Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Eidu
EIDU 額亦都, 1562–1621, Aug. 1, Manchu officer, was a member of the important Niohuru (鈕祜祿) clan which settled just north of the Korean border. His grandfather had established a home in a valley of the Yengge 英額 ("wild grape") range which formed the easternmost spur of the Long White Mountains (長白山) in the southeast of the present province of Kirin. Eidu's parents were murdered in a feud while he was still very young, and he himself escaped only through the protection of a neighbor who concealed him. At the age of twelve he took revenge by killing the murderer, after which he fled to the home of an aunt who was married to the chieftain of the fortress of Giyamuhû (嘉木瑚). Here he became a close friend of the chieftain's son, Gahašan hashû 噶哈善哈斯虎 (d. 1584), who later married Nurhaci's sister, or cousin. In 1580 Nurhaci, then twenty-one years old, passed through Giyamuhû and stopped at the chieftain's home. The eighteen year old Eidu was so impressed by his qualities of leadership that he immediately attached himself to him and remained his close associate for more than forty years. In 1583 he accompanied Nurhaci on his initial expedition against Nikan Wailan [q. v.], proving himself an able fighter. Four years later he captured the town of Barda, and received from Nurhaci the title of baturu, "conquering hero." After a long and successful career of military achievement he was attached in 1615 to the Bordered Yellow Banner, and made one of the five principal dignitaries in the government which was organized in the following year. In 1617 he captured a number of Ming fortresses in company with Anfiyanggû [q. v.], and in 1619 was in the forefront at the decisive battles waged by Nurhaci against the three armies of Yang Hao [q. v.]. He was richly rewarded for his services and given a sister of Nurhaci as one of his wives.
Eidu's second son, Daki 達奇 was brought up in the royal establishment, and married the fifth daughter (1597–1613) of Nurhaci. But Daki acquired an arrogant attitude towards the sons of Nurhaci, and this moved the devoted Eidu to adopt drastic measures. One day, at a family banquet to which all his sons were gathered, he seized the arrogant Daki and, drawing his dagger, addressed the assembly on the duty of respect toward superiors. Then warning them that all who disobeyed should "spill their blood on the same dagger", he led Daki into a side room and put him to death. This unnatural act made a profound impression on Nurhaci who called Eidu his most patriotic officer and bitterly mourned his death in 1621.
In 1634 Eidu was posthumously given by Emperor T'ai-tsung (i.e. Abahai, q.v.) the rank of a viscount which was first inherited by his sixteenth son, Ebilun [q. v.]. In 1636 the same emperor posthumously raised Eidu's rank to a duke (non-hereditary) with the designation, Hung-i kung 弘毅公, entered his name in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and moved his tomb near to that of Nurhaci. A stone tablet was erected in front of the tomb in 1654. The rank of viscount, inherited by Ebilun, was taken from him in 1637, owing to a misdemeanor, but was restored in 1713 and given to his son, Yende (see under Ebilun). After Yende was made a duke in 1724 the title of viscount was inherited by other branches of Eidu's family.
Eidu had sixteen sons, among whom the most prominent were the youngest, Ebilun, and the eighth, Turgei 圖爾格 (1596–1645, posthumous name 忠義). Turgei took part in most of the campaigns in Emperor T'ai-tsung's reign, and was highly regarded by the emperor for his bravery, especially in 1640 when he defended the emperor's headquarters against a nocturnal attack by the forces of Hung Ch'êng-ch'ou [q. v.]. For assisting Abatai [q. v.] in the successful invasion of Chihli and Shantung, Turgei was in 1643 made a duke of the second class (see under Ebilun). Seven years after his death his name was, like that of his father, Eidu, entered in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.
Among the other sons of Eidu the following may be mentioned: the third, Celge 車爾格 (d. 1645), who once directed the Board of Revenue (1640–43?); the tenth, Ildeng 宣(伊)爾登 (d. 1663, posthumous name 忠直), who fought in many battles and who held the rank of an earl; and the thirteenth, Coohar 綽(超)哈爾 (1601–1641, posthumous name 果壯), who lost his life in battle. Among the grandsons of Eidu the most illustrious was Centai 辰(陳)泰 (d. 1655, posthumous name, 忠襄). A son of Celge, Centai once served as a Grand Secretary (1651), and was made a viscount while commanding (1653–55) the Manchu forces in Hunan against Sun K'o-wang [q. v.] and other Ming generals. Many other descendants of Eidu held office throughout the Ch'ing period. The prominence of the family may also be gauged by the fact that eight of the eighteen companies (tso-ling) in the first division (ts'an-ling) of the Bordered Yellow Banner were captained in turn by his descendants.
[1/231/1a; 2/4/1b; 3/261/13a; 4/3/1a; 11/1/4a; 34/135/4a; Pa-ch'i Man-chou shih-tsu t'ung-p'u (see under Anfiyanggû) chüan 5.]
George A. Kennedy