Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/363

 Ch'ing. In 1885 he was appointed one of the controllers of the Board of Admiralty—the other being. In 1894, when the Empress Dowager celebrated her sixtieth birthday, I-k'uang was raised to a prince of the first degree. His power, however, was negligible and he did not dare to oppose the Empress Dowager and her ignorant advisers when they foolishly looked for help to the Boxers. When the Court fled from Peking in 1900 he also fled to Hsüan-hua, but on August 26 was ordered to return to Peking to co-operate with in peace negotiations with the Allies. After he and Li signed the Protocol in 1901, ending the hostilities of the Boxer War, he continued to conduct foreign affairs. In 1903, after died, I-k'uang was given the highest official position in the empire. From 1903 to 1911 he served as chief Grand Councilor, and from May to November 1911 had the rank of premier. His conduct was such, however, that he was several times openly accused of corruption and of hoarding great wealth. It is reported that whereas other corrupt officials received bribes through intermediaries, he insisted on personally negotiating every such transaction. So long as Empress Hsiao-ch'in was living he and his strong supporter, Yüan Shih-k'ai (see under ), could do virtually as they pleased. After her death (1908), however, he could not maintain his power, being opposed by many Imperial Clansmen who themselves were eager to have it. Meanwhile his son, Tsai-chên 載振, gained notoriety in several scandals. Finally, in November 1911, I-k'uang was forced, by the rising tide of revolution; to resign and was made president of the Privy Council. A month later the young emperor, P'u-i (see under ), abdicated and I-k'uang went to Tientsin where he died in 1916. P'u-i conferred on him the posthumous name, Mi 密.

[1/171/18b; 1/227/5a; Chin-shih jên-wu chih (see under ) p. 219; T'oung Pao, 1916, p. 393; T'ien-chih ou-wên (see bibl. under ) 4/25a.]

2em

 YUNG Wing. See under.

YUNG-yen 顒琰, Nov. 13, 1760–1820, Sept. 2, the fifth Emperor of the Ch'ing Dynasty, who ruled from 1796 until his death, under the reign title, Chia-ch'ing 嘉慶, was the fifth son of Emperor Kao-tsung (see under ). His mother, Empress Hsiao-i 孝儀高皇后 (née Wei 魏, 1727–1775), was a favorite secondary consort of Emperor Kao-tsung and was posthumously elevated to the rank of Empress after Yung-yen was publicly designated Heir Apparent in 1795. As a child, Yung-yen exhibited intellectual promise, and after he was six sui was tutored by such scholars as Hsieh Yung (see under ) and. His character, and his ability to learn, so pleased Emperor Kao-tsung that on December 21, 1773, he was secretly designated heir to the throne. No one but Emperor Kao-tsung had knowledge of this choice, for in every respect he was treated like his brothers. He accompanied his father on many trips to Jehol and the neighborhood of Peking, and made one trip to Mukden (1783), and another to Kiangsu and Chekiang (1784). In 1789 he was named a prince of the first degree with the designation Chia (嘉親王). In the meantime he and his brothers were required to attend regularly the Imperial School known as Shang Shu-fang (see under ) where he learned to write poetry and to compose essays. When Emperor Kao-tsung announced his intention to abdicate (October 15, 1795), he proclaimed Yung-yen Heir Apparent to ascend the throne on the following Chinese New Year's Day (February 9). In order that the first character in Yung-yen's name, heretofore written 永 (a word in very common use) might not, as did all Emperors' personal names, become taboo, it was altered to 顒, a character also pronounced Yung, but rarely used.

Yung-yen's enthronement on February 9, 1796, the day on which the Chia-ch'ing reign-period began, was celebrated with splendid ceremonies which, however, stressed chiefly the fact of his father's abdication. For more than three years the reign-title, Ch'ien-lung, continued to be used inside the Palaces, and Kao-tsung and his ministers actually directed the affairs of the empire. During this period Yung-yen, then nearing forty, was "tutored" in statecraft; his opinion was rarely consulted and he was engaged chiefly in the performance of state ceremonies. As Emperor Kao-tsung approached senility the real power fell into the hands of his minister,, who used it shamelessly, however, for personal ends. Yung-yen bore patiently his resentment at the manner in which Ho-shên usurped control, but on February 12, 1799, five days after his father's death, he had the minister arrested, and a few days later forced him to commit suicide. Yung-yen had doubtless long made up his mind to take this course, and 965