He Changling


He Changling , courtesy name Ougen, was a Chinese scholar and official of the Qing dynasty from Changsha, Hunan. In 1808, he obtained the highest degree in the imperial examination and the following year he entered the prestigious Hanlin Academy in Beijing.
Drawing on his extensive experience in the Qing government, he became a prominent spokesman of the statecraft school, which was concerned with the practical application of Confucian scholarship. One of He Changling's students was Zuo Zongtang.

Huangchao Jingshi Wenbian

Together with Wei Yuan, He Changling edited an influential anthology on statecraft, known as the "Collected essays about statecraft of the Qing", originally titled Huángcháo Jīngshì Wénbiān. 120 scrolls long, the collection includes more than 2000 documents about practical issues of governance, based on the editors' experience from the beginning of the Qing dynasty until the Daoguang era in the mid-Qing dynasty. A similar book existed for the Ming dynasty, called the Ming Jingshi Wenbian.
The Wenbian contained eight chapters and 56 subchapters:
  1. Education
  2. Human resources
  3. Officialdom
  4. Ministry of Revenue
  5. Ministry of Rites
  6. Ministry of War
  7. Ministry of Justice
  8. Ministry of Works