# Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/T'ieh-pao

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​T'IEH-pao 鐵保 (T. 冶亭, H. 梅庵), Feb. 28, 1752–1824, Feb. 2, official, was a member of the Donggo Clan and belonged to the Manchu Plain Yellow Banner. It is reported that an ancestor who was taken to Donggo—near K'uan-tien, southeast of Mukden—by the Ju-chên (see under Nurhaci), probably in the twelfth century, was descended from the Sung Emperor Ying-tsung 宋英宗 (personal names 趙曙 and 趙宗實, 1032–1067). Under the Manchu dynasty the family produced a line of military men, T'ieh-pao being the first to attain prominence in letters. He became a chin-shih in 1772 and was appointed a secretary in the Board of Civil Offices—later (1778) rising to a department director. His talents were highly commended by A-kuei [q. v.], and in 1780 he was made a supervisor of Imperial Instruction, thus ​becoming a member of the Hanlin Academy. Degraded early in 1781, he gradually worked his way up, and in 1785 was again made a department director in the Board of Civil Offices, and concurrently an expositor of the Hanlin Academy. After several promotions he became, early in 1799, senior vice-president of the Board of Civil Offices, but within a month—for scolding a subordinate—was degraded for a time to a sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat. Thereupon he was sent to Mukden as vice-president of the Board of War in Manchuria and was later transferred to the Board of Punishments with the concurrent post of governor of Fêng-t'ien-fu. Later in the same year (1799) he was recalled to Peking to serve as Vice-president of the Board of Civil Offices, and early in 1800 was appointed director-general of Grain Transport. Then he served as governor of Shantung (1803–05) and governor-general of Kiangsu, Anhwei and Kiangsi (1805–09). For failure to report the murder of one magistrate by another, he was discharged (1809) and banished to Urumchi where he soon (1810) obtained a pardon and was appointed assistant to the military governor residing at Kashgar. Recalled in 1811, he rose to the presidency of the Board of Ceremonies (1813) and then of the Board of Civil Offices (1813–14). In 1814 he was denounced by Sung-yün [q. v.] for a mistrial in Kashgar that resulted in the execution of several Mohammedans. Again he was sentenced to banishment, this time to Kirin where he was ordered to serve under the military governor. After four years in exile he was pardoned (1818), recalled to Peking, and given the rank of a librarian of the Supervisorate of Imperial Instruction. In 1821 he was permitted to retire with the title of an official of the third grade.
Celebrated as a man of letters, T'ieh-pao served as one of the directors for the compilation of the second edition of the general history of the Manchu Banner system, known as Pa-ch'i t'ung-chih, 342 + 12 chüan (see under Li Fu), which was commissioned in 1786 and printed in 1799. Likewise he was authorized by Emperor Jên-tsung to compile an anthology of poems by members of the Imperial Family and by Bannermen, entitled 熙朝雅頌集 Hsi-ch'ao ya-sung chi, 134 chüan, which was completed in 1804 with the help of Fa-shih-shan [q. v.], Wu Tzŭ (see under Wu Hsi-ch'i) and others, and printed by Juan Yüan [q. v.] early in 1805. During his last days T'ieh-pao wrote a chronological autobiography, entitled 梅庵年譜 Mei-an nien-p'u, 2 chüan, which he included in the collection of his literary works, entitled 惟清齋全集 Wei-ch'ing chai ch'üan-chi (also known as Mei-an ch'üan-chi), 19 chüan, printed in 1822. As a calligrapher he ranked with Liu Yung and Wêng Fang-kang [qq. v.].
T'ieh-pao served as director or examiner at many examinations and was famous for patronizing those of his disciples who became chü-jên or chin-shih at the examinations he conducted. Among such were Juan Yüan, Na-yen-ch'êng, P'an Shih-ên [qq. v.] and Wu T'ing-ch'ên (see under Shih Yün-yü). T'ieh-pao's younger brother, Yü-pao 玉保 (T. 德符, H. 閬峯, 1759–1798), was also a member of the Hanlin Academy and served as senior vice-president of the Board of Civil Office from 1797 to 1798. Yü-pao left a collection of poems entitled 閬峯詩鈔 Lang fêng shih-ch'ao (also known as 蘿月軒存稿 Lo-yüeh hsüan ts'un-kao).
[1/359/1b; 2/32/38b; 3/101/22a; 5/9/10b; 7/43/6a; 26/2/37b; 29/6/17a.]
Fang Chao-ying