Wang Gong Temple

Summary of Wang Renkan's life: Wang Renkan (1849-1893), styled Kezhuang. He was from Min County, Fujian (now Fuzhou City). He was the top scholar in the imperial examination in the third year of Guangxu (1877). In November of the sixteenth year of Guangxu (1890), he was appointed as the prefect of Zhenjiang, and took office in March of the following year. In July of the nineteenth year of Guangxu (1893), he was transferred to be the prefect of Suzhou. He died of illness in October while in office. By the time Wang Renkan took office, the port had been open for nearly 30 years, with consulates from Britain and the United States and a British concession. The port was prosperous, especially with a large volume of transshipment trade. However, at that time, China as a whole had fallen into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal state, with prominent social contradictions and backward infrastructure in agriculture, education, and water conservancy. As soon as Wang Renkan took office, he was hit by a series of natural and man-made disasters such as the Danyang Church case, drought, and locust plague. But he was brave enough to take responsibility, practicing real politics with sincerity, settling the church case, donating money, raising funds for water conservancy, eliminating locust plague, relieving the disaster-stricken people, promoting charity, running schools, and building Yiquan, which won the hearts of the people. After his death, the gentry and people of Zhenjiang built many temples for him to express their commemoration and mourning. After Wang Renkan's death, Han Biyuan and other gentry of Zhenjiang jointly submitted a letter to Liu Kunyi, the governor of the two Jiangs, listing Wang Renkan's various political achievements and asking the court to order the history museum to write a biography for Wang Renkan. After Liu Kunyi's investigation, he praised Wang Renkan in his memorial to Emperor Guangxu: 'Wang Renkan's heart of kindness and righteousness, no rush for success, no near fame', comparing him with five representative clean and capable officials from the Western Han and Northern Song dynasties, praising him for 'practicing real politics with sincerity', 'distinctly having the style of ancient honest officials'. In view of Wang Renkan's outstanding deeds, the Qing court ordered the National History Museum to write a biography for him.