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Lu Runxiang
Suzhou top graduate of 1874 who opened cotton and silk mills in his home city and became a grand secretary and tutor to the boy emperor Puyi
In a council hall, a long table holds an unrolled map scroll, a brass-cornered chest and a brush pot, with tall-backed chairs around it and a bronze lamp at the left; a figure stands with their back turned on the balcony at the right, with palace roofs beyond.
Also known as Zi Fengshi · Shi Wenduan
- Roles
- Chief Ministers
Lu Runxiang, courtesy name Fengshi, styled Yunsa, came from Yuanhe, now part of Suzhou, and took first place in the palace examination of 1874. In 1892 he became chancellor of the Imperial Academy, and after the war with Japan he set up the Sulun cotton mill and the Sujing silk filature in Suzhou. He was named minister of works in 1905 and minister of personnel two years later, became a grand secretary in 1909, moving to the Dongge Hall the next year, and was appointed head of the advisory council. In 1911 he began teaching the young emperor Puyi in the Yuqing Palace and stayed on at court after the abdication. He died in Beijing in 1915, and the court of the former emperor gave him the posthumous name Wenduan.
Life and times
Dates 1841 CE–1915 CE