Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/273

 Eastern Mausoleum for interment there. The ceremonies ended on April 17 but, instead of returning to Peking, he remained behind to dwell in a nearby Taoist monastery at Chi-chou. There, in the daytime, he took long walks in the hills and at night was busily occupied in writing. The result was a memorial to the throne, and two letters: one to the Taoist abbot and the other to his son, Wu Chih-huan 吳之桓, then a secretary of the Board of War. On April 25 he took a dose of poison. His letter to the abbot was really intended for the eyes of the magistrate, to inform him that he died by his own hand and to give instructions concerning the burial of his remains in Chi-chou, near the tomb of the Emperor whose rights he had upheld. In the second letter he advised his son to leave Peking, and gave instructions about family matters.

Wu's main purpose in committing suicide was to have the memorial he had written submitted to the throne. No minor official, except a censor, had the right to memorialize the throne directly. Infringement of the rule would subject him to punishment and to a charge that he was seeking notoriety. A minor official might request a higher one to transmit a memorial, but the latter by reading and transmitting, and so presumably approving it, would be held equally responsible with the writer. Wu was certain that no high official could be found who would transmit the memorial, and certain also that he himself would be branded as a trouble-maker if he lived after the memorial was made known. For in his memorial he openly accused the Dowager Empresses (see under ) of having erred in selecting, as heir to the throne, one (Emperor Tê-tsung) of the same generation of Emperor Mu-tsung, instead of one of the next generation as the laws of the dynasty required (see under ). He suggested that the Dowager Empresses might correct their error by announcing once more, but in more reassuring terms, that among the prospective sons of Emperor Tê-tsung, only the one who had been designated heir to the deceased Emperor (Mu-tsung) could rightfully inherit the throne.

Although the suggestion was treated by the Court as pointless, Wu K'o-tu, by his dramatic death, did register, against Empress Hsiao-ch'in in particular, a protest that was heard throughout the land. He chose suicide as preferable to inevitable punishment—but more especially to make certain that the document would not be shelved and that he himself would not be branded as insane. The Empress Dowager, on her part, was quite willing to reiterate her statement that the future heir to Emperor Tê-tsung would at the same time be the heir to the deceased Emperor Mu-tsung. She conferred on Wu the posthumous rank of a fifth-grade official, and so showed that she could also be generous. The case was thus disposed of at the Court.

The remains of Wu K'o-tu were properly buried in Chi-chou as he wished, under the able direction of the magistrate, Liu Chih-yen 劉枝彥, and a temple was raised at his tomb, with funds contributed by his admirers. Eulogies and poems, written by many people, including his friends, and, were collected and printed in 1880 under the title, 吳柳堂先生誄文 Wu Liu-t'ang hsien-shêng lei-wên. This was expanded in 1883 by adding facsimile reproductions of his letters to the abbot and to his son. There is a portrait of Wu in the latter edition. His literary collection, entitled 攜雪堂全集 Hsi-hsüeh t'ang ch'üan-chi, was printed in 1893. A translation of his Memorial and of his Last Will and Testament appears in Evan Morgan's A Guide to Wênli Styles and Chinese Ideals (1912) p. 258–278.

[1/451/1a; 5/54/25b; Kansu t'ung-chih (1909) 64/29b, 87/26a; Li Tz'ŭ-ming, Yüeh-man t'ang jih-chi 32/7b; Tso Shun-shêng, Chung-kuo chin pai-nien shih tzŭ-liao hsü-pien (1933, see under ), pp. 125–32; Ch'ou pan I-wu shih-mo (see under ) T'ung-chih 90/35a; Morse, H. B., The International Relations of the Chinese Empire, vol. 2, pp. 279–81.]

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 WU Li 吳歷, 1632–1718, Feb. 24, artist and Chinese Catholic priest, was a native of Ch'ang-shu, Kiangsu. An ancestor, ten generations back, named Wu No 吳訥, held the rank of a vice-president of the Censorate at Nanking. Wu Li, whose original name was Wu Ch'i (啟)-li, was the youngest of three sons. His father died shortly after he was born and consequently he was brought up by his mother. He learned to write verse, to paint, and to play the lute (ch'in). He studied painting under and  and was an intimate friend of another famous painter,. By 1660 his painting and his poetry won the praise of. About this time he studied Confucian philosophy under Ch'ên Hu (see under ) in whose company he was for several years. He 875