Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/28

 information; and a list of local expressions, including slang, with elucidations.

[Lu Ta-huang, 蒲柳泉先生年譜 P'u Liu-ch'üan hsien-shêng nien-p'u and other articles in the Liao-chai ch'üan-chi (1936); Hu Shih and others, articles printed in the 1933 edition of the Hsing-shih yin-yüan chuan; T'oung Pao (1909), p. 722, ibid (1932) p. 256; Giles, H. A., A History of Chinese Literature (1901), pp. 337–55; Grube, W., Geschichte der chinesischen Litteratur (1902), pp. 451–59; Tzŭ-ch'uan hsien-chih (1920) passim.]

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SABSU, 薩布素 d. ca. 1700, general, was a member of the Fuca clan and belonged to the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner. In the days of his grandfather his family joined the forces of and settled in Ula 烏拉 (Kirin City). Sabsu was brought up in Ula where he served in the garrison as colonel. In 1677 a commission was sent from Peking to locate the highest peak of Ch'ang-pai shan 長白山 (known to Westerners as Long White Mountain) where, according to legend, the ancestors of the Aisin Gioro family originated. When the members of the commission, headed by Umene 武默訥 (d. 1690), came to Ula they asked, then military governor, for a guide. Sabsu was selected and was dispatched with 200 men. Setting out on July 2, 1677, the commissioners took a southeastern course along the bank of the Sungari River. On July 10 they left the river, and after journeying five days eastward through thick forests, reached a lofty plateau on which there was a lake. After paying their respects to the place, they started back on the 17th and arrived at Ula fifteen days later. Reaching Peking in September, they reported to Emperor Shêng-tsu on their expedition, giving detailed accounts of the natural phenomena and the fauna they encountered. Thereafter Ch'ang-pai shan became a sacred peak to which sacrifices were offered twice a year. For his part in the expedition Sabsu was promoted in 1678 to be military deputy lieutenant-governor of Ninguta.

After their defeat by in 1658 the Russians resumed their activities on the Amur River and in 1669 a group of fugitives from justice built Fort Albazin (also known as Yaksa 雅克薩). In 1671 these fugitives were pardoned by Moscow and in the ensuing years the fort grew to be a town with some three thousand acres of land under cultivation. The Court at Peking was aware of these activities, but was unable to take steps against them because it was then engaged in the suppression of the rebellion of in South China. When that task was completed Emperor Shêng-tsu turned his attention to the northeast. In 1682 Sabsu accompanied two generals, and, to spy out the Russian situation. In their report they recommended forceful measures. Hence early in 1683 Sabsu was ordered to build on the lower Amur two wooden stockades, one at Heilungkiang (near the present site of Aigun) and another at Kumarsk. A number of Russians who sailed down the Amur were captured at the mouth of the tributary known as Dzeya and some of these later aided Sabsu as messengers. Later in the same year Sabsu was made military governor of Heilungkiang, an office specially created to deal with the Russian situation, but for two years he hesitated to molest the intruders. Severely reprimanded in 1685 for his excuses and procrastination, he decided, after being reinforced by Chinese soldiers under Pengcun, Lin Hsing-chu and Ho Yu (for both see under ), to attack. His troops reached Albazin in June 1685 and, after demonstrating his determination to attack, the Russians abandoned hope of resistance. About 600 of them were permitted to leave the fort, unmolested; the barricades were demolished, and the Chinese forces returned to Heilungkiang for the winter. Sabsu was rewarded and ordered to transfer his headquarters to Mergen (present Nun-chiang). In October 1685 the Russians under Aleksi︠e︡ĭ Tolbuzin and Afanasii Beǐton reappeared in Albazin and began rebuilding barricades and strengthening their defenses. Sabsu immediately made preparations for a second expedition. In July 1686 he again reached Albazin and surrounded the fort. The siege lasted four months with serious losses to the Russians. Meanwhile two Russian agents, Nikifor Veni︠u︡kov and Ivan Favorov, reached Peking and succeeded in getting Emperor Shêng-tsu's consent to a peace conference to settle the boundary and other disputes. In November Sabsu was ordered to raise the siege, and when it was learned that a Russian High Ambassador, Fedor Aleksi︠e︡vīch Golovīn, was nearing the Mongolian border, Sabsu was ordered to return to Mergen. In August 1689 the con- 630