Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/68

Rh Hall should die in the service of the dynasty. Finally on January 1, 1750, the emperor permitted him to retire and agreed that he should leave Peking in the springtime. On January 16, Chang requested an audience with the emperor and in the course of the interview begged to know what assurance there was that his name would be celebrated in the Imperial Ancestral Hall. To relieve his doubts the emperor published an edict and composed a poem. On the 19th Chang was to have gone to the palace to thank the emperor, but owing to a severe storm, sent his son instead. The emperor, already annoyed at Chang's apparent distrust, now became angry and expressed his sentiments frankly to the Grand Secretaries. On the following day Chang appeared at the Palace to beg forgiveness for his discourtesy of the preceding day. The Grand Secretaries were now blamed for divulging a secret, and Chang was taken to task for being disingenuous. A few days later the emperor deprived him of his rank of Earl Ch'in-hsüan 勤宣伯, the designation given him four months earlier, and declared that though Chang's name did not deserve to he entered in the Imperial Ancestral Hall after his death, his request would nevertheless be granted. When Chang, late in May 1750, announced the time of his departure, it happened that the emperor's eldest son had died only a few days previously. Chang was reprimanded for this breach of ceremony and the promised posthumous honor was denied to him. He returned to his home and to the long-deferred retirement, bearing only the title of an ex-Grand Secretary.

The punishment meted out to Chang T'ing-yü did not cease after he left Peking. A son-in-law was found to be an ex-convict who was involved in the case of, and was furthermore accused of irregularities as commissioner of education in Szechwan. In 1750 Chang himself was about to be deprived of all his property, but was finally let off with a fine and with orders to return every item of the imperial gifts that he had received during the fifty years of his official life. However, when he died five years later, he was posthumously granted the long-coveted honor of having his name celebrated in the Imperial Ancestral Hall—the only Chinese official to be so recognized. He was canonized as Wên-ho 文和.

A manuscript collection of Chang T'ing-yü's early poems was destroyed by fire. In 1737 he prepared another collection, entitled Ch'êng-huai yüan shih-hsüan, (詩選), 12 chüan, which contained his poems up to 1735, including early ones rewritten from memory. He also left a collection of works in prose, entitled Ch'êng-huai yüan wên-ts'un (文存), 15 chüan. In 1746 he brought together his miscellaneous notes on ethics, literature and other subjects, entitled Ch'êng-huai yüan yü (語), 4 chüan; and three years later compiled his own nien-p'u, 6 chüan. These four works, collectively known as Ch'êng-huai yüan ch'üan-chi, became very rare but were later reprinted by his descendants. Most of his other literary undertakings consist of official publications in which he acted as compiler or director-general. Among these may be mentioned the Ming-shih which was finally completed under his direction in 332 + 4 chüan and printed in 1739; and the "veritable records" (實錄, see under ) of the reigns of Emperors Shêng-tsu and Shih-tsung. It is recorded that his editorship of the records of Emperor Shêng-tsu's reign particularly pleased Emperor Shih-tsutsung [sic], perhaps for having suppressed references to the latter's intrigues in obtaining the throne. Chang T'ing-yü was naturally gifted as a writer, and his ability to compose imperial edicts won Emperor Shih-tsutsung [sic]'s approval.

Chang T'ing-yü had three sons. The eldest, Chang Jo-ai, was a chin-shih of 1733 and a Hanlin compiler who later rose to sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat (1743–46). He inherited the earldom in 1738, but was deprived of it in 1743. The second son, Chang Jo-ch'êng 張若澄, was a chin-shih of 1745 and a Hanlin compiler. He and the third son, Chang Jo-t'ing 張若渟, both rose to be sub-chancellors of the Grand Secretariat. Chang Jo-t'ing became president of the Board of Punishments (1800–1802) and was canonized as Ch'in-k'o 勤恪.

[Ch'êng-huai yüan chu-jên tzŭ-ting nien-p'u (主人自訂年譜); 1/294/5b; 2/14/21b; 3/14/6a; 7/13/4b; 9/18/23a; 民彝雜誌 Min-i tsa-chih, no. 3 (1927); 桐舊集 T'ung-chiu chi, chüan 22; 張氏宗譜 Chang-shih tsung-p'u (1890) passim.]

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 CHANG Ts'un-jên 張存仁, d. 1652, a native of Liao-yang, was a colonel in the Ming army under when the latter surrendered to the Manchus in 1631. He joined 56