Accused of making a corrupt decision while in the Board of War and of showing anger when questioned about it, he was reproved by the Emperor and degraded to the superintendency of Government Granaries at the capital with rank of junior vice-president of the Board of Revenue. In 1655 he was again made Grand Secretary and concurrently president of the Board of Civil office. During a drought in 1657 he recommended the purging of jails and the release of men wrongfully imprisoned. On the occasion of an earthquake, he memorialized the Emperor to reform himself. When a nephew was involved in an examination scandal, in 1658, Wang Yung-chi was again degraded, and made sub-director of the Court of Sacrificial Worship. He was soon transferred to the senior vice-presidency of the Censorate, but died in the following year. The titles of Junior Guardian and Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and president of the Board of Civil Office, and the name Wên-t'ung 文通 were posthumously conferred upon him.
A son of Wang Yung-chi, named Wang Ming-tê 王明德 (T. 亮士, H. 金樵), one time a department director in the Board of Punishments, wrote a work on criminal law, entitled 讀律佩觿 Tu-lü p'ei-hsi, 5 chüan, printed 1674–76.
[1/244/8a; 2/79/11b; 4/7/8b, containing a proposal by Wang Yung-chi for the construction of locks; Kao-yu chou-chih (1845) 10 shang 26b.]
WASAN 瓦三, d. 1685, member of the Imperial Family and a grandson of Amin [q. v.], first served under Emperor Shêng-tsu with the rank of Fu-kuo chiang-chün 輔國將軍, or noble of the tenth rank. He accompanied Yolo (q. v., Ch'ing-shih kao erroneously says Yoto] in the pacification of Hunan (1676–1680). At the death of his father, Gurmahûn 固爾瑪琿, in 1681, he succeeded to the rank of a prince of the sixth degree. In the following year he became junior director of the Imperial Clan Court. Accused retrospectively of having failed in duty at the siege of Changsha, he lost his post, but later was put in command of the Manchu division of the Bordered Blue Banner. At the time of the Russian Occupation of Yaksa 雅克薩, he was sent to assist Sabsu [q. v.] in Heilungkiang, and for a short time was put in command of that area. He died there in 1685 and was accorded the posthumous name, Hsiang-min 襄敏.
[1/221/6b; 34/133/4b.]
WEI Chi-jui 魏際瑞 (T. 善伯, H. 東房, 伯子), July 23, 1620–1677, Nov. 8, was the eldest of the "Three Wei Brothers" (San Wei) of Ning-tu Kiangsi, the other two being Wei Hsi and Wei Li [qq. v.]. His original name was Wei Hsiang 魏祥, but when he took his hsiu-ts'ai degree in 1636 he changed it to Wei Chi-jui. When the Manchus advanced to South China in 1645 his younger brothers retreated to the mountains to avoid compulsory service as officials in the new regime. But being the eldest son in the family, he decided to continue his career as a licentiate under the Manchus in order to "preserve the family tombs and ancestral halls} from spoliation. He served as secretary to Fan Ch'êng-mo [q. v.] when the latter was governor of Chekiang during the years 1668–72. When Han Ta-jén (see under Labu), a general under Wu San-kuei [q. v.], overran Kiangsi province in 1677, a Manchu officer in high command of government forces sent Wei Chi-jui to negotiate the terms of surrender. But as government troops under other generals continued, during the negotiations, to attack Han, the latter became suspicious and caused Wei to be murdered. The tragedy so shocked his only son, Wei Shih-chieh 魏世傑 (T. 興士, H. 梓室, 1645–1677), that he soon died of grief.
Wei Chi-jui was a prolific writer; it is reported that before he reached the age of thirty (sui) his verse and prose comprised more than eighty manuscript volumes (册), most of which disappeared. Nevertheless, a collection of his writings, entitled 魏伯子文集 Wei Po-tzŭ wên-chi, 10 chüan, was brought together by his two younger brothers. The writings of his son, Wei Shih-chieh, entitled 梓室文稿 Tzŭ-shih wên-kao, 6 chüan, were appended to it, both appearing in the San Wei chi (see under Wei Hsi).
[Consult bibliography under Wei Hsi; Wei Shu-tzŭ wên-chi.]
WEI Chung-hsien 魏忠賢, 1568–1627, one of the most powerful eunuchs in Chinese history, was a native of Su-ning, in present Hopei. As a youth he got into difficulties over gambling debts, to extricate himself from which he made himself
846
