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Rh for abruptly leaving Russia without Imperial consent, and the terms of the treaty he had arranged, be made the subject of serious discussion. Two days later the Russian chargé d'affaires, Koyander 凱陽德, protested. On January 17 another edict was promulgated, dismissing Ch'ung-hou from office and handing him over to the Board of Punishments. Soon other foreign representatives in Peking filed protests. On February 19 the Chinese government issued a declaration renouncing the Treaty of Livadia. On March 3 Ch'ung-hou was sentenced to imprisonment awaiting decapitation. Meanwhile Tsêng Chi-tsê, then minister to England and France, was appointed minister to Russia with a view to reopening the negotiations. On the recommendation of Tsêng, Ch'ung-hou's sentence of decapitation was commuted to imprisonment. Some Western sources declare that his life was in reality spared owing to a personal message sent by Queen Victoria to the Empress Dowager. After making a contribution of 300,000 taels to the government's military expenses (1884) Ch'ung-hou was released. In the winter of that year, on the occasion of the Empress Dowager's fiftieth birthday, he was permitted to present, along with the other officials, his personal felicitations, and was given a rank two grades lower than his original rank. Thereafter he lived in obscurity until his death.

[1/452/2b; Allen, Young 林樂知, 使法事略 Shih-Fa shih-lüeh in Hsiao-fang-hu chai yü-ti ts'ung-ch'ao (see under ); Chang Tê-i 張德彝, 四述奇 Ssŭ shu-ch'i ; Chin Liang (see under ) Chin-shih jên-wu chih, p. 149; Tung-hua lu; Ch'ou-pan i-wu shih-mo (see under ); Ch'ing-chi wai-chiao shih-liao (see under ); see also bibliography under ; Henri Cordier, Histoire des relations de la Chine avec les puissances occidentales (1902) vols. I, II; T'oung Pao, 1893, p. 384; 史學年報 Shih-hsüeh nien-pao, vol. 2, no. 5 (1938) pp. 529–30.]

2em

 CH'UNG-shih 崇實, Aug. 26, 1820–1876, Dec. 4, official, was the elder son of of the Wanyen (完顏) clan and the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner. Though reared in a family of affluence, Ch'ung-shih was exceptionally modest and studious. In 1850 he became a chin-shih and was selected a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, graduating two years later as a compiler. He was speedily promoted, and in two years (1854) became acting senior vice-president of the Board of Revenue. Such rapid advancement was perhaps due to the fact that he had contributed several times to the greatly depleted national treasury where shortage of revenue even threatened the regular payment of salaries to government officials. For six months in 1854-55 he was sent to investigate a case of corruption in Szechwan, and after returning to Peking early in 1855, was made (in June) junior vice-president of the Board of Works. But scarcely two months had elapsed before he was accused of favoring one of his servants in a legal case and was degraded—an incident that retarded his official career for three years.

In 1858 he was recalled as a sub-director of the Court of the Imperial Stud and in the following year, after being made a sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat, was appointed imperial resident in Tibet. At that time the Taiping Rebellion was raging in South China and communications between Szechwan and Tibet were interrupted by the aborigines. Early in 1860 he went to Chengtu, Szechwan, where he was detained by imperial order to investigate accusations against the governor-general of the province, Tsêng Wang-yen 曾望顏. The accusations were substantiated and Tsêng was discharged. Ch'ung-shih then served as acting governor-general of Szechwan and at once directed the defense of the provincial capital against the bandits that were swarming in Szechwan and neighboring provinces. He did much to stiffen the morale of the provincial troops who gradually subdued some of the insurgents and recovered several districts. When arrived at Chengtu as governor-general in October 1861, Ch'ung-shih was made Tartar General of the garrison at Chengtu, a post he held until he returned to Peking (1871). During this term in office he helped to stabilize and maintain order in Szechwan and the vicinity—taking part in the capture of and other insurgent leaders, clearing Kweichow of bandits (see under ), and settling several cases involving conflict between the Catholic missionaries (see under ) and the people of Yu-yang, Szechwan, and Tsun-i, Kweichow.

In 1871 Ch'ung-shih was granted his request to return to Peking and was appointed lieutenant-general of the Mongol Bordered White Banner. Two years later he served as acting military lieutenant-general of Jehol where, with 211