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Ch'i
Ch'i

report Emperor Wên-tsung ordered Ch'i-ying to remain at Tientsin, but he did not comply.

At Tungchow he was arrested for disobedience and was escorted to Peking for trial. Those princes who had recommended his participation in the negotiations were reprimanded and given light punishments. Many princes and high officials conducted the trial which sentenced Ch'i-ying to imprisonment awaiting execution. Some officials, especially Su-shun [q. v.], desired his immediate execution. On June 28 the report of the signing of the treaty with Britain (June 26) reached Peking, and on the following day the emperor issued a long edict condemning Ch'i-ying for disobedience, for trying to shift his responsibility to others, and for leaving his post without sufficient reason and without permission. The emperor, to be "just and gracious", ordered Ch'i-ying to commit suicide. It is said that he took poison. Thus ended the life of an Imperial Clansman who had served for fifty-two years under three emperors.

Ch'i-ying can scarcely be blamed for his blunder in concluding treaties which have since been such a burden on China. His chief failing was his limited knowledge of the outside world; but in his time there were few, if any, who knew any more of that world than he. As to his attainments in Chinese literature very little is known. With the help of his secretaries he edited and printed in 1827 the collected works of the T'ang statesman, Lu Chih (see under Lu Hsin-yüan), which are entitled 陸宣公全集 Lu Hsüan-kung ch'üan-chi, 24 chüan. The first 22 chüan are based on the edition printed in 1723 by Nien Kêng-yao [q. v.], with a preface by Emperor Shih-tsung. Ch'i-ying added to Nien's edition the last 2 chüan containing supplements to Lu's works and biographical information. Nien Kêng-yao was a famous general who, like Ch'i-ying, ended his career by being ordered to commit suicide.


[1/376/4b; 2/40/35a; 3/37/39a; Ch'ou-pan i-wu shih-mo (see under I-hsin), Hsien-feng period; Williams, S. Wells, The Middle Kingdom (Rev. ed. 1883), Vol. II, 653–54, (with Ch'i-ying's portrait and his signature in Chinese and in Manchu); Williams, Frederick W., S. Wells Williams (1889), pp. 126, 268, 277; Oliphant, Laurence, Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan (1859), Vol. I, pp. 351–76; Tsiang T'ing-fu 蔣廷黻, 近代中國外交史資料輯要 Chin-tai Chung-kuo wai-chiao shih tzŭ-liao chi-yao 上/112-162; Kuo, P. C., A Critical Study of the First Anglo-Chinese War (1935); Davis, John Francis, China during the War and since the Peace (1852), 2. vols.; Rhode Island Historical Society Collections vol. XXVII, no. 1 (Jan. 1934); Hsia Hsieh 夏燮 (T. 蹇叟), 中西紀事 Chung-hsi chi-shih, chüan 8–14; Scarth, John, Twelve Years in China (1860); Chao-lien [q. v.], Hsiao-t'ing tsa-lu, chüan 8; 寧陽縣志 Ning-yang hsien-chih (Shan-tung), 1904, 12/63a; I-Kêng, Chi-tu pei-t'an, p. 14a (see under Yin-lu).]

Fang Chao-ying


CH'I Yün-shih 祁韻士 (T. 諧庭, 鶴皋, H. 訪山, 筠淥), 1751–1815, May 5, historian, was a native of Shou-yang, Shansi. He became a pa-kung in 1777 and a chü-jên in the autumn of the same year. In the following year he took his chin-shih degree and was selected a member of the Hanlin Academy. Appointed a compiler in the State Historiographer's Office, he participated for eight years in the compilation of the 外藩蒙古回部王公表傳 Wai-fan Mêng-ku Hui-pu wang kung piao-chuan—a topographical and historical study of the frontiers of Inner and Outer Mongolia, Sinkiang, and Tibet-commissioned in 1779. The work has several supplements by later compilers. From information acquired in this task Ch'i Yün-shih compiled a chronological history of the same region, entitled 皇朝藩部要略 Huang-ch'ao Fan-pu yao-lüeh, 18 chüan, with supplementary tables comprising 4 chüan. This latter work, first printed by his son, Ch'i Chün-tsao [q. v.], in 1845, inspired Chang Mu [q. v.] to write his Mêng-ku yu-mu chi. From 1791 to 1804 Ch'i Yün-shih held various posts in the Board of Revenue. A collection of memorials and reports which he drafted on the problem of grain transport in the years 1799–1800, entitled 己庚編 Chi-Kêng pien, 2 chüan, was printed in 1894 in the Chên-ch'i t'ang ts'ung-shu (see under Wang Hsien). In 1801 Ch'i became overseer of the Coinage Office, but owing to a deficit in the accounts was dismissed (1804). He was tried and banished (1805) to Ili where he stayed until 1809, in which year he was pardoned.

During his exile Ch'i Yün-shih had charge of the compilation of a local history of Sinkiang sponsored by Sung-yün [q. v.] governor-general of Ili. This work was later completed by Hsü Sung [q. v.] and received from the emperor the title Hsin-chiang chih lüeh (see under Sung-yün). As a result of his experience in Sinkiang Ch'i Yün-shih left the following works dealing with that region: 西陲總統事略 Hsi-ch'ui tsung-

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