Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Daišan
DAIŠAN 代善, Aug. 19, 1583–1648, Nov. 25, the first Prince Li (禮親王), was the second son of Nurhaci [q. v.], founder of the Ch'ing Dynasty. At first Daišan held the rank of Hošoi Beile 和碩貝勒, the highest that a Manchu prince could have before 1636. In 1607 he distinguished himself by assisting Šurhaci and Cuyen [qq. v.] in a battle against the Ula tribe, and for reward received the title, Guyen Baturu 古英巴圖魯 ("exploring hero"). Hence in Chinese accounts he is sometimes referred to as Kuei-yung-chieh 貴永介. In 1613 he was again prominent in warfare against the Ula. In 1616, when Nurhaci selected four men as beile of special rank to assist him in the administration, the first place was given to Daišan, the other places being filled by Amin, Manggûltai, and Abahai [qq. v.]. From 1618, when the campaign against China began, until 1622 Daišan was the leading general and, as captain of the Plain Red Banner, played an important part in the capture of Fushun (1618), in the great victory at Sarhu (1619), and in the occupation of Shên-yang (1621). In 1621 he and the other three ranking beile took turns monthly as assistants to Nurhaci in the direction of national affairs. Five years later, when Nurhaci died, Daišan used his influence to make the princes and generals agree to Abahai's accession to the throne. However, he and Manggūltai and Amin continued to take turns as assistant administrators until 1629. Thereafter their power was gradually curtailed (see under Abahai).
In the meantime Daišan took part in most of the campaigns of Abahai against China (1629–34). By 1636 Abahai assumed the title of emperor—so successful was he in centralizing the power in his own hands. Daišan was given the rank of a prince of the first degree with the designation Li (see above) plus the title "Elder Brother" (兄). In 1643 Abahai died and there was a conspiracy of princes to make Dorgon [q. v.] emperor instead of Abahai's son, Fu-lin (q.v., Emperor Shih-tsu). Again Daišan decided the issueby supporting Fu-lin and by exposing the conspirators—including his own son, Šoto (see under Dorgon), and his grandson, Adali (see under Lekedehun), eldest son of Sahaliyen [q. v.]. Thus Abahai and his descendants owed their accession to the throne to Daišan.
It seems that Daišan never claimed power for himself. In 1643 he led a council of princes to appoint Jirgalang [q. v.] and Dorgon as co-regents during Emperor Shih-tsu's minority. In 1644 he followed Dorgon to Peking where he died four years later. He was not accorded any special posthumous honors such as he deserved, except that the sum of 10,000 taels instead of the usual 5,000 was given his family for his funeral and that a tablet was erected to his memory. His work for the dynasty and the Imperial Family was more appreciated by later emperors. In 1671 he was given by Emperor Shêng-tsu the posthumous name Lieh 烈. In 1754 Emperor Kao-tsung ordered that his name be celebrated in the Temple of Princes at Mukden. In 1778, Emperor Kao-tsung lauded him and Jirgalang, Dorgon, Haoge and Yoto [qq. v.] for their illustrious exploits in the establishment of the dynasty and ordered that their names be celebrated in the Imperial Ancestral Temple. At the same time the princedoms of these five heroes, as well as those of Dodo [q. v.], Šurhaci, and Lekedehun, were given rights of perpetual inheritance. The designation of Daišan's princedom, which, after his death, had been twice altered (see under Mandahai and Giyešu), was then restored to Li, and the inheritor ranked higher in the Court ceremonies than any other prince.
Daišan had, eight sons. The seventh, Mandahai, inherited the first degree princedom which passed to his son. But in 1659 the princedom was taken from Mandahai's branch of the family and given to Daišan's grandson, Giyešu, whose descendants held it till the close of the dynasty (see under Chao-lien). Of the other sons of Daišan the eldest, Yoto, founded the princedom, K'o-ch'in (克勤郡王), and the third, Sahaliyen, held the rank of Prince Ying (穎親王). Sahaliyen's son, Lekedehun, was the founder of the princedom, Shun-ch'êng 順承. Daišan's fourth son, Wakda 瓦克達 (d. 1652), held the rank of a prince of the second degree with the designation, Ch'ien (謙郡王). He was canonized as Hsiang 襄, but his princedom was not accorded the right of perpetual inheritance.
[1/222/5a; 2/1/1a; 3/首3/1a; 清皇室四譜 Ch'ing Huang-shih ssŭ-p'u; Chao-lien [q. v.], Hsiao-t'ing tsa-lu; Hauer, H., K'ai-kuo fang-lüeh.]
George A. Kennedy