Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/318

 (1914), pp. 239–309; Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, Missions de la Chine, pp. 330–697; 樞垣記略 Shu-yüan chi-lüeh; Ch'ing-ch'u san ta i-an k'ao-shih (see bibl. under ); Pa-ch'i chih-tu k'ao-shih (see bibl. under ).]

2em

 YIN-chi-shan 尹繼善, May 8, 1696–1771, June 4?, official, was a member of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner. He came from the Janggiya 章佳氏 Clan which had settled in Liaotung long before the rise of. His father, Yin-t'ai 尹泰 (d. 1738), rose from a clerkship through various posts—including those in the Hanlin Academy—to a Grand Secretary (1729–38). Yin-t'ai retired in 1713, but was recalled to office in 1723 after Emperor Shih-tsung ascended the throne. It is said that he owed his subsequent rise to prominent posts to the illustrious services of his son, Yin-chi-shan.

Yin-chi-shan became a chin-shih in 1723, was selected a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, and later was made a compiler. By 1727 he was made first a sub-expositor, and then acting director, of a department in the Board of Revenue. Later in the same year he was sent to Canton to conduct the trial of two corrupt officials, and then was made acting provincial judge of Kwangtung. In 1728 he was ordered to Kiangsu to assist in directing Yellow River conservancy in that province, and in that same year was made acting governor of Kiangsu. Though still in his early thirties, he proved his ability as a good administrator, and in 1729 was raised to full governor. It is said that the local gentry at first regarded the young governor with distrust, but soon discovered that he was not only able but courteous and well versed in Chinese literature. In 1731 he was made acting governor-general of Kiangnan and Anhwei, and early in 1732 acted in eight or nine posts, in all of which he performed his duties well. Early in 1733 he was transferred to be governor-general of Yunnan, Kweichow, and Kwangsi. Yunnan was then afflicted with an uprising which the former governor-general, Kao Ch'i-cho (see under ), had not yet suppressed. When Yin-chi-shan arrived at the capital of Yunnan he so won the confidence of Kao that the latter handed over, before leaving the service, all his plans for the campaign. Thus Yinchi-shan was enabled to accomplish a swift victory which greatly enhanced his prestige. Thereafter he set to work to develop those parts of Kweichow that were inhabited by Miao tribesmen (see under ). In 1734 he opened to navigation the river, Hsi-yang-chiang 西洋江, which connects Kuang-nan in Yunnan with Poseh (or Paise) in Kwangsi—a distance of more than 740 li. The operation of deepening and widening the stream took some six months. It became a highway for commerce and an outlet for the products of Yunnan.

Early in 1735 Kwangsi was returned to the jurisdiction of the governor-general of Kwangtung and a year later, the governor-generalship of Kweichow was established, leaving Yin-chi-shan in control of Yunnan only. In 1737 he went to Peking for an audience and begged to remain there on account of his father's advanced age. His plea accepted, he was made president of the Board of Punishments and in the following three years (1737–40), except during a few months' mourning for the death of his father in 1738, he was entrusted with many missions and filled a number of posts. From 1740 to 1742 he served as governor-general of Szechwan and Shensi. After mourning for the death of his mother (1747–48) he was appointed acting governor-general of Kiangnan and Kiangsi and was concurrently assistant director of Yellow River Conservancy in Kiangsu—being made full governor-general in 1745. In 1748 he was for about a month elevated to an assistant Grand Secretary with the concurrent post of president of the Board of Revenue. Late in the same year he was appointed a Grand Councilor and governor-general of Shensi and Kansu to look after supplies for the army dispatched under to pacify the Chin-ch'uan rebels In 1750 he was again given jurisdiction over Szechwan. Thereafter he served as governor-general of Shensi and Kansu (1753), director-general of Yellow River Conservancy in Kiangsu (1753–57), and again governor-general of Liang-Kiang (1754–65), that is to say, of Kiangnan and Kiangsi. In 1760, while serving in this last-mentioned capacity, he memorialized on the increased efficiency that would result if Kiangnan (present Kiangsu and Anhwei) were apportioned among three financial commissioners 布政使: one in charge of the prefecture of Nanking and that part of Kiangsu north of the Yangtze River; another at Soochow in charge of the rest of Kiangsu; and a third at Anking with jurisdiction over Anhwei. The province of Kiangnan had been established in 1645. In 1661–62 the province of Anhwei was set apart under a governor at Anking and a financial commissioner for 920