Qing · Official and Statesman

Lin Shaonian 林紹年

Born c. AD 1843

Passages: 15
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Lin Shaonian was an official and Statesman.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Zanyu	贊虞	Zanyu
Posthumous name	Wenzhi	文直	Wenzhi

Life and dates

Death

Age 68
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passage 208

Age

68
Reckoning Sui
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passage 208

Attested activity

AD 1905 光緒三十一年
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passages 185-188
AD 1906 光緒三十二年
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passages 189-194
AD 1900 光緒二十六年
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passages 178-179, 181-183
AD 1893 光緒十九年
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passages 170-172, 174-176
AD 1888 光緒十四年
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passages 162-168
AD 1862 同光以後
Strongly inferred · Draft History of Qing 438, passage 212

Show 3 more source-backed claims

AD 1874 同治十三年
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passage 161
AD 1910 宣統二年
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passages 206-208
AD 1909 宣統元年
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passages 201-205

Career and standing

Grand Councilor 軍機大臣
AD 1906 光緒三十二年 · Appointed
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passage 189
governor of Yunnan 巡撫
AD 1900 光緒二十六年 · Appointed
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passage 178
censor 御史
AD 1888 光緒十四年 · Appointed
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passage 162
governor of Henan 河南巡撫
Appointed
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passage 194
prefect of Zhaotong 昭通府知府
Appointed
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passage 171

Places and affiliations

Qing 清
Relation Served
Strongly inferred · Draft History of Qing 438, passages 161, 189
At Min County, Fujian 福建閩縣
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passage 160

Learning and skills

Earned
AD 1874 同治十三年 · Credential Presented Scholar 進士
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passage 161

Works and attributed material

Memorial · Author · Direct quotation
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passages 164-166
Speech · Speaker
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passages 191, 193

Assessments and attributes

Assessment forceful and upright; achieved much in frontier posts but little lasting note at court · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 438, passage 212

References in the histories

Search passages

History

15 passages

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 438Volume 438 Biographies 225: Yan Jingming, Zhang Zhiwan, Lu Chuan Lin, Lin Shaonian · 15 passages

閻敬銘張之萬鹿傳霖林紹年 Yan Jingming, Zhang Zhiwan, Lu Chuanlin, and Lin Shaonian

林紹年，字贊虞，福建閩縣人。 Lin Shaonian, whose style was Zanyu, was a native of Min County in Fujian.

紹年極陳：「生民疲敝，當以儉化天下，使督撫愛養百姓。 Shaonian protested forcefully: "The people are exhausted. The court should lead the realm by frugality and require governors to cherish and care for the common people.

十九年，陝西考官丁維禔夤緣內監得試差，复疏論之。 In the nineteenth year the Shaanxi examiner Ding Weiti had used connections with palace eunuchs to secure an examination assignment, and Shaonian again memorialized against it.

邊瘠難治，土目祿爾泰橫暴，睚眥殺人，莫敢訴，猝捕戮之，眾懾而定。 The frontier was poor and hard to govern. The native official Lu Ertai was brutal and killed people over the slightest grievance, yet none dared bring suit. Shaonian seized and executed him at once, and the people were awed into order.

紹年覆按，疑其枉，謁總督廷爭，卒獲正犯，出二十餘人者於死。 Shaonian reinvestigated the case, suspected a miscarriage of justice, went to the governor and argued the matter in open court, finally secured the real culprits, and saved more than twenty innocent men from execution.

崧蕃愧謝，密疏薦紹年可大用。 Song Fan apologized in embarrassment and secretly memorialized that Shaonian was fit for high office.

紹年會商總督丁振鐸，檄按察使劉春霖扼通海，廣南軍躡其後，不兩月事平。 Shaonian consulted Governor-General Ding Zhenduo, ordered Judicial Commissioner Liu Chunlin to hold Tonghai, and had the Guangnan force follow in pursuit. Within two months the disturbance was suppressed.

紹年至，以兵脅之降，仍擁眾不散，遂案誅之。 When Shaonian arrived he used troops to force them to submit, but they still held their followers together and refused to disband, so he tried them and had them executed.

紹年默察大勢，非立憲不足以救亡，請預定政體以係人心，不報。 Shaonian quietly judged the larger trend and concluded that only constitutional government could save the dynasty. He asked that the political system be settled in advance to steady popular sentiment, but received no answer.

紹年言芝貴望輕，不稱邊帥任。 Shaonian said that Zhigui's standing was too slight and that he was unfit for command on the frontier.

紹年言御史風聞言事，啟霖無罪，爭之不得，遂稱疾。 Shaonian argued that censors were entitled to report on rumor and hearsay and that Qilin was innocent, but his protest failed and he then claimed illness.

紹年召對論其事，以為賞罰不當，則是非不明。 Shaonian was summoned for an audience to discuss the affair, arguing that when rewards and punishments are misapplied, right and wrong cannot be distinguished.

卒，年六十八，諡文直。 He died at the age of sixty-eight and was given the posthumous name Wenzhi.

敬銘質樸，之萬練達，傳霖廉約，紹年勁直，其任封疆、治軍旅多有績，而立朝不復有所建樹。 Jingming was plain, Zhiwan seasoned, Chuanlin frugal, and Shaonian forceful and upright. Each achieved much in frontier posts and military affairs, yet at court they accomplished little of lasting note.