A Chinese Biographical Dictionary/Fêng Pao

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571 Fêng Pao 馮保. Died A.D.? 1582. A native of Shên-chou in Chihli, and the eunuch ally of Chang Chü-chêng whom he helped to supplant Kao Kung. On the death of the Emperor Mu Tsung in A.D. 1572, Fêng forged a Decree associating himself with the Regents. He established his power over the Emperor Shên Tsung by reporting his boyish freaks to the stern old Dowager, who never failed to rate her sovereign. By the end of 1580 Fêng had driven out all his rivals, and ruled the Emperor, who spoke of him as his "colleague," with a rod of iron. He and Chang together defied all attempts to displace them; but the death of the Dowager and of Chang, coupled with the Emperor's growing experience of government, weakened Fêng's position, and in 1582, by the machinations of two rival eunuchs, he was degraded to be Groom of the Imperial Stud at Nanking, where he died.