Han Qi: An Honest Official and Sage-like Figure

⛰【Attraction Guide】 📍Detailed Address: 180 meters east of the intersection of Zhongshan East Road and Zhongxin North Street, Dingzhou City, Baoding City, Hebei Province 🚗Transportation: Take Dingzhou Bus Route 1 or 2. 🕙Opening Hours: All day 💰Ticket Price: Free 🌟Highlights: Han Qi (August 5, 1008 – August 8, 1075), courtesy name Zhigui, was also known as Gangsou. He was from Anyang County, Xiangzhou (now Anyang City, Henan Province). He was a politician and lyricist of the Northern Song Dynasty. Han Qi became a Jinshi (successful candidate in the imperial examinations) in the fifth year of Tiansheng (1027). He successively held positions such as Jianzuo Jiancheng (Assistant Director of the Directorate of Buildings and Construction), Tuiguan of Kaifeng Prefecture, and Right Sijian (Right Advisory Official). He once impeached four high-ranking officials and was ordered to provide relief to famine victims in Sichuan. After the outbreak of the Song-Xia War, he served as the Pacification Commissioner of Shaanxi and defended against the Western Xia with Fan Zhongyan. He enjoyed a high reputation in the army and was known as "Han Fan." After Western Xia sued for peace, he returned to the imperial court and was promoted to Deputy Chief of the Privy Council. Together with Fan Zhongyan and Fu Bi, he presided over the "Qingli New Policies." After the failure of the New Policies, he requested to be sent out and successively served as the governor of Yangzhou, Dingzhou, and Bingzhou. In Bingzhou, he recovered the land seized by the Liao Dynasty, set up stone markers as boundaries, and strengthened defenses. After Wang Anshi's Reform, he repeatedly submitted memorials in opposition. He successively held the official titles of Yongxing Jiedushi (military governor), Shousitu (Minister of Works) concurrently with Shizhong (Attendant in the Palace), and was granted the title of Duke of Wei. In the eighth year of Xining (1075 AD), Han Qi passed away at the age of sixty-eight. Emperor Shenzong personally wrote the inscription "A Meritorious Official Who Assisted Three Emperors and Made Decisive Contributions to the Court" for his tombstone. He was posthumously awarded the title of Shangshu Ling (Minister of the Imperial Secretariat), given the posthumous title of "Zhongxian" (Loyal and Wise), and was allowed to be enshrined in the Yingzong Temple. During the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, he was posthumously honored as the Prince of Wei. By the Qing Dynasty, he was successively enshrined in the temples of past emperors and the Confucian Temple. Han Qi served as prime minister for ten years and assisted three emperors, contributing to the prosperity and development of the Northern Song Dynasty. He and Fu Bi were known as "Fu Han." Ouyang Xiu praised him as "decisive in major events, upright and unwavering, maintaining stability in the world, and a pillar of the country." His prose was "classical and dignified," and his poems were natural and elegant, without excessive embellishment. He was skilled in calligraphy, especially regular script. His family collected tens of thousands of books, and he built the "Wanjitang" (Hall of Ten Thousand Books) in Anyang. Today, his "Anyang Collection" is still in circulation.