Family & Personal
Zeng was a voluminous writer. His papers addressed to the throne and his literary disquisitions are held in high esteem by the scholars of China, who treasure as the edition of his collected works in 156 books, which was edited by Li Hongzhang in 1876, as a memorial of a great and un-corrupt statesman. Zeng enjoyed reading greatly, and held a special interest in the 23 Histories, and other classics. He was also a dedicated poet and a diary author.
Zeng called Hakka females "Big foot hillbilly witch" during the Taiping Rebellion.
Unlike his contemporaries, Zeng was officially married only once, to a woman of the Ouyang family when he was in his late teens. His wife was known to be a capable woman. He had 3 sons and 5 daughters with her, and two of his eldest children died young. His eldest son, Zeng Jize, who inherited his title of First Class Marquess, went on to become a famous diplomat in late-Qing history.
His younger brother, Zeng Guoquan, was an ambitious general in the Xiang Army. He was later appointed Viceroy of Liangjiang (the provinces of Jiangxi, Anhui, and Jiangsu: 两江总督) in 1884.
Read more about this topic: Zeng Guofan
Famous quotes containing the words family and/or personal:
“Being in a family is like being in a play. Each birth order position is like a different part in a play, with distinct and separate characteristics for each part. Therefore, if one sibling has already filled a part, such as the good child, other siblings may feel they have to find other parts to play, such as rebellious child, academic child, athletic child, social child, and so on.”
—Jane Nelson (20th century)
“Oh, what a catastrophe for man when he cut himself off from the rhythm of the year, from his unison with the sun and the earth. Oh, what a catastrophe, what a maiming of love when it was a personal, merely personal feeling, taken away from the rising and the setting of the sun, and cut off from the magic connection of the solstice and the equinox!”
—D.H. (David Herbert)