Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Fu-lung-an
FU-lung-an 福隆安 (T. 珊林), 1743 (1746?)–1784, Apr. 13, official, was a member of the Fuca clan and of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner. He was the second son of Fu-hêng [q. v.], the first Duke Chung-yung (忠勇公), and a brother-in-law of Emperor Kao-tsung. In 1758 Fu-lung-an was presented at court and was made a Guard of the Ante-chamber. In the same year announcement was made of his engagement to the emperor's fourth daughter, Princess Ho-chia 和嘉公主 (1745–1767), the marriage taking place in 1760. Made president of the Board of War in April 1768, he was transferred three months later to the Board of Works. In the same year he was appointed a Grand Councilor, and in 1770 inherited his father's rank of Duke Chung-yung. In 1776 he was transferred to be president of the Board of War, a post he held until his death eight years later. During his twenty-six years of public life he was entrusted with many concurrent posts, some of which he held more than twenty years. He became adjutant-general, minister of the Imperial Household, general commandant of the Gendarmerie, chamberlain of the Imperial Bodyguard, lieutenant-general of various Banners, superintendent of several imperial gardens, captain of the company of Russians (see under Maci), director-general for the compilation of the Ssŭ-k'u chüan-shu (see under Chi Yün), etc., etc. He was also entrusted for many years with superintending the Court of Colonial Affairs. In 1776, after the suppression of the Chin-ch'uan rebellion (see under A-kuei), his portrait was hung in the Tzŭ-kuang ko (see under Chao-hui) in consideration of his part in directing the war, and for recommendations he submitted when he went on a mission to Szechwan in 1772. When he died, after an illness of several years, he was canonized as Ch'in-k'o 勤恪.
After his death his dukedom was inherited by his son, Fêng-shên-chi-lun 豐紳濟倫 (1763?1807), whose mother was the princess. Fêng-shên-chi-lun held many posts between the years 1780 and 1803 and once served as president of the Board of War (1801–03). In 1803 it was found that the temple and tomb of Emperor Kao-tsung, which were built under the direction of Fu-hêng and Fu-lung-an, needed extensive repairs owing to the inferior quality of the materials used. For this neglect on the part of his grandfather and his father, Fêng-shên-chi-lun was degraded to an Imperial Bodyguard. In 1804 he was appointed brigade-general, stationed at Ma-lan-yü (see under Hsiao Yung-tsao) to guard the Imperial Tombs near-by, but a year later when trees were stolen from the burial ground, he was again lowered to an Imperial Bodyguard. In 1806, soon after being made acting brigade-general at Ma-lan-yü, he was charged with neglect in the care of certain buildings and was for the third time lowered to an Imperial Bodyguard. In a tournament held in that same year he was reported as being unable to draw the bow to the full. As a warning to his fellow-Manchus against racial degeneracy, he was sent to Mukden to practice archery. Later, also in 1806, he was made vice-president of the Board of War in Mukden, but died the following year. Though a grandson of Emperor Kao-tsung, Fêng-shên-chi-lun was a typical Manchu nobleman of the period who, though degenerate and incompetent, held important posts. Not only was his military training neglected but his literary qualifications were also mediocre. When, for example, he was appointed superintendent of the Printing Press and Bookbindery in 1802 the appointment had to be annulled owing to his inadequate command of written Chinese.
The residence of Fu-lung-an, known as Ssŭ Kung-chu fu 四公主府, “Palace of the Fourth Princess", was situated at Ma-shên-miao 馬神廟, north of the Imperial Palace in Peking. In July 1898 when the Peking National University was established, Fu-lung-an's residence was chosen as the site, and has since been a part of the campus of the university. The tomb of Fu-lung-an, also known by his wife's name as Kung-chu-fên 公主墳, is situated near the so-called Second Dam, or Êr-cha 二閘, on the Grand Canal about a mile east of Peking. In front of his tomb stands a monument with an epitaph written by imperial order to his memory. This epitaph gives his age as forty-two (sui, i.e., born in 1743), whereas the age given in the 清皇室四譜 Ch'ing Huang-shih ssŭ-p'u (1923) is thirty-nine (sui).
[1/307/7b; 2/25/12b; 3/93/31a; 7/18/7a; 文獻叢編 Wên-hsien ts'ung-pien, no. 20; Shih-liao hsün-k'an (see under Lin Tsê-hsü), no. 14 (清乾隆修建各處殿宇案); Ch'ing Huang-shih ssŭ-p'u, 4/17a; 京報副刊 Ching-pao fu-k'an, No. 13 (December, 1925), p. 26–27.]