Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/64

 plea of advanced age, but actually perhaps to avoid a Palace controversy in which he was deeply involved. When the Emperor started on a tour of South China in the following year, his party was detained at Tê-chou, Shantung, by the illness of the Heir Apparent,. The journey southward was cancelled and Songgotu was summoned by the Emperor to keep the Heir Apparent company while he himself returned to the capital. The seriousness of the contention among his sons for the throne began now to weigh on the Emperor, and the part which Songgotu had taken in the controversy came privately to his attention. He blamed Songgotu for the unaccountable conduct of Yin-jêng, though Songgotu, as great-uncle of the Heir Apparent, was probably only doing what he could to maintain Yin-jêng's position which was threatened by the other princes (see under ). In June 1703 the Emperor ordered Songgotu confined for interference in state affairs, and saw to it that most of the members of his faction were punished. He charged him with a breach of decorum at Tê-chou in the preceding year—namely, riding on horseback through the main gateway of the Heir Apparent's yamen when he should have alighted and entered by a side door. The Emperor was convinced that Songgotu had encouraged unruliness in the Heir Apparent when, as Grand Secretary, he had stipulated that the uniform and certain prerogatives of Yin-jêng should be similar to those of the Emperor. Songgotu was therefore allowed to die in confinement, probably within the year 1703.

In 1708 Yin-jêng was deprived of his rank as Heir Apparent and was also placed in confinement. One of the charges brought against him was that he had threatened his father, the Emperor, with a sword—an act which the father interpreted as an attempt on the part of his son to avenge the death of Songgotu. According to, it was who brought to the Emperor's attention the full import of Songgotu's interference in matters of state. Having been recommended to the Emperor by Songgotu, Kao owed much to his patron, but when Kao himself rose to power Songgotu apparently treated him as an upstart. Unable to endure his humiliation longer, Kao privately informed the Emperor. Whatever truth there may be in Wang's assertions, it is known that Kao was in Peking as the guest of the Emperor in May 1703 and that Songgotu was imprisoned a month later.

According to, Songgotu was a connoisseur of bronzes and other antiques—an avocation he had in common with the powerful Grand Secretary, Mingju, who was a collector of paintings and calligraphy. Each had powerful and trusted slaves to manage their vast fortunes. Songgotu, it may be added, had a fondness for men of letters and once (1673) entertained in his home when the latter was Peking.

[1/275/2a; 34/4/22b; 34/147/34b; Chao-lien, Hsiao-t'ing tsa-lu, 10/61, 8b; Wang Ching-chi, Hsi-chêng sui-pi; Tung-hua lu, K'ang-hsi, 47:9; Ch'u-Sai chi-lüeh in Chao-tai ts'ung-shu; P'ing ting Shuo-mo fang-lüeh (see under, 1708) 6/19a, 23a; Du Halde, J. B., Descriptia de l'Empire de la Chine (1736), T.4, pp. 103–96 ; , I-chia-yen êi-chi, 7/7a; Fuchs, Walter, "Der Russisch-chinesische Vertrag von Nertschinsk vom Jahre 1689", Monumenta Serica, vol 4, p. 546-93; see bibliography under .]

2em

SSŬ-tsung. Temple name of.

 SSŬ-wên Huang-ti. Posthumous title of.

 SU, Prince. See under.

 SU-shun 肅順, 1815?–1861, Nov. 8, official, was an Imperial Clansman who belonged to the Bordered Blue Banner. He was a descendant of, the first Prince Chêng. His father,, twelfth inheritor of Jirgalang's princedom, died in 1846 and was succeeded by his third son, Tuan-hua 端華. In 1850, when Emperor Hsüan-tsung died, Tuan-hua was one of the courtiers present at the deathbed—two of the group being and Tsai-yüan (see under ). These princes were enjoined to assist the succeeding Emperor Wên-tsung, and this they did loyally throughout his reign of eleven years. It was through Tuanhua that Emperor Wên-tsung came to know Su-shun.

Su-shun was the sixth son of Ulgungga. In 1836 he passed the regular examination for sons of princes and was made a noble of imperial lineage of the tenth rank. He was also given the title of a junior assistant chamberlain of the Imperial Bodyguard. In 1849 he was made a director of the Imperial Gardens and Hunting Parks. A year later, under Emperor Wên-tsung, he was made a sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat, and was successively promoted to a 666