A Chinese Biographical Dictionary/Fan Ch'êng-mo
529 Fan Ch'êng-mo 范承謨 (T. 覲公). Died A.D. 1676. Graduating in 1652, by 1668 he had risen to be Governor of Chehkiang, where he earned a name for sympathy with the people. Promoted to be Viceroy of Fuhkien, he was seized by Kêng Ching-chung on the outbreak of his rebellion in 1674; and after an attempt to starve him into complicity had failed, he was kept in close confinement. He employed his leisure in composing verses and essays, which he scrawled with a bit of charcoal on the white-washed walls of his cell. In 1676 Kêng Ching-chung himself was forced to submit. He first compelled Fan to hang himself, after which he burnt Fan's corpse and dispersed the ashes, in the hope of destroying all traces of his crime. Fan's constancy however was reported to the Emperor K'ang Hsi, who caused his ashes to be collected and interred with high honours. A collection of his works, composed in prison, was published with a preface by the Emperor. Canonised as 忠貞.