Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/188

Rh of Inscriptions, but in 1694 asked leave to retire to his native place. Ten years later he was again summoned to the capital for active service, rising in 1710 to a vice-presidency in the Board of Civil Office and chancellorship of the Hanlin Academy, but owing to ill health he retired in the following year. In 1713 he went to Peking to congratulate Emperor Shêng-tsu on his sixtieth birthday. Himself well advanced in years, he was invited by imperial favor to the "feast for the aged" (老人宴). He died at the age of eighty (sui). His best known literary achievement is a commentary on the poetical works of the T'ang poet, Tu Fu 杜甫 (712–770), entitled 杜詩詳注 Tu-shih hsiang-chu, in 25 chüan, with a supplement in 2 chüan. It was presented to the emperor in 1693 and was first printed in that year. This work, copied into the Imperial Manuscript Library (see under ), is regarded as a standard work for the study of Tu Fu's poems.

[3/62/5a; Yin-hsien chih (1877) 42/8a; Ssǔ-k'u (see under ) 149/6a.]

2em

 CHU Ch'ang-lo 朱常洛, Aug. 28, 1582–1620, Sept. 26, Ming emperor, reigned in 1620 for only one month under the reign-title, T'ai-ch'ang 泰昌. He was the son of Emperor Shên-tsung (神宗, personal name, Chu I-chün 朱翊鈞, 1563–1620, reign title, Wan-li), and one of the ladies-in-waiting (née Wang 王, d. 1613) in the palace of the Empress (nêe Li 李, d. 1614). Although recognized by the Empress, he was reluctantly accepted by his father whose affections had in the meantime turned to a secondary consort of the clan-name Chêng 鄭 (d. 1630). In 1586 the latter bore a son, named Chu Ch'ang-hsün (see under ), who later became the Emperors choice as heir-apparent. For fifteen years there was a constant and bitter struggle between Emperor Shên-tsung and his ministers, the latter pressing for definite assurance regarding the succession, the former procrastinating in the hope of finding a way to appoint Chu Chang-hsün, the child of his favorite, as heir-apparent. Finally in 1601 Emperor Shên-tsung bestowed on the nineteen-year-old Chu Ch'ang-lo the title of crown prince, and accorded princely rank and domains to Chu Ch'ang-lo's four half-brothers—Chu Ch'ang-hsün, Chu Ch'ang-hao 朱常浩 (d. 1644), Chu Ch'ang-jun and Chu Ch'ang-ying 朱常潤, and Chu Ch'ang-ying (see under ). Uneasiness as to the succession continued, however, even finding expression in a book, entitled 續憂危竑議 Hsü yu-wei hung-i, printed anonymously in 1603, which declared that plans were complete for the appointment of a new heir. Court intrigue continued unabated, the emperors favorite, Chêng, being accused of working spells to harm the crown prince. In 1615 there occurred the first of the so-called "three cases" (三案 san an) which fed the flames of factional dispute for the next fifteen years. An unidentified man armed with a club invaded the palace of the heir-apparent from which the affair derived the name of the "club case" (梃擊案 t'ing-chi an, see under ). Although the trial was obscured by political rivalry and the intruder was pronounced insane, it was generally believed that an attempt had been made on the life of the crown prince by supporters of the consort, Chêng. Upon the death of the Empress (née Wang 王) in 1619 the lady Chêng became the chief consort of Emperor Shên-tsung, and when he died on August 18, 1620, he left instructions that she should be raised to the rank of Empress Dowager. These orders, if carried out, would have given her a commanding position over the new emperor, but the move was frustrated by some of the ministers in power. Chu Ch'ang-lo ascended the throne on August 28, 1620, reorganized the government, and announced that the next year would be known as the first year of T'ai-ch'ang. Chief in his affections was a secondary consort, known as the "Western Li" 西李, who had been extending her influence over Chu Ch'ang-lo's two children, and. Their mothers—the one a secondary consort (nêe Wang 王, d. 1619), the other a palace lady (nêe Liu 劉, d. 1614)—had died.

On September 6, 1620, Chu Ch'ang-lo fell ill. His illness appeared to be aggravated by medicine given him a few days later by one of the eunuchs of the consort Chêng. The consort Li installed herself in the main palace on the plea of being near the sick emperor, while the chief minister, Fang Tsung-chê 方從哲, introduced an official of the Court of State Ceremonials, Li K'o-shao 李可灼, who claimed to have a wonder-working pill. The medicine he gave, however, seemed only to make the emperor worse, and he died on September 26, 1620. The giving of the medicine which probably caused the death of the emperor came to be 176