Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/231

Rh Dorbo) succeeded to the princedom. His branch of the Imperial Family, and seven others, were thereafter known as the Eight Great Families (八大家) or Princes of the Iron Helmet (鐵帽子王), who enjoyed the right of perpetual inheritance. The founders of these families were, in the order of their rank: Daišan (Prince Li), Dorgon (Prince Jui), Dodo (Prince Yü), Haoge (Prince Su), Jirgalang (Prince Chêng), Boggodo (Prince Chuang, see under ),  (q.v., Prince Shun-ch'êng), and Yoto (Prince K'o-ch'in).

In addition to having the designation Shê-chêng Wang 攝政王, or regent, Dorgon was known in his time by the following names: Mergen Wang 墨爾根王 ("Wise Prince"), T'ai-hsing Khan 台星可汗, Chiu Wang 九王, and Ama Van (in Jesuit accounts). His residence in Peking, the Nan-ch'êng, was converted in 1694 into a Lama temple which in 1776 was given the name P'u-tu Ssŭ 普度寺. In this temple a suit of Dorgon 's armor was preserved.

Dorgon was not proficient in Chinese literature, but was credited with the authorship of a famous letter sent to in 1644 calling on the latter to surrender. This letter, and Shih's cordial but firm reply, have been much admired and are incorporated in many anthologies. But according to, as reported by in the Hsiao-t'ing hsü-lu (chüan 2), Dorgon's letter was really composed by Li Wên 李雯  and the reply by Shih was composed by. Li Wên was a celebrated poet and writer of the late Ming period and a friend of. He served in the Manchu Court from 1644 to 1646 as a secretary of the Grand Secretariat.

[1/224/1a; 2/2/1a; 3/首4/1a; /4/1/4a; 多爾袞攝政日記 Dorgon shê-chêng jih-chi (1933); Chang-ku ts'ung-pien (see under ), nos. 3, 4;, Tung-hua lu, 4/8a, 6/9b, 6/17b–21a; 文獻叢編 Wên-hsien ts'ung-pien, no. 20; , Kuei-ssŭ ts'un-kao, 9/5a; Du Halde, History of China (1736), p. 424; Tung-hua lu, Shun-chih: 1–8; Mêng Sên 孟森, 八旗制度考實, in Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology (Academia Sinica), vol. VI, part 3 (1936), pp. 343–412; Chêng T'ien-t'ing 鄭天挺, 多爾袞稱皇父之臆測 in 國學季刊 Kuo-hsüeh chi-k'an, vol. VI, no. 1 (1936); Ming Ch'ing shih-liao (see under ).]

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EBILUN 遏必隆 (d. 1674), a member of the Bordered Yellow Banner, was the sixteenth son of of the Niohuru clan. His mother was a sister, or perhaps a cousin, of. In 1634, when his father was posthumously given the rank of a viscount, Ebilun was made inheritor of that rank. A year later he was given hereditary command of a company (tso-ling) in his own banner. In 1637 he was involved in the case of his niece, a daughter of his brother, Turgei (see under ), who was the wife of. This niece was accused in that year of having concealed the identity of an adopted girl in the hope of claiming her as her own daughter. Ebilun sought the removal of one of the judges in the case in order to promote his niece's interests at the trial. His activities were exposed and he was punished by being deprived of his post and of his inherited rank of viscount. Although owing to his courage in battle in the years 1641–42 he was reappointed captain of a company, his hereditary rank was not restored until 1713 (see under ). In 1645–46 he served under in the military campaign in Hupeh and was rewarded with a minor hereditary rank.

At this time Ebilun faced a dark future. He was a member of the Bordered Yellow Banner which belonged to Emperor Shih-tsu, then a child. He was faithful to his master, but the powerful Regent,, who then commanded the White Banners, was hostile toward those members of the Yellow Banners who would not come to his support. In 1648 Kobso 廓布梭, a nephew of Ebilun, and heir to Turgei's dukedom, joined Dorgon's clique and accused Ebilun and his own deceased father of having opposed Dorgon. The accusation referred to events following the death of Emperor T'ai-tsung (i.e.,, q.v.) in 1643, when Ebilun and Turgei ordered their men to take up arms in defense of the interests of the deceased Emperor's son, and to prepare against any threats from Dorgon. For this reason, among others, Ebilun was deprived of his offices and of his minor hereditary rank, and suffered confiscation of half his property.

But after Dorgon died (late in 1650), the tables were turned. Emperor Shih-tsu took over the government and rewarded those members of the Bordered Yellow Banner, such as Ebilun,, and Soni (see under ) who had remained loyal to him during 219