and sent to Mukden as vice-president of a Board in that city. When further complaints against him arrived in 1831 he was stripped of all his ranks and sent home as a commoner. He died two years later. On receiving the report of his death Emperor Hsüan-tsung eulogized his great services and conferred on him the posthumous name, Wên-i 文毅, as well as other honors.
The vigor with which secret religious societies were suppressed, early in the nineteenth century, contrast's sharply with the encouragement given the Boxers by Empress Hsiao-ch'in [q. v.] and her advisors in 1900. The difference shows how far the imperial authority declined in the space of eighty years. The Boxers traced their lineage to the T'ien-li-chiao of 1813, and the restrictions which Na-yen-ch'êng placed on the latter applied equally to the former. In fact one of Na-yen-ch'êng's memorials on the suppression of the T'ien-li-chiao was actually quoted by Yüan Ch'ang [q. v.] when he urged Empress Hsiao-ch'in to stop the Boxer movement. For this piece of advice Yüan lost his life.
Na-yen-ch'êng compiled a chronological biography of his grandfather, under the title 阿文成公年譜 A Wên-ch'êng kung nien-p'u, 34 chüan, printed in 1813, and based chiefly on memorials. Na-yen-ch'êng's own memorials were compiled by his son, Jung-an, and printed in 1834 under the title 那文毅公奏議 Na Wên-i kung tsou-i, 80 chüan. Na-yen-ch'êng was a noted calligrapher and the author of some verse.
[1/373/4a; 2/33/1a; 3/107/7a; 5/9/14a; 26/2/52a; 29/6/35a; Na Wên-i kung tsou-i; P'ing-ting chiao-fei chi-lüeh (see under Ying-ho); 靖逆記 Ching-ni chi (1820);林清教案 Lin Ch'ing chiao-an in 故宮周刊 Ku-kung chou-k'an, nos. 195–236.]
NI Yüan-lu 倪元璐 (T. 玉汝, H. 鴻寶), Jan. 7, 1594–1644, Apr. 25, Ming official, was a native of Shang-yü, Chekiang. Becoming a chin-shih in 1622, he entered the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor. While supervising examinations in Kiangsi in 1627 he offended the party of the eunuch, Wei Chung-hsien [q. v.], but was saved from punishment by the latter's downfall at the close of that year. He continued his outspoken opposition to former members of that party and was one of the first to defend the Tung-lin society. It was at his request that the engraved blocks of the San-ch'ao yao-tien—a work which had been compiled to discredit the Tung-lin group—were destroyed (see under Fêng Ch'üan). In 1635 he was promoted to the rank of libationer in the Academy, but shortly thereafter was forced into retirement by his enemies, remaining in seclusion until 1642 when he was made junior vice-president of the Board of War and lecturer to the Emperor. In the following year he was transferred to the presidency of the Board of Revenue where he attempted to correct abuses that had arisen in the system of taxation. Li Tzŭ-ch'êng [q. v.] took the capital on April 25, 1644. Rather than fall into enemy hands Ni committed suicide on that day. He was given the posthumous name Wên-chêng 文正 both by the Ming and Ch'ing regimes.
A collection of his literary works, entitled Ni Wên-chêng chi (集), is preserved in the 'Ch'ien-k'un chêng-ch'i chi (see under Huang Tao-chou). A short treatise of his on taxation, and a commentary to the Classic of Changes can be found in the collectanea Hsüeh-hai lei-pien (see under Ts'ao Jung) and Yüeh-ya-t'ang ts'ung-shu (see under Wu Ch'ung-yüeh). Two works by him were included in the list of banned books of the eighteenth century, namely 鴻寶應本 Hung-pao ying-pên and Ni Wên-chêng i-shih (遺詩).
[M.1/265/3a; M.3/252/3a; M.61/110/12b; Ming-chi pei-lüeh (see bibl. Chang Ch'üan) 21/2a; M.30/7/26a; Shang-yü-hsien chih (1898) 10/33a; Ni Wên-chêng kung nien-p'u, with portrait, in the Yüeh-ya-t'ang ts'ung-shu, vol. 215; a portrait by a contemporary painter, Tsêng Ch'ing 曾鯨, is reproduced in the Journal of Chekiang Provincial Library, vol. III, No. 1.]
NIEN Kêng-yao 年羹堯 (T. 亮功, H. 雙峯), d. Jan. 13, 1726, was a member of the Chinese Bordered Yellow Banner. His father, Nien Hsia-ling 年遐齡 (1643–1727), served as governor of Hukuang (present Hupeh and Hunan) from 1692 to 1704, and then retired. Nien Kêng-yao became a chin-shih in 1700 and was selected a bachelor in the Hanlin Academy. In March 1709 he was appointed a sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat. About this time the Banner company to which the Nien family belonged was assigned to serve Yin-chên [q. v.], fourth son of Emperor Shêng-tsu and newly created Prince Yung 雍親王. (Each of the Manchu princes of the Ch'ing period was entitled to the service of companies of bannermen as
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