Zeng Guofan - Early Life

Early Life

Born as a native of Xiangxiang (湘乡), Hunan in 1811, Zeng Zicheng (曾子城) was the grandson of Zeng Yuping, a prosperous farmer with social and political ambitions. As a youth, Zeng was notorious for living drunkenly and even experimenting with opium; choices he would later renounce as he became an ardent military man. He studied in Yuelu Academy in Changsha. He passed the prefectural examination in 1833, only a year after his father Zeng Linshu (zi Zhuting). He passed the provincial examination a year later, and by 1838, at age 27, he had successfully passed the metropolitan examinations, a prestigious achievement in China. He had earned the Jinshi degree, the highest level in the civil service examinations, which led to his appointment to the Hanlin Academy, a body of outstanding Chinese literary scholars who performed literary tasks for the imperial court. It was at Hanlin where he changed his name to Zeng Guofan, which sounded more prestigious. Zeng served in Beijing for more than 13 years, and remained devoted to the interpretation of the Confucian Classics. He moved relatively quickly up the ranks by his teacher Manchu statesman Mujangga, advancing to 2nd-Pin in five years.

Read more about this topic:  Zeng Guofan

Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:

    On the Coast of Coromandel
    Where the early pumpkins blow,
    In the middle of the woods
    Lived the Yonghy-Bonghy-Bo.
    Two old chairs, and half a candle,—
    One old jug without a handle,—
    These were all his worldly goods:
    In the middle of the woods,
    Edward Lear (1812–1888)

    Why should not our whole life and its scenery be actually thus fair and distinct? All our lives want a suitable background. They should at least, like the life of the anchorite, be as impressive to behold as objects in a desert, a broken shaft or crumbling mound against a limitless horizon.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)