T'UNG Yang-chên 佟養眞, d. 1621, Ming-Ch'ing general, was a member of the T'ung family of Fu-shun, Liaotung, which traced its ancestry to T'ung Ta-li 佟達禮, who was given an hereditary rank in the early Ming period. After 1722 the last character of T'ung Yang-chên's name was written 正 to avoid the personal name of Emperor Shih-tsung. Little is known of his career as a military officer under the Ming regime but, according to Korean annals, he was in Seoul in 1599, having supplied provisions to the Chinese forces that aided the Koreans against Toyotomi Hideyoshi (see under Nurhaci). At that time T'ung Yang-chên had the rank of colonel. His reported conversation with the Korean King, Hsüan-tsu 宣祖 (personal name 李昖), shows that the latter, who had just escaped the danger of Japanese domination, was worried over another rising power, the Manchus. In this conversation the Manchu chieftain, Nurhaci [q. v.], is referred to as the "Old barbarian" (老胡), but it does not appear that T'ung was then much troubled over Nurhaci's growing power. In 1619 he himself surrendered to Nurhaci, persuaded perhaps by his cousin, T'ung Yang-hsing [q. v.], after the capture of Fu-shun by the Manchus. As a Manchu officer he took part in 1621 in the capture of Liaoyang and was rewarded with the minor hereditary rank known as Ch'ing-ch'ê tu-yü. Later in the same year he was placed in command of the garrison at Fort Chên-chiang 鎭江, the present An-tung, on the Yalu River. But when Ch'ên Liang-ts'ê 陳良策 who was commandant in the fort and who had secretly allied himself with Mao Wên-lung [q. v.], rebelled against the Manchus on September 1, 1621, T'ung Yang-chên was killed, together with his eldest son and sixty men.
A younger son, T'ung T'u-lai [q. v.], succeeded to the hereditary rank. He was the maternal grandfather of Hsüan-yeh [q. v.], the illustrious Emperor Shêng-tsu who ruled China for sixty-one years under the reign-title K'ang-hsi. After the family had risen to power T'ung Yang-chên was given posthumously the rank of duke of the first class and the name Chung-lieh 忠烈. In the K'ang-hsi period the descendants of T'ung Yang-chên attained such influence in the Palace, and occupied so many offices, that they came to be known as T'ung pan-ch'ao 佟半朝, the family that "fills up half the Court".
[2/4/3b; 3/331/4a; 4/117/1a; Mêng Sên, Ch'ing-ch'u san ta i-an k'ao-shih (see bibl. under Fu-lin); Liaoyang hsien-chih (1927) 32上/21b; T'ien Wên [q. v.], Ku-huan t'ang chi (ming-piao) 2/24a.]
T'UNG Yang-hsing 佟養性, d. 1632, Ch'ing general, was a native of Fu-shun, Liaotung. Some members of his family served as officials under the Ming regime, and one of his cousins, T'ung Yang-chên [q. v.], was a military officer. About the year 1616 T'ung Yang-hsing began to communicate secretly with Nurhaci [q. v.] who in that year proclaimed himself Khan of the Later Chin Kingdom (後金國). Before long, however, his treasonous activities were discovered by Ming officials who put him in prison. Escaping custody, he joined Nurhaci who made him a baron of the third class and gave him a princess for wife. For this act of treason his entire clan was persecuted; some members were executed, some were imprisoned, and others fled. In 1621 he took part in the Manchu occupation of Liaoyang and was rewarded by being made a viscount of the second class. In 1631 a corps of artillery with forty recently constructed cannon was formed and T'ung was placed in command. Meanwhile he was made the first commander of the newly created Chinese detachment. Later in the same year his artillery corps acquired fame while besieging Tsu Ta-shou [q. v.] at Ta-ling-ho. In 1632 he was rewarded for his ability in directing a military maneuver. He died in the same year. In 1656 he was given the posthumous name, Ch'in-hui 勤惠.
The Chinese detachment which T'ung Yang-hsing commanded in 1631 and 1632 was the nucleus from which the Eight Chinese Banners were formed as more and more Chinese were added to it. In 1633 the command was given to Ma Kuang-yüan 馬光遠 (posthumous name 誠順, d. 1663), who had joined the Manchus three years before. In 1637 this Chinese unit was divided into two wings, one commanded by Ma, the other by Shih T'ing-chu 石廷柱 (1599–1661, posthumous name 忠勇) who had joined the Manchus in 1622. In 1639 these two wings were further divided into four Banners, and in 1642 the Eight Chinese Banners were organized after the Manchu pattern. T'ung's descendants were assigned to the Chinese Plain Blue Banner.
A son of T'ung Yang-hsing, named Puhan 普漢, succeeded to the rank of viscount in 1634. In 1637 the rank was given to Puhan's younger brother, Liu-shih 六十, and in 1652 it was raised to an earldom of the third class. A son of Liu-shih, named T'ung Kuo-yao 佟國瑤 (d. 1689,
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