Kung Te-cheng - Family

Family

Kung's name included 德 Dé, the generation name for 77th generation descendants of Confucius. Kung's father, Kong Lingyi (孔令貽) (Qufu, 1872 - Beijing 8 November 1919), inherited the Dukedom Yansheng in 1876, upon the death of his father, the 30th Duke Yansheng. Kong founded a county school in Qufu and was also president of the Four Clans Teachers' College (founded in conjunction with the descendants of Yan Hui, Mencius, and Zeng Zi). In 1889, he was appointed to the Guozijian. Following the Xinhai Revolution, Kong was given a government post in the new government, but declined the position. Kong was a supporter of Yuan Shikai and was given a First Grade Medal and Sash of Auspicious Glory and the rank of Prince of the Second Rank by Yuan in 1915. He was also sworn brothers with Zhang Xun.

Kong Lingyi had a total of four wives. His first wife, Lady Sun (孫氏), was the daughter of Sun Yuwen (孫毓汶) (1833 - 1899), an Imperial Envoy. Lady Sun's grandfather, Sun Ruizhen (孫瑞珍) (1783 - 1858), was a scholar and official during the Guangxu Emperor's reign. Kong and Lady Sun married in 1888, but she died of illness without issue. Kong's first concubine, Lady Feng, similarly did not have any children. She died in 1928. Kong's second wife, Lady Tao (陶氏), was the daughter and ninth child of Tao Shijun, Magistrate of Daming Prefecture. She bore Kong one son who died at the age of three years. Lady Tao was described as a petty, jealous woman who mistreated Kung Te-cheng's mother, Kong Lingyi's second concubine Wang Baocui (王寶翠) (1894 - Qufu, 11 March 1920), the daughter of a peasant from Zunhua County, Hebei.

On 4 October 1919, Kong Lingyi went to Beijing after receiving news of his father-in-law, Tao Shijun's, death. Soon afterward, Kong was afflicted with a subcutaneous ulcer on his back. He died on 8 November 1919 at the Mansion of the Duke Yansheng (衍聖公府) in Beijing.

At the time of his father's death, Kung Te-cheng's mother, Wang Baocui, was five months pregnant, and on 23 February 1920, she gave birth to Kung. Seventeen days later, on 11 March 1920, Wang died.

Kung had two older sisters, both borne by his mother Wang Baocui. The elder, Kong Deqi (孔德齊) (b. 1915), married the youngest son of Fu Shu (馮恕), a Beijing calligrapher and founder of Beijing Electric Lamp Company, in 1932, but died as a young woman. The younger, Kong Demao (孔德懋) (b. 1917), married Ke Changfen (柯昌汾), third and youngest son of Qing Dynasty historian Ke Shaomin (柯劭忞) and Wu Zhifang, daughter of Qing Dynasty prose writer Wu Rulun, in 1935. Ke Shaomin's sworn brother was President Xu Shichang. Kong Demao has one daughter, Ke Lan, one son, Ke Da, and one grandson (the son of Ke Lan), Liu Yong. She lives in mainland China and has written a book about her experiences growing up at the family estate in Qufu.

Kung married Sun Qifang, a granddaughter of Qing dynasty scholar-official Sun Jianai, who was the first president of Peking University, on 16 December 1936. Sun's Shouxian, Anhui, family's business combine (one of the first in modern China) includes the Fou Foong Flour Company, the largest flour mill in Asia. They had four children, two sons and two daughters:

• Kong Wei'e (孔維鄂), elder daughter of Kung Te-cheng, married Lestat and has one child, George; she lives in the United States
• Kong Wei-yi (孔維益) (d. 1989), the 78th lineal descendant; married Yu Yuejie (于曰洁) and had one son, the 79th lineal descendant Kung Tsui-chang, and one daughter, Kung Tsui-mei (孔垂梅)
• Kong Weilai (孔維崍), second daughter of Kung Te-cheng
• Kong Weining (孔維寧) (1946 - 10 June 2010), second son of Kung Te-cheng; had two daughters, Kong Chuijiu (孔垂玖) and Kong Chuiyong (孔垂永)

His children all have 維 Wei in their name since it is a generation name, signifying that they are 78th generation descendants of Confucius.