Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/602

 to be executed (1726), and one of Nien's "ninety-two crimes" was that he had not reported on writings of such a "rebellious" nature.

Another writer, Ch'ien Ming-shih 錢名世 (亮工, 絅庵), a native of Wu-chin, Kiangsu, and the t'an-hua 探花 or third ranking chin-shih of 1703, wrote a poem in praise of Nien and gave him the entire credit for recovering Tibet (1720). The Emperor did not have Ch'ien executed, but punished him mentally. He sent him home and gave him a tablet with the characters, Ming Chiao Tsui Jên 名教罪人, meaning "Offender Against the Confucian Doctrines," to hang over his gate. He also enjoined every official in Peking who held the chin-shih degree to write a poem ridiculing and condemning him. These poems, brought together in a collection entitled Ming-chiao tsui-jên, were recently published by the Palace Museum. Duke P'u-chao 普照, a great-great-grandson of and a great-grandson of —that is to say, a fourth cousin of Yin-chên—was the uncle of Nien's wife. P'u-chao died in 1724, and in the following year his rank was abolished owing to this indirect connection with Nien. It is worth noting that the person sent by Yin-t'ang to win Nien to the cause of Yin-t'i was the Portuguese priest, Jean Mourao (see under ), who died in Kansu in 1726. There were several officials sent by the Emperor ostensibly to serve Nien, but in reality to act as spies. Some of them went over to Nien's side and were later tried and placed in confinement.

Nien Kêng-yao is credited with three works on military tactics: the 年將軍兵法 Nien Chiang-chün ping-fa, the 治平勝算之書 Chih-p'ing shêng-suan chih shu, and the 經邦軌轍 Ching pang kuei-chê, but all were apparently written by others and falsely attributed to him.

Although Nien Hsi-yao was dismissed (early in 1726) from his post of junior vice-president of the Board of Works, he was in the same year appointed a minister of the Imperial Household. Later (1726–35) he served as superintendent of customs at Huai-an, Kiangsu, but was removed on charges of corruption. He was a good painter, and wrote several books on mathematics, a subject in which he was probably influenced by Catholic missionaries. His special interest was trigonometry, on which he produced three works known collectively as 測算刀圭 Ts'ê-suan tao-kuei, printed in 1718. He is credited with two other works on mathematics. From the missionaries he likewise learned about projection and perspective on which he wrote a treatise entitled 視學 Shih hsüeh, printed in 1729—a revised and enlarged edition appearing in 1735. In his preface to the first edition Nien Hsi-yao acknowledged that he learned perspective in Western painting from Castiglione (see under ) and that he wrote his treatise primarily for the use of painters. In the second edition he added more diagrams to illustrate the principles of perspective and acknowledged further indebtedness to Castiglione.

While serving as superintendent of customs at Huai-an, Nien Hsi-yao had charge of the manufacture of porcelain. The excellent ceramic wares which were made under his direction came to be known as Nien-yao 年窯.

[1/301/2a; 2/13/9b; 2/12/16a; Chang-ku ts'ung-pien (see under ), nos. 4–10; Wên-hsien ts'ung-pien (see bibl. ) nos. 1, 5–8; Mêng Sên, 清初三大疑案考實 Ch'ing-ch'u san ta i-an k'ao-shih; Howorth, H. H., History of the Mongols (1876), part I, pp. 523–25; Backhouse and Bland, Annals and Memoirs of the Court of Peking (1914), pp. 281-88;, Hsiao-t'ing tsa-lu, 9/4a, 10/29b, Hsü-lu, 3/8b; Hsüeh-ch'iao shih-hua (see under ), 4/29b; P'ing-ting Chun-ko-êr fang-lüeh (see under ), 1st series, chüan 12–16; Tung-hua lu, Ch'ien-lung 3:11; , Nan-chiang wên-ch'ao, 9/1a; ''Bul. of the Nat. Lib. of Peiping'' (1936), vol. 10, no. 5.]

2em

 NIKAN 尼堪, d. 1652, age 43 (sui), member of the Imperial Family, was the third son of and a grandson of. After taking part in wars against the Dolot and other Mongol tribes, he was associated with in 1635 in the latter's attempt to engage the attention of the Chinese on the eastern front while other armies invaded Shansi from the north. In the next year he received the rank of beise and accompanied Dodo into Korea. From 1639 on he was in the expedition led by and  which carried the war on towards Shanhaikuan, and when this pass was forced in 1644 he received promotion to beile. Until 1648 he served chiefly in the west of China with Dodo and. Like, he was a supporter of Dorgon and in October 1648 was given a second degree princedom designated Ching-chin Chün-wang 敬謹郡王. Shortly afterwards, he was sent to Shansi at 590