Wu Kedu (吳可讀) | 24 Histories

Overview

Wu Kedu was an official and Censor.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Liutang	柳堂	Liutang

Life and dates

Death

AD 1879 光緒五年三月
Suicide in remonstrance · Cause Corpse remonstrance on succession
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passage 7
AD 1879 穆宗奉安惠陵
suicide in remonstrance 屍諫
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passages 65, 70
died remonstrating with his corpse 以屍諫
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 465, passage 168
hanging and poison 自縊…仰藥死 · At Jizhou 薊州
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 19

Attested activity

AD 1879 五年
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 441, passages 27, 29
AD 1879 光緒五年
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 18
AD 1879 光緒五年三月
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passage 7
AD 1875 to AD 1879 光緒初
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 465, passages 167-168
AD 1860 咸豐十年
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 133, passage 108
AD 1879 穆宗奉安惠陵
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passage 65

Show 2 more source-backed claims

AD 1875 穆宗崩，德宗纘業
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 17
AD 1850 道光三十年
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 6

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Parent of Wu Zhihuan (吳之桓)
son 子
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 43

Key source chapters

Career and standing

head lecturer at Lanshan Academy 主講蘭山書院
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 7
censor 御史
Appointed
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 10
educational instructor at Fuxiang 伏羌訓導
Appointed
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 5
secretary in the Ministry of Punishments 刑部主事
Appointed
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 6
Principal Clerk 主事
AD 1879 光緒五年三月 · Held
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passage 7
Department Director in the Ministry of Justice 刑部員外郎
Held
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 133, passage 108

Show 7 more source-backed claims

Principal Clerk 主事
Held
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passage 65; Draft History of Qing 465, passage 168
vice director 員外郎
Promoted
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 7
secretary in the Ministry of Personnel 吏部主事
Recalled
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 17
director in the Ministry of Personnel 吏部郎中
Transferred
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 10
generous posthumous honors 優恤
Granted
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 41
Entered
Mourning
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 7
demoted three ranks 鐫三級
Suffered
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 15

Places and affiliations

Qing 清
Relation Served
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 133, passage 108
Polity Qing 清 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passages 7, 65; Draft History of Qing 445, passages 4, 6; Draft History of Qing 465, passage 168
At Gaolan, Gansu 甘肅皋蘭
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 4
At Jizhou 薊州 · Relation Buried at
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 44
At Jizhou 薊州 · Relation Died at
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 19

Learning and skills

Earned
Credential Presented Scholar 進士
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 6
Held
Credential provincial graduate 舉人
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 5

Works and attributed material

final memorial 遺摺
Memorial · Author
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passages 71-72
Memorial · Author · With Cheng Lu (成祿)
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 14
Memorial · Author · Summary final memorial asking heir for Muzong
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passages 19-40
Memorial · Author · Summary urged exempting foreign envoys from kneeling
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 11
Memorial · Author · Topic imperial succession
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passages 7, 9

Events and relationships

Assisted militia against Salar unrest
Military · Organizer
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 8
Assisted Muzong burial rites at Huiling
Ritual · Volunteer
Dated from the passage context · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 18
Corpse remonstrance for Tongzhi heir
AD 1879 穆宗奉安惠陵 · Political · Remonstrant
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passage 65
Died remonstrating over succession
Political · Remonstrator
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 465, passage 168
Listed capital offenses of Cheng Lu
Legal · Impeacher · With Cheng Lu (成祿)
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 13
Remonstrated with corpse to settle imperial succession
AD 1879 光緒五年三月 · Political · Remonstrant
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passage 7

Show 2 more source-backed claims

Sought to preserve Tongzhi line
Political · Advocate
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passage 95
Relation Assistant to · Person Yue Bin (樂斌)
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 133, passage 108

Assessments and attributes

Assessment died remonstrating with his corpse; solitary loyalty · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 218
Assessment loyal-sacrifice · Mode named-source-report Speaker Baoting (寶廷)
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passage 71
Assessment loyal · Mode named-source-report
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 41
Assessment needlessly-anxious-about-loyal-versus-treacherous-ministers · Mode named-source-report Speaker Baoting (寶廷)
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passage 73
Item shrine at old residence south of the capital 城南舊宅祠 · Relation Honored with
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 445, passage 45

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passage 65
Value historical
Directly stated · Draft History of Qing 444, passage 7

References in the histories

Search passages

History

19 passages

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 133Volume 133 Treatises 108: Military 4, Local Militia · 1 passage

Open chapter

所有甘肅省團練事宜，即命陝甘總督樂斌督辦，並命甘涼道蕭浚蘭、刑部員外郎吳可讀、江西候補道楊升幫辦團練。 Governor-General Yue Bin of Shaanxi-Gansu was put in charge of Gansu militia, assisted by Xiao Junlan of the Gansu-Liangzhou Circuit, Wu Kedu of the Ministry of Justice, and Yang Sheng, an expectant circuit intendant from Jiangxi.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 441Volume 441 Biographies 228: Pan Zuyin, Li Wentian, Sun Yijing, Xia Tongshan, Zhang Jiaxiang, Zhang Yinglin, Zhang Renfu, Zhang Hengjia · 1 passage

Open chapter

五年，主事吳可讀以死請為穆宗立嗣，祖廕被命集議，與徐桐等請申不建儲，彝訓疏存毓慶宮。 In the fifth year the clerk Wu Kedu offered his life in a petition to name an heir for Emperor Muzong; Zuyin was ordered to convene deliberation and, with Xu Tong and others, urged adherence to the rule against establishing an heir and preservation of the precedents of the Yuyu Palace.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 444Volume 444 Biographies 231: Huang Tifang, Zong Shibaoting, Zong Shishengyu, Zhang Peilun, Deng Chengxiu, Xu Zhixiang · 8 passages

Open chapter

光緒五年三月，惠陵禮成，主事吳可讀為定大統以屍諫。 In the third month of Guangxu 5, after the rites at Emperor Tongzhi's Huiling mausoleum were completed, Principal Clerk Wu Kedu committed suicide in memorial protest to settle the question of imperial succession.

吳可讀所奏，前旨即是此意。」 Wu Kedu's memorial expressed precisely what the earlier edict had meant."

至是，穆宗奉安惠陵，主事吳可讀堅請為其立後，以屍諫，下廷臣議。 Now, when Emperor Tongzhi was interred at Huiling, Principal Clerk Wu Kedu insisted that an heir be named for him and remonstrated by suicide; the court ordered a ministerial debate.

吳可讀不能喻，故死爭於後。 Wu Kedup failed to grasp it and contended in death.

竊痛可讀殉死之忠，而又惜其遺摺之言不盡意也。 I deeply grieve Wu Kedu's loyal death, yet regret that his final memorial did not fully express his intent.

可讀未喻懿旨言外之意，而其遺摺未達之意，皇太后早鑑及之，故曰'前降旨時即是此意'也。 Wu Kedup did not grasp what lay beyond the empress dowager's words, yet she had long seen what his memorial left unsaid—hence her declaration that the earlier edict had meant exactly this.

而可讀猶以忠佞不齊為慮，誠過慮也。 Yet Wu Kedup still feared that loyal and treacherous ministers would not act as one—a needless anxiety.

然列聖垂訓，原言嗣統之常，今則事屬創局，可讀意在存穆宗之統，與無故擅請建儲者有間，文義之殊，不待言矣。 Yet the teaching of our sage forebears concerned the normal rule of heir and succession; today's case is unprecedented. Wu Kedup sought to preserve Tongzhi's line—quite unlike those who presumptuously demand a crown prince without cause. The difference in wording scarcely needs stating.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 445Volume 445 Biographies 232: Wu Kedu, Zhu Yixin, Tu Keshou, An Weijun, Wen Ti, Jiang Chunlin · 8 passages

Open chapter

吳可讀潘敦儼朱一新屠仁守吳兆泰何金壽安維峻 Wu Kedu, Pan Dunyi, Zhu Yixin, Tu Renshou, Wu Zhaotai, He Jinshou, and An Weijun

吳可讀，字柳堂，甘肅皋蘭人。 Wu Kedu, styled Liutang, was from Gaolan in Gansu.

各國使臣請覲，議禮久未決，可讀請免拜跪，時論韙之。 When foreign envoys sought an audience and court ritual remained unsettled for a long time, Kedu urged that they be excused from kneeling and prostration, and opinion at the time sided with him.

可讀繼陳其罪有可斬者十，不可緩者五，尋逮問，讞上論斬，廷臣請改監候。 Kedu went on to list ten offenses warranting execution and five that could not be delayed. Cheng was soon arrested and tried; when the verdict recommended death, court officials asked that the sentence be commuted to imprisonment awaiting execution.

可讀憤甚，复疏爭：「請斬成祿以謝甘民，再斬臣以謝成祿。」 Furious, Kedu memorialized again: "I beg that Cheng Lu be executed to appease the people of Gansu, and that I be executed afterward to appease Cheng Lu."

逾年，穆宗崩，德宗纘業，起吏部主事。 A year later, after Emperor Muzong died and Emperor Dezong took the throne, Kedu was recalled as a secretary in the Ministry of Personnel.

可讀臨歿遺書與其子之桓，謂出薊州一步即非死所。 On the verge of death Kedu left a letter to his son Zhihuan, saying that one step beyond Jizhou would not be the place to die.

可讀屍諫，幸鑑孤忠。 Kedu died remonstrating with his corpse; may his solitary loyalty be seen.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 465Volume 465 Biographies 252: Xu Tong With: Yu Shi, Yu Shi Son: Cheng Yu, Gang Yi, Zhao Shuqiao, Qi Xiu, Ying Nian, Yu Lu With: Ting Yong, Yu Xian With: Li Tingxiao · 1 passage

Open chapter

主事吳可讀請豫定大統，以屍諫，桐與翁同龢等謂其未悉本朝家法：「當申明列聖不建儲彝訓，俾知他日紹膺大寶之元良，即為承繼穆宗之聖子。 When Principal Clerk Wu Kedu petitioned to settle the succession in advance and died remonstrating, Xu Tong and Weng Tonghe argued he misunderstood dynastic law: "The ancestral rule against naming an heir in advance should be reaffirmed, so all would know the heir who one day receives the throne is the son who succeeds Emperor Muzong.