Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/362

 nature of certain appointments. Consequently Yung-hsüan, then seventy-four sui, was deprived of all his offices. But when ascended the throne (1821) Yung-hsüan was accorded the honors due his age. After his death he was canonized as Shên 愼, and Mien-chih succeeded to the reduced princedom of the second degree. The princedom was successively reduced until 1902 when Mien-chih's great-great-grandson, Yü-ch'i 毓岐, inherited the princedom of the fifth degree. Mien-chih's fifth son, I-ts'ai 奕綵, was for a time (1838–42) the adopted grandson of and inherited the latter's rank of Prince Ch'ing (see under ).

Yung-hsüan learned to write verse from Ch'ên Chao-lun and other eminent scholars. A manuscript copy of his collected poems, entitled 古訓堂詩 Ku-hsün t'ang shih, is preserved in the Library of Congress. This manuscript, in 14 volumes, contains the poems he wrote from about 1760 to 1820.

[1/171/12b; 1/227/3b; Ch'ing Huang-shih ssŭ-p'u (see under ); Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress (1935) pp. 187–188.]

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 YUNG-li. Reign-title of.

 YUNG-lin 永璘, June 17, 1766–1820, Apr. 25, the first Prince Ch'ing (慶親王), was the seventeenth son of Emperor Kao-tsung (see under ). His mother was Empress Hsiao-i and he was a younger brother of Emperor Jên-tsung (for both see under ). In 1789 he was made a prince of the third degree and in 1799, after his brother ascended the throne, he was made a prince of the second degree with the designation Hui (惠郡王) which a few days later was changed to Ch'ing. After the property of was confiscated, Yung-lin was given the enormous palace which Ho-shên had occupied. It is said that in the last years of the Ch'ien-lung period (1736–96) several princes deliberated on methods of getting rid of Ho-shên, and that whereas other princes, including Yung-yen, expressed decisive views on the matter, Yung-lin said nothing. When chided for his silence he is said to have remarked that, unlike his brothers, he had no ambition in political matters, but would accept a gift of Ho-shên's magnificent residence in Peking. However this may be, when Ho-shên was removed, Emperor Jên-tsung saw to it that the wish of Yung-lin was fulfilled. About the year 1852 this palace, situated northeast of the present Catholic University, became the property of.

Yung-lin was a man of mediocre ability and never played a conspicuous role. When he became ill in 1820 the Emperor paid him a visit and elevated him to a prince of the first degree (親王). He died shortly therafter and was canonized as Hsi (僖). Three of his sons grew to maturity. The third, Mien-min 綿愍 (d. 1836, posthumous name 良), inherited the reduced rank of a prince of the second degree and became the second Prince Ch'ing. The other two, Mien-t'i 綿悌 (d. 1849) and Mien-hsing 綿性, were evidently out of favor with Emperor Hsüan-tsung, for when Mien-min died without a male heir, a grand-nephew of Yung-lin, named I-ts'ai (see under ), was appointed his successor. Out of deference to Mien-min, Emperor Hsüan-tsung allowed I-ts'ai to inherit the princedom of the second degree instead of one of a lower rank. But in 1842 I-ts'ai was accused of having taken a concubine during a mourning period, and of having bribed a clerk in the Imperial Clan Court to have his punishment minimized. In the meantime Mien-hsing himself, hoping to inherit I-ts'ai's rank, bribed a clerk to bring to view additional misdemeanors of I-ts'ai in order that the latter might be wholly discredited. Finally all involved were punished. I-ts'ai was deprived of all ranks, and Mien-hsing, and the clerks who were implicated, were sent into exile. Mien-t'i was then appointed heir to Yung-lin's dwindling estate. It seems that about this time (1842) the descendants of Yung-lin had to leave their lavish palace and were given the confiscated residence of on the street named Ting-fu ta-chieh 定府大街. Whatever the original condition of this residence, it later became one of the richest in Peking, and in the last years of the dynasty was a political center.

Mien-t'i died without a male heir, and a son of Mien-hsing named I-k'uang 奕劻 (1836–1916), was in 1850 made heir to the family estate with the low title of a noble of the tenth rank. Gradually, however, I-k'uang rose to prominence. In 1884, after I-hsin was dismissed for maintaining too pacific a policy toward France, I-k'uang succeeded him as chief member of the Office of Foreign Affairs (Tsungli Yamen), and remained in that position for twenty-seven years until he became premier (1911). In 1884 I-k'uang was made a prince of the second degree to which was attached the family designation, Ch'ing. In this way he became the fourth Prince 964