Hongzhen of Nuzhen
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| Given name: | Dewei (德偉) |
| Other names: | See below. |
| Rank: | 14th Duke of Nuzhen |
| Term of Office: | December 21, 2026 - Present |
| Date of Birth: | 29 April 1986 |
| Place of Birth: | Kunlun, China |
| Note: Dewei is Hongzheng's birth name. It is customary to refer to Dukes of Nuzhen by their reign names, so his name is given as "Hongzheng" in all official documents. | |
His Excellency, The Most Noble Duke Hongzheng, Prince of Tibet, M.D., Ph.D., is the 14th and current Duke of Nuzhen, and also acts as the Supreme Lord Chancellor and President pro tempore of the Chancellery of Nuzhen. He was chosen from among two sons and one nephew as the successor to his father, Guangfeng, and confirmed by the Chancellery of Nuzhen on December 21st, 2026. Many of Nuzhen's commentators have noted that Hongzheng's rule has been marked by a rather rapid change towards favoring the National-Conservative Party of which Hongzheng himself was once a member, as well as an overall more conservative political atmosphere in the Chancellery and High Courts. While mainstream media pundits have speculated that this a result of Hongzheng's popularity in the political arena, a few far-left leaning commentators, who advocate for a purely ceremonial rule for Nuzhen's royalty, have derided this as Hongzheng's attempt to meddle with national politics by giving personal favor to the political factions that support him. However, despite this, Hongzheng's approval ratings have remained high during since his coronation, and many in Nuzhen consider him to be among Nuzhen's greatest leaders.
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Alternate Names
In line with the Chinese tradition, Duke Hongzheng has many names which can sometimes be confusing to the Western reader. His reign name is Hongzheng (洪正), and his courtesy names are Renyei (仁燁), Ziming (子明) and Yòuguo (祐國). Among Russian speakers in Nuzhen, his full, formal name is sometimes cited as as Давид Богдан Владимирович Щаменцкий Линов [David Bogdan Vladimirovich Szamensky Linov]. A less common way sometimes used by English speakers to refer to Hongzheng is 'Lord Chancellor David of Nuzhen', substituting the English name 'David' from the Russian.
Early Life and Education
Lin Hongzheng was born Crown Prince Dewei on April 29, 1986, the first of three sons of the then Duke of Nuzhen, Lin Guangfeng, while the Ducal Family was visiting a temple near Mt. Kunlun. As an infant, Hongzheng showed a great aptitude for absorbing knowledge, and by the age of 4, was able to recite 291 of the 300 of the Tang Poems as well as the Trimetric Classic (三字經) from memory. Lin's formal education began at the age of 5, under the guidance of several appointed tutors. He was tutored in Mathematics, Literature, Philosophy, English and the sciences in this manner until the age of 9, when he was enrolled in the Zhu Xi Memorial Academy. At the age of 14, he was sent to Eton College in England to acquire a secondary school education.
When he was 18, Hongzheng moved to the United States in order to attend Vanderbilt University, where he studied medicine, physics, and economics. In 2008, he graduated from Vanderbilt with a major degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Physics, as well as minor degrees in political science and economics. Upon graduation, he moved to Princeton University for graduate school. However, he was soon forced to leave the United States (in 2010) after he was found to be in violation of American laws against "incitement to hatred" and "defaming the dead". Upon his expulsion from the United States upon these grounds, he moved again, this time to Stuttgart, Germany (coincidentally, where his father had completed his undergraduate studies), where he succeeded in obtaining the degree of Medicinæ Doctor and a Ph.D. in Physics.
In addition, Hongzheng is known to be an avid musician, being able to perform erhu, violin, piano, and tuba. He has also been known to have composed several pieces of music, including two sonatas for violin and piano. He is fluent in several languages, including Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, English, Spanish. He also has a basic understanding of Latin, Russian and German.
Early Career
Upon his graduation from Stuttgart University, he returned to Nuzhen, where he spent two years as a monk at a Buddhist monastery. After laying down his monastic robes, he was offered a post at the University of Harbin as a professor of Biomedical sciences. He declined this position, preferring to take the title of 塾師 (shushi) to teach Physics and Confucianism at a small private high school in the countryside while independently conducting research. In 2013, at the urging of his brother who had also studied medicine, he left his "schoolteacher" post, and taught at the University of Harbin.
In 2018, his father urged him to begin his political career, saying that a role public life would give him credentials for his succession to the Ducal throne. He soon took the position of President of the Chancellery, which he held for 9 years, and later held the post of Minister of the Finance, which he held for 6. In 2024, his father was killed along with 13 other public officials in Beijing, thus prompting the 11-year war. Upon hearing this news, Hongzheng was so enraged that he postponed his coronation, leaving his elder half-Manchu cousin, Ebilun, as a regent to go to war on behalf of the "Greater Chinese Volk," and also to avenge his father's death He fought for seven months with the Unified Chinese Army against the Americans in Tibet and Taiwan, but was forced to return to Nuzhen after suffering a gunshot wound.
Career as Duke
After recovering from a gunshot wound, Hongzheng was crowned Duke of Nuzhen on the Winter Solstice celebration of 2026 (according to the Gregorian calendar). Due to the fact that a war was being fought, he found himself immediately acting as Vice-Chairman of the Defense Bureau. In this position, he persuaded the government of Nuzhen to create and subsidize seven companies which manufactured wartime technology and equipment. These seven companies later became the Taihang Conglomerate in the post-war period, and are responsible for at least 60% of Nuzhen's total industrial output in the automotive, chemical, and heavy machinery industries.
Following the 11-year war, he continued in his father's tradition of urging the people of Nuzhen to re-discover their national heritage, and made funds available for a Confucian Academy in Harbin. He is also known as a patron of the Arts in Nuzhen. He has also become increasingly popular in recent years due to his ability to initiate compromises in the Chancellery. This has allowed him to cultivate friendships with respected public figures, military commanders, and even Gyaltsen Rinpoche, the current Dalai Lama. In addition he is married to Tashi Dolma Tsering, the grand niece of the Dalai Lama; upon his marriage, the Dalai Lama conferred the honorific title of Prince of Tibet upon him.
Personal Life and non-political work
Duke Hongzheng has often cited the Qing emperor-scholar Kangxi as an inspiration for the personal life of a hereditary ruler. Having being trained as a physician as well as a biomedical researcher, he has devoted much time to these pursuits when he is not tending to the day-to-day affairs of state. He also sits on the Advisory Board of the Harbin Institute of Science and Technology. Hongzheng's other academic interests include linguistics, anthropology, and literature. He is also a partial owner of several large corporations in Nuzhen.
Hongzheng is also an accomplished performer on several instruments. In 2012, he competed for the Henryk Wieniawski Prize, but did not win any medals. Later, he competed in the international "George Enescu" Violin competition in 2031, winning a bronze medal for his performance of a Brahms Violin Concerto.
Hongzheng also considers himself a practicing Pure-Land Buddhist. To date, he has donated over 兩160 million toward the restoration of old temples in Nuzhen, and 兩100 million for a new temple and monastery outside of Harbin. It should be noted that the funds for these donations came from Hongzhen's personal assets.
Additional Titles
- Prince-Commander of Xuantu and Lelang
- Chairman-at-Arms of the National Defense Committee
- Guardian of the Order of Yinxu
- Grandmaster of the Order of Disciples of Ran Min
- Grand Necklace of the House of Pahlavi
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix
- Knight Grand Cordon of the Exalted Order of the White Elephant
- "Al-Marja Al-Sini" (The Venerable Scholar of the East)
Controversies
Recently, Hongzheng was also accorded the Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, but is said to have controversially refused this decoration. Critics have claimed this is because he bears anti-Japanese sentiments.
Because the identity of one of Hongzheng's maternal grandmother's ancestors is unknown, it is suspected that Hongzheng himself may have some European -- possibly Dutch -- ancestry. It is speculated that the Dutch ancestor may have been a descendant of Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire. Nevertheless, the Royal Family's media representatives have vigorously denied this, as has Hongzheng himself.
Publications
Hongzheng has written several books and many of essays and shorter works on topics ranging from religion to politics, to science. The most famous of these are the Sutra of Threefold Purity, Sutra of Origins and Sutra of Thirty-Six Parables which together contain nearly 700,000 Chinese characters.
Major Works
- Sutra of Threefold Purity
- Sutra of Origins
- Sutra of Thirty-Six Parables
- Memoirs of a Wanderer
- Nationalism as a Science
- Biodynamic Ethnology, 1st Edition (co-authored with J. Hans Maartenson)
Minor Works
- Examining Liberation Theology: An Oriental Perspective on the Use and Misuse of Religion in Society
- On a Few Historical Aspects of the Tibet Question
- Agricultural applications for azo-derivatives of gossypol
- Short Commentary on the State Programme of Cultural Hygiene
- The Emerging Fascistoid Nature of Western Liberalism
- Damping actions of the neuromuscular system with inertial loads: flexor pollicis longus muscle in man
