Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/300

Rh 112/56a; 昭代名人尺牘續集 Chao-tai ming-jên ch'ih-tu hsü-chi (1911) 13/23b, 16/13b, 21a.]

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 HO-shên 和珅, 1750–1799, Feb. 22, was the son of Ch'ang-pao 常保 of the Niuhuru clan and the Manchu Plain Red Banner, who was an obscure deputy lieutenant-general holding an hereditary Ch'ing-ch'ê tu-yü of the third class. His mother was a daughter of Ying-lien 英廉 who was a Grand Secretary from 1776 to 1783. Ho-shên attended the school for bannermen and passed the examination for the hsiu-ts'ai degree. In 1769 he inherited his father's Ch'ing-ch'ê tu-yü and in 1772 was made an Imperial Bodyguard of the third class. Three years later he was stationed as a guard at the Ch'ien-ch'ing Gate (乾清門) and within a month his spectacular rise to power began.

Several stories have come down explaining the hold which Ho-shên secured and held over Emperor Kao-tsung during the last two decades of that monarch's life, but none can be substantiated, and it seems unlikely that the relationship between the two can ever be adequately explained. We know that the emperor was sixty-five years of age when he noticed Ho-shên for the first time. We know, too, that Ho-shên was handsome, affable, self-possessed and exceedingly clever with his tongue, and that he held the emperor's complete confidence from the end of 1775 until the emperor's death (1799).

Early in 1776 Ho-shên was made a guard of the Imperial Ante-chamber and a deputy lieutenant general of the Manchu Plain Blue Banner, the latter involving an elevation in official rank from the fifth to the second grade. He was also honored by being promoted from membership in his original Banner to that in the much more distinguished Plain Yellow Banner. Two months later he was made a junior vice-president of the Board of Revenue, in another two months he was appointed a Grand Councilor, and a month later he was made a Minister of the Imperial Household. Early in 1777, when twenty-eight (sui), he was honored by being allowed to ride horseback in the Forbidden City, a privilege ordinarily reserved for the highest ministers of the Empire, and for them only when they had become too old to walk the long distance between the outer and inner gates of the Palace. Later in the same year he was made concurrently general commandant of the Peking Gendarmerie, and in 1778 was appointed superintendent of the Customs and Octroi at the Ch'ung-wên Gate, Peking, a lucrative post ordinarily granted for a period of only one year, but which Ho-shên managed to hold for eight years.

In 1780 Ho-shên was sent to Yunnan to investigate the charge of corruption lodged against the governor-general,. He substantiated the charge and caused Li's removal. In addition to carrying out his primary duties, he made a careful investigation of economic matters and border relations and sent in a series of statesman-like memorials in which various problems were discussed and recommendations made. During his absence he was appointed a president of the Board of Revenue and shortly after his return was made lieutenant general of the Manchu Bordered Blue Banner. His son was given the name Fêng-shen-yin-tê 豐紳殷德, by the emperor and was betrothed (1780) to the emperor's youngest and favorite daughter, the Tenth Princess, Ho-hsiao (和孝公主, 1775–1823). The marriage took place early in 1790. Likewise in 1780 Ho-shên was made one of the directors-general for the compilation of the Imperial Library, Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu (see under ). He also served as a director-general of many literary projects of his time. In 1781 he was sent to Kansu to help put down a local Mohammedan rebellion (see under ), but so incompetent did he prove to be in military affairs that he was promptly recalled to the capital.

Established as he was in the complete confidence of the emperor, Ho-shên's power was very great, making it possible for him to cause the advancement or ruin of officials almost at will. Taking advantage of his position, he soon placed his own henchmen in many of the key positions in the Empire. Through these officials, and also through other officials who dared not refuse his demands, he exacted untold wealth from the people who were helpless in the face of the widespread corruption which flourished under his aegis. Almost from the beginning his position was untouchable, and even such important and honorable ministers as dared not bring charges against him for fear that his hold over the emperor was great enough to enable him to crush them if they opposed him too openly. In 1782, however, a daring censor,, brought charges of corruption against Kuo-t'ai and Yü I-chien (see under ), Governor and Financial Commissioner respectively of Shantung, both of whom were Ho-shên's protégés. Ho-shên did everything in his power 288