Weng Tonghe

Who was Weng Tonghe?

Weng Tonghe was a Chinese Confucian scholar and imperial tutor during the Qing dynasty. In 1856, he was awarded the highest degree in the imperial examinations and he subsequently became a member of the prestigious Hanlin Academy.

Weng Tonghe's father was an official who had been persecuted by an influential faction at the imperial court led by Su Shun. However, in 1861, a coup took place bringing about the deposition of Su Shun and his faction, and the new government, led by Yixin, Prince Gong, Empress Dowager Ci'an and Empress Dowager Cixi placed the senior Weng to high office.

In 1865, Weng Tonghe was appointed as a tutor to the Tongzhi Emperor, joining another tutor by the name of Wo Ren, as well as a lecturer to the two dowager empresses. In 1873, Emperor Tongzhi took up the reigns of power and two years later, he was dead.

He apparently had been exonerated from the disastrous failure of the education of Emperor Tongzhi, as he was appointed as a tutor of Emperor Tongzhi's successor, the Guangxu Emperor. As tutor to the Emperor Guangxu, he emphasized the boy-emperor's filial duties to Dowager Empress Cixi, making her an object of fear and reverence for him.