for the improvement of the administration of the empire. His philosophical works served as an integral part of the foundation of the self-strengthening movement, a major reformist...