Fan Wencheng

▪ Chinese minister

Wade-Giles romanization  Fan Wen-ch'eng 

born 1597, Fushun, in modern Liaoning province, China

died Aug. 31, 1666

      minister who advised the Manchu forces of Manchuria in their conquest of China and their establishment there of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty (Qing dynasty) (1644–1911/12).

      The scion of a famous Chinese family, Fan was taken captive when Fushun was overrun by the Manchu. He became a trusted adviser of Nurhachi (1559–1626), founder of the Manchu state in Manchuria, and aided him and his successors in developing a Chinese-style government. In 1636, when the Manchu set up a centralized bureaucratic administration in the Manchurian city of Mukden (Shengjing, now Shenyang), Fan became a grand secretary, one of the chief ministerial positions in the new government.

      In 1644, when Beijing, the capital of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), fell to a Chinese rebel leader, Li Zicheng, Fan induced the Manchu to seize the opportunity to attempt the conquest of China. Through his efforts, they refrained from pillaging, reduced burdensome taxes, and gave a proper ceremonial burial to the last Ming emperor, thus winning the loyalty of the people. Fan also restored the civil-service examination system, which had proved effective in recruiting talented Chinese into the government and in providing a means of social mobility for ambitious men. Fan retired in 1654, having been an adviser to four Qing emperors.

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