Knowing people: Zeng Guofan's face analysis

Knowing people: Zeng Guofan's face analysis

The "Draft History of Qing Dynasty·Biography of Zeng Guofan" records: Guofan was a dignified person, with beautiful beard and triangular eyes with edges. Whenever he met guests, he would stare at them for a long time without saying a word, which would terrify those who saw him. When they left, he would note down their strengths and weaknesses, without any disappointment. From this point of view, Zeng Guofan was indeed very good at identifying and employing people. The famous Taiwanese scholar Mr. Nan Huaijin also talked about this in his book "A New Interpretation of the Analects": Some people say that Zeng Guofan, a famous minister of the Qing Dynasty, had thirteen sets of knowledge, but only one set has been passed down - "Zeng Guofan's Family Letters". In fact, there are two sets of books handed down. The other set is Zeng Guofan's book "Bingjian", which contains the knowledge of physiognomy.
Regarding Zeng Guofan's ability to identify people, the most classic story is the story of how he identified Jiang Zhongyuan.

Jiang Zhongyuan (1812-1854), whose courtesy name was Changru and pseudonym was Minqiao, was a native of Xinning, Hunan Province. He was a juren (a provincial scholar) and one year younger than Zeng Guofan. He was the first person to organize militia in the Hunan Army and one of the founders of the five major systems of the Hunan Army (the founders of the other four systems were Zeng Guofan, Hu Linyi, Zuo Zongtang, and Li Hongzhang). He had been studying in his hometown and had long been aware of the secret activities of the local congregants and was wary of them, so when Lei Zaihao led the people in an uprising, he took the local militia and suppressed them in one battle.

In 1844, Jiang Zhongyuan went to Beijing to take the imperial examination. Through the introduction of Guo Songtao, he met Zeng Guofan for the first time. Jiang Zhongyuan is a chivalrous person and doesn't like to be bound by rules and regulations. When two grown men met for the first time, they talked about trivial matters in the market, which did not seem to be what heroes do, but they talked for nearly two hours and often burst into laughter.

Jiang Zhongyuan said goodbye and Zeng Guofan watched him go away, then turned to Guo Songtao and said: There is no such talent in the capital! He then said that this person would make a name for himself throughout the world, and would also die heroically. Jiang Zhongyuan became the governor of Anhui. In 1854, he defended Luzhou (then the capital of Anhui Province) and was surrounded by the Taiping Army. He was short of food and ammunition. The other troops were forty miles away and could not help him. Zeng Guofan only sent out a mere 1,000 troops, and the city was breached before they even reached it. Jiang Zhongyuan was ill and wanted to commit suicide, but was held by his subordinates and did not die. He continued to fight all the way, suffering seven wounds, and finally threw himself into a pond and drowned.

Zeng Guofan only met Jiang Zhongyuan once and said that there was no such talent in the capital, and that Jiang Zhongyuan should die tragically and heroically. Why did he say that? What was his basis? Why was the result exactly the same as he expected? It is said that the answer lies in his book "Ice Mirror".
The term "bingjian" means using ice as a mirror to see clearly the smallest details and know a person's face and heart. It proposes various methods and ways to identify talents. It is a rare book that was handed down from generation to generation based on Zeng Guofan's summary of his own experience in identifying and employing people. It contains the key to Zeng Guofan's subtle observation and insight into people's hearts. It is valued and loved by people from all walks of life because of its strong practicality, enlightenment and reference value. Zeng Guofan's method of observing people is different from traditional customs. It emphasizes the spirit and the form, emphasizes the common and distinguishes it with the extraordinary, emphasizes etiquette and guides it with techniques. It judges people based on their appearance and selects people based on their spirit. It grasps the essence of people from the static and observes the destination of people from the dynamic.

Later, a book called “The Rise and Fall of the Chiang Dynasty” said: Zeng Guofan wrote a book called “Ice Mirror” and was a master in observing qi and physiognomy. It is said that when Chiang Wei-kuo was the president of the Armed Forces University, Bingjian was designated as an important reference book for students.
The main contents of the book "Ice Mirror" include: Spirit and bone Mirror: the secret art of identifying people by observing their spirit through bones; Hardness and Softness Mirror: the strengths and weaknesses complement each other, hardness and softness complement each other; Appearance Mirror: people can be judged by their appearance; Mood Mirror: observe the mood to identify the good and the bad; Voice Mirror: know a person by listening to his voice, etc.

There are a few mnemonics in "Bingjian": Dignity and solemnity are signs of nobility, and humility and tolerance are signs of nobility. Having the intention to help others is a sign of wealth, and having a goal to accomplish is a sign of wealth. In addition: right and wrong look at the eyes and nose, true and false look at the lips; fame and fortune look at the spirit, wealth and honor look at the spirit; ideas look at the fingers and nails, troubles look at the tendons; if you want to see the logic, it's all in the language.

From the above, we can see that Zeng Guofan's physiognomy is different from folk physiognomy in that Zeng Guofan's physiognomy focuses on a person's inner self. For example, the dignified and solemn as well as the humble and tolerant mentioned in the text all talk about a person's temperament; while the wanting to help others and having a goal to achieve one's goals mentioned in the text talk about a person's mentality. Temperament and mentality are formed in a person's long life. It can be said that if a person has a good temperament and a good mentality, his fate will definitely not be too bad. This method of judgment is obviously much more scientific than judging a person's fate by his external appearance in folk physiognomy. So when we observe a person according to Zeng Guofan's method, the first thing we look at is the person's spirit and bones.

This article, Knowing People and Judging People: Zeng Guofan's Face Analysis, was originally published on Dream Interpreter's Fortune Telling Website. Reprinting is welcome but please indicate the source! Please continue to follow us for more exciting content.