271 Chêng Chung 鄭眾 (T. 季產). Died A.D. 114. A eunuch, native of Nan-yang in Honan, who acquired great influence over the Emperor Ho Ti of the Han dynasty. In A.D. 89 he was appointed magistrate at 鈎盾 Kou-tun, and was subsequently ennobled as Marquis, being the first eunuch upon whom such an honour had been conferred.
272 Chêng Ho 鄭和 Died A.D. ?1431. A eunuch of Yünnan, who distinguished himself as a military officer in the rebellion which set the Emperor Ch'êng Tsu on the throne. In 1405 he sailed from Woosung with a large fleet to cruise along the coasts of Cambodia and Siam; some say to demand tribute, others say to search for the vanished Emperor Hui Ti. In 1408 and 1412 he conducted naval expeditions to the countries of south-eastern Asia, going as far as Ceylon, and inducing many States to send envoys back with him to China. In 1415 and again in 1421 he returned with the foreign envoys to their native States in order to open trading relations with them; and in 1424 he was sent to Sumatra. He returned from this last expedition to find a new Emperor on the throne, and in 1425 he was appointed chief Commandant at Nanking. Five years later, as no envoys had come to Peking, he and his old lieutenant 王景弘 Wang Ching-hung visited seventeen countries, including Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. On his death at an advanced age, the thirty States with which he had re-opened relations ceased to deal with China. He was styled the 三保太監, and has been said by some to have introduced the practice of opium-smoking into China.
273 Chêng Hsieh 鄭俠 (T. 介夫). Died A.D. 1119. A native of 福清 Fu-ch'ing in Fuhkien, who graduated as chin shih and entered upon a public career. Seeing the evils consequent upon the innovations of Wang An-shih, and pitying the condition of the people, he memorialised the Emperor Shên Tsung; but not
