Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Ying-ho
YING-ho 英和 (T. 樹琴, H. 煦齋, 脀叟), May 27, 1771–1839, July 18, official and writer, was a Manchu of the Socolo 索綽絡 clan. Certain of his ancestors were probably taken captive by Nurhaci or Abahai [qq. v.], and so went into the service of the Ch'ing Imperial Household as slaves or bondservants. His great-grandfather, Dutu 都圖, served as a department director in the Imperial Household under Emperor Shêng-tsu and was given the Chinese surname, Shih 石. His father, Tê-pao 德保 (T. 仲容, 潤亭, H. 定圃, 1715–1755), became a chin-shih in 173. In that year a cousin of his father, named Kuan-pao 觀保 (T. 伯容, H. 補亭, d. 1776), obtained the same degree. The two cousins were selected bachelors of the Hanlin Academy—Kuan-pao serving as president of the Board of Ceremonies (1769) and of the Censorate (1769–74); and Tê-pao as governor of Kwangtung (1770–76) and of Fukien (1776–78), and as president of the Board of Ceremonies (1778–89).
Ying-ho became a chin-shih in 1793, entered the Hanlin Academy, and two years later became a compiler. In 1799, after the corrupt minister, Ho-shên [q. v.], had been superseded, Emperor Jên-tsung gave high posts to some officials who had been courageous enough to oppose that once powerful mandarin. Ying-ho records that he shared in the imperial favor because, when he was young, his father had declined to affiance him to Ho-shên's daughter. Thus, in 1799, Ying-ho became a sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat and a year later was made a vice president of the Board of Ceremonies. In 1801 he was given the concurrent post of a minister of the Imperial Household-an office once filled by his father. In the same year he was transferred to the Board of Revenue, and in 1804 was made concurrently a Grand Councilor. In 1805 he ventured to expose a colleague, Liu Ch'üan-chih 劉權之 (T. 德輿, H. 雲房, 1739–1818), for having appointed a favorite to office; but because he informed the Emperor privately and had failed to make his accusation public, he incurred the imperial rebuke. Though the accused official was degraded, Ying-ho himself was also lowered in rank. Nevertheless, later in the same year (1805), he was again made a sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat. In 1806 he was promoted to be a vice-president of the Board of Works and was once more made a minister of the Imperial Household. In 1810 he was reinstated in the Board of Revenue. The following year he accompanied the Emperor on a journey to Mt. Wu-t'ai in Shansi. For failure to detect in 1812 an error in the Kao-tsung Ch'un Huang-ti shêng-hsün (see under Hung-li), he was again degraded; but scarcely a year elapsed before he was made a vice-president of the Board of Ceremonies.
During most of his years after 1802 Ying-ho served as one of the Emperor's private secretaries in the Imperial Study. It was in this capacity that he accompanied Emperor Jên-tsung on a hunting trip to Jehol in the summer of 1813. The Emperor was on his way back from Jehol when it was reported that the Palaces in Peking were being stormed by the T'ien-li chiao rebels (see under Na-yen-ch'êng). The Emperor at once dispatched Ying-ho to the capital to assume acting command of the Gendarmerie. By swift and efficient action Ying-ho was able to take into custody many leading offenders. His activities during this episode, and in the subsequent campaign in Honan, are recounted in the official publication, 平定教匪紀略 P'ing-ting chiao-fei chi-lüeh, 42 + 1 chüan, printed in 1818. It seems that his services at this juncture were highly appreciated, for in 1813 he was made president of the Board of Works and filled several concurrent posts. The following year he was given the lucrative post of superintendent of the Customs and Octroi of Peking and was promoted to be president of the Board of Civil Office.
In 1820, on his fiftieth birthday, Ying-ho was honored with unusual gifts. In that year the new Emperor, Hsüan-tsung, ascended the throne and Ying-ho was transferred to be president of the Board of Revenue. Two years later he was appointed concurrently an Associate Grand Secretary and chancellor of the Hanlin Academy. In 1824 he expressed himself in favor of transporting grain from South China by the sea rather than the canal route (see under T'ao Chu), and in 1826 advised the Emperor to undertake an extensive campaign in Turkestan (see under Ch'ang-ling). Late in 1826, however, he incurred the Emperor's displeasure by requesting permission to open silver mines in the vicinity of Peking. For this request he was degraded to be president of the Court of Colonial Affairs. He was also ordered out of the Imperial Study and the Imperial Household. In 1827 a tenant of one of his houses in Tungchow accused him of unjustly raising the rent. In consequence of this charge he was deprived of all his high offices, including that of Associate Grand Secretary, and was degraded to be military governor of Jehol. In 1828, when he was ordered to go to Ninghsia, he pleaded illness and was allowed to go back to Peking.
After two months in Peking, a serious charge was lodged against him. From 1821 to 1827 he had been assigned the task of constructing the tomb of the reigning Emperor, at Pao-hua yü 寶華峪 in the Eastern Mausoleum, on a site that had been selected by Grand Secretary Tai Chün-yüan 戴均元 (T. 可亭, H. 恆泰, 修原, 1746–1840, chin-shih of 1775). In his frugality, however, the Emperor had not allowed an adequate sum for construction. In 1827 the tomb was completed, and Ying-ho, Tai Chün-yüan and others were rewarded. After a lapse of only a year the walls were reported to be damp and the stone floor covered with a thin sheet of water. Angered by this report, the Emperor ordered the arrest of all concerned, as well as a thorough investigation. Ying-ho, Tai, and several other officials were deprived of their ranks and had their property confiscated. None of these officials were found to have misappropriated funds—their mistake was one of faulty engineering. But because he had the final decision in these matters, Ying-ho was punished with banishment to Heilungkiang; while his sons, K'uei-chao 奎照 (T. 伯沖, H. 玉庭, chin-shih of 1814) and K'uei-yüeh 奎耀 (T. 仲華, H. 芝圃, chin-shih of 1811), were dismissed from the posts they held, and sent to Heilungkiang to keep their father company. Several other officials were banished to Turkestan. Owing to his advanced age of eighty-three (sui), Tai was pardoned and was allowed to return to his home in Ta-yü, Kiangsi. The Emperor abandoned the Eastern Mausoleum as a site for his tomb and built a less pretentious one at the Western Mausoleum. The new tomb was completed in 1835, and he was buried there.
While in exile, Ying-ho studied local conditions at Tsitsihar, capital of Heilungkiang, and wrote two works about the region: one, entitled 卜魁紀略 Pu-k'uei chi-lüeh, is a collection of miscellaneous notes; the other, entitled Pu-k'uei ch'êng fu (城賦), is an essay in rhythmic prose. After more than two years in exile he was pardoned (1831) and given permission to return to Peking where he lived in retirement for eight years more. In 1835 he had the satisfaction of seeing his grandson, Hsi-chih 錫祉 (T. 孟繁, H. 子受), become a chin-shih and be selected a bachelor in the Hanlin Academy. Six members of his family—in four generations—thus became Hanlin: his father, himself, his uncle, his two sons, and a grandson, making a record rarely surpassed in the history of the Ch'ing dynasty. In 1836 he bought a garden in the Western Hills where he spent much of his remaining years. He died in 1839 and was given posthumously the rank of a third grade official.
In his last years Ying-ho edited his own writings under eight titles, known collectively as the 恩福堂全集 Ên-fu-t'ang ch'üan-chi. The collection contains, among others, the following: Pu-k'uei chi, his writings at Tsitsihar; Ên-fu-t'ang chih-i, his essays written in the examination hall style, of which a manuscript copy is in the Library of Congress; Ên-fu-t'ang pi-chi (筆記), 2 chüan, printed in 1837, being miscellaneous notes about his family, his friends, and himself; Ên-fu-t'ang nien-p'u (年譜), an autobiography; and Ên-fu-t'ang shih-ch'ao (詩鈔), 12 + 2 chüan, his collected poems, which probably exist only in manuscript. His wife (nêe Sakda 薩克達, T. 介文 H. 觀生閣主), achieved some skill as a writer of verse and as a painter.
In the course of his official career Ying-ho directed two provincial examinations (Shun-t'ien 1800, Kiangnan 1801) and two metropolitan examinations (1805, 1809). Many famous scholars and officials styled themselves his mên-shêng 門生, or disciples, because they had entered officialdom by examinations which he had conducted. Among them may be mentioned Mu-chang-a, Hsü Sung, and Chiao Hsün [qq. v.]. With most of his contemporaries he was on friendly terms except, perhaps, with Ts'ao Chên-yung [q. v.] whose ill-will he incurred in 1814 when he vetoed a proposal to raise funds by the sale of official ranks—a measure which it seems Ts'ao favored. It is believed by some that Ying-ho's recurrent rise and fall may have been in part due to Ts'ao's opposition. Doubtless another factor was the notorious corruption which obtained among the functionaries in the Imperial Household. They resented the efforts of a minister to economize or to interfere with their perquisites, and had their own ways to effect his downfall. Other ministers of the Imperial Household who suffered similarly were: Sung-yün [q. v.], Ching-chêng (see under Shêng-yü), Hsi-ên 禧恩 (T. 仲蕃, posthumous name 文莊, 1784–1852), and I-chi 奕紀 (d. 1863). Hsi-ên, a son of Ch'un-ying (see under Dorgon), was intermittently for nearly thirty years (1815–45) a minister of the Household and was several times disgraced.
I-chi was a grandson of Yung-hsing and younger brother of I-ching [qq. v.]. After serving for six years (1834–40) as a minister in the Household, he was sentenced to hard labor in Hei lungkiang. Officially he was accused of having accepted a. bribe from a. Mongolian Lama in 1839, and of having retained the gift for eight days before he made up his mind to return it, Actually his offense was that, having claimed to be a physician, and having been named to attend Empress Hsiao-ch'üan (see under I-chu) in her last illness, he had failed to prevent her death which took place on February 13, 1840. Seven days later he was put on trial on the bribery charge and on March 2 was banished.
[1/369/3a; 3/39/20a; 20/3/00; 3/82/23a; 2/41/21a; 2/50/38a; Yenching University Library Bulletin No. 19 (December 15, 1931); Tai K'o-t'ing hsiang-kuo nien-p'u (chronological biography of Tai Chün-yüan); T'ien-chih ou-wên (see bibl. under Pao-t'ing), 4/40b; Pa-ch'i wên-ching (see under Shêng-yü).]