Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Fu-hêng
FU-hêng 傅恆 (T. 春和), d. Sept. 1770, of the Fuca clan and a member of the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner, was the tenth son of Li-jung-pao (see under Misḥan), an uncle of Ming-jui [q. v.], and a younger brother of Kao-tsung's first empress. Rising from the post of junior bodyguard wearing the blue feather, he became (1742) superintendent of the summer palace, Yüan-ming Yüan. During the next six years he rose through the junior vice-presidency, the senior vice-presidency, and the presidency of the Board of Revenue to the position of an Associate Grand Secretary (1748), and finally in the same year to that of Grand Secretary. His services to the emperor were mostly military. In 1748, accompanied by Yüeh Chung-ch'i [q. v.], he was sent as commander-in-chief into the Chin-ch'uan region in western Szechwan to put an end to the rebellion. For the failure to suppress it Chang Kuang-ssŭ [q. v.] and No-ch'in (see under Chang Kuang-ssŭ) paid with their lives. Fu-hêng managed to over-awe the hardy Chin-ch'uan barbarians, who with their thousands of stone fortress towers (碉) and trenches were almost impregnable, and their principal chieftain, Solobun (see under Chang Kuang-ssŭ), came personally and submitted—after he had made certain from Yüeh Chung-ch'i that he would not be harmed. The surrender was really inconclusive, since some twenty years later the Chin-ch'uan people again caused serious difficulty (see under A-kuei). But Fu-hêng, upon his arrival at the capital in April 1749, was given the welcome of a victor and was made a duke of the first class with the designation Chung-yung 忠勇. Thereafter for almost a score of years he performed his duties as Grand Secretary.
Late in 1768, at his own insistence, Fu-hêng was sent as commander-in-chief to put new life into the campaign against the Burmese (see under Ming-jui and A-kuei). He arrived at T'êng-yüeh (Momein), Yunnan, in May 1769. Previously, lieutenant-general A-li-kun 阿里袞 (T. 松崖, d. 1770, posthumous name 襄壯) and others, who had been sent by the Emperor to inquire into the practicability of river as well as land attack on the Burmese, had replied that there was no healthful locality with timber sufficiently plentiful to provide boats. Fu-hêng greatly pleased Kao-tsung by reporting almost immediately after his arrival in Yunnan that there was a healthful climate, plenty of timber, and many docile barbarians to help the army build boats in the region outside of T'ung-pi-kuan on the border between Yunnan and Burma. There was then some fighting along the Irrawaddy and several Burmese chieftains surrendered. But Fu-hêng's speed and efficiency proved to be foolhardy since the army was decimated by tropical diseases and the soldiers suffered intensely. In December 1769 the army and Fu-hêng were recalled without having accomplished anything of importance. Fu-hêng memorialized, begging to be permitted to assume the blame for fathering this ill-starred Burmese venture. Kao-tsung, however, taking as precedent the attitude of Emperor Shêng-tsu towards his ministers in the war against Wu San-kuei [q. v.] insisted on taking the blame himself. Fu-hêng, still a young man, died this same year (1770), aged less than fifty (sui), from a disease he contracted while in Burma. His tablet was placed in the Temple of Eminent Statesmen and he was granted the posthumous name Wên-chung 文忠. His portrait, also, was hung in the Tzŭ-kuang ko (see under Chao-hui) among the likenesses of the hundred meritorious ministers and generals connected with the conquest of Sinkiang. Though Fu-hêng was extremely devoted to the Emperor, and punctilious in his observance of the proprieties (as evinced by his courteous refusal of imperial honors) he was criticized for extravagance and for the vehemence of his likes and dislikes.
Though Fu-hêng was not well versed in Chinese literature he was an able statesman. In 1755 he helped the emperor to decide in favor of the campaign against the Eleuths (see under Chao-hui), a campaign that resulted in the conquest of Ili and Chinese Turkestan. Hence it was appropriate that he should be appointed director-general of the Bureau for the compilation of the history of that campaign, entitled 平定準噶爾方略 P'ing-ting Chun-ko-êr fang-lüeh, commissioned in 1755, completed in 1770, and printed in 1772. It is a continuation of the P'ing-ting Shuo-mo fang-lüeh (see under Chang Yü-shu) which deals with the campaign against Galdan [q. v.] during the years 1677–98. The P'ing-ting Chun-ko-êr fang-lüeh is divided into three parts. The first part, 前編 Ch'ien-pien, 54 chüan, covering the years 1700–53, deals with the first unsuccessful campaign against the Eleuths which resulted in a truce; the second, or main part, 正編 Chêng-pien, 85 chüan, narrates the final stages of the conquest during the years 1753–60; the third part, 後編 Hou-pien, 32 chüan, contains the documents relating to the administration of the conquered territory in the years 1760–65. Among others who had a share in compiling this work may be mentioned Liu T'ung-hsün, Yin-chi-shan, Yü Min-chung, Chao-hui, Wang Ch'ang and Shu-ho-tê [qq. v.].
Fu-hêng had four sons: Fu-lung-an, Fu-k'ang-an, Fu-ch'ang-an [q. v.], and Fu-ling-an 福靈安, the eldest (d. 1767). The last-mentioned followed Chao-hui into Yarkand in 1759 when he was young and, for his courage and industry, was granted the hereditary rank of Yün-ch'i-yü. In 1767 he fought the Burmese under Ming-jui. He was married to the daughter of a prince. In 1796 the names of Fu-hêng, Chao-hui, Ho-lin [q. v.], and Fu-k'ang-an were placed in the Imperial Ancestral Hall.
[1/307/3b; 3/29/5a; Ch'ing lieh-ch'ao Hou Fei chuan-kao (see under Su-shun), chüan hsia, 2a.]
Rufus O. Suter