By staff reporter HUO JIANYING

ONE of the many outstanding women in Chinese history is Kong Sizhen -- the Han princess who devoted her life to upholding the 268-year-long Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Kong Sizhen, daughter of Han general Kong Youde, is immortalized in the name Gongzhufen (tomb of the princess), a district and subway station at the western end of Beijing’s Chang’an Avenue. Kong Sizhen was the only woman ever to have been entrusted with the post of chief imperial guard, or to have been given command of troops defending the southwestern border. Her spirit of self-sacrifice is regarded with similar reverence as that of Joan of Ark of France and Elizabeth I of England.

Famous Father

Kong Sizhen’s father, Kong Youde, served as deputy regional commander in Dengzhou in today’s Shandong Province during the declining years of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In 1631 he was ordered to lead reinforcements to eastern Liaoning Province where battles against the encroaching Qing army were in full swing. When he and his troops reached Wuqiao in today’s Hebei Province they were caught in relentless rain and snow, and no supplies of food and clothes were forthcoming. Sickened at the betrayal of the corrupt Ming court, Kong and his 3,000 soldiers rose up in rebellion, but were routed by Ming troops.

Caught between the enemy and a ruling dynasty in which he was utterly disillusioned, Kong felt he had no choice but to surrender to the Manchu troops. Upon being notified, the Qing monarch sent troops to assist Kong Youde, and traveled five kilometers out of the city to meet and mediate with him. Touched by this integrity and courtesy, Kong Youde swore allegiance to the Qing court.

During the final battles to overthrow the Ming Dynasty Kong Youde led forces in a spectacular 3,000-kilometer sweep from China’s frozen Northeast to tropical Guangxi in southwest. After the founding of the Qing Dynasty he was awarded the title Duke Dingnan (stabilizer of the south) and given command of the southwestern areas.

His daughter Kong Sizhen was born in 1645, and raised in the Qing army barracks. In 1652 an insurrectionary peasant army surrounded the duke’s headquarters in Guilin. In the ensuing battle Kong Youde sustained a mortal arrow wound, but nonetheless stood fast to his post. When the enemy eventually invaded the city, he set fire to his mansion and committed suicide with his two wives. Saved by her father’s troops, Kong Sizhen was sole survivor of her 100-member family.

Entering the Bosom of the Imperial Family

After the rebellion had been quashed, Qing emperor Shunzhi gave the order for Kong Sizhen to be sent to the capital city. In 1654 she was escorted to Beijing, and greeted by a throng of civil and military officials on the outskirts of the city. She was later taken into the imperial palace to meet the empress dowager Xiaozhuang. Acting on maternal impulse, the queen mother gathered the girl into her arms, saying: “You have suffered so much so young. Let me be your mother from now on.”

In recognition of his loyalty and self-sacrifice, the Qing court gave Kong Youde and his wives a lavish funeral in Beijing, and built a memorial temple to them. As his daughter, Kong Sizhen could not inherit Kong Youde’s imperial title, but she was nonetheless treated as a duke and given the responsibility of her father’s office. The emperor also conferred on her the title Princess Heshuo.

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was one of China’s most famous female politicians, having acted as advisor to her husband Huangtaiji, emperor son Shunzhi and emperor grandson Kangxi. She played a significant role in achieving national unification and political stability in the early Qing years. Her keen insight made clear to her that Kong Sizhen, as offspring of a Han duke loyal to the Qing court, could be instrumental in consolidating the Qing reign. In a bid to cultivate Kong Sizhen in both the civil and military arts, she organized studies for Kong in literature, martial arts and politics together with her crowned son.

Xiaozhuang had intended to marry Kong Sizhen to Emperor Shunzhi, but the two had developed a fraternal bond that precluded amorous passion, and Shunzhi’s death at the age of 23 finally put paid to the proposed union.

Upon the emperor’s demise, Xiaozhuang made Kong Sizhen top ranking commander of the imperial guard, her main duty being to guard the imperial mausoleums. The purpose of the appointment was to give her adopted daughter experience in military leadership.

A Marriage of Necessity

The queen mother’s motivation for all these preparations was anticipation of trouble from three feudal lords in the southwest.

At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty four former Ming generals who, like Kong Youde, had made outstanding contributions to the establishment of Qing rule, had dukedoms and feudal estates in southwestern China conferred upon them. After Duke Dingnan Kong Youde’s death, his estate in Guangxi was provisionally headed by Sun Yanling, one of his subordinates.

The Qing court spent half its revenue on military expenses incurred by the remaining three vassalages, but as these three feudal lords grew richer and stronger they began to defy central jurisdiction, and soon made themselves kings de facto of their territory. They were consequently a great political, economic and military threat to the central administration.

Most recalcitrant was Duke Pingxi (pacifier of the west) named Wu Sangui of Yunnan and Guizhou, who disregarded all central government policies and orders not to his liking, and who in the space of a few years expanded his troops from 20,000 to 100,000. Wu also levied tariffs and taxes in addition to those imposed by the Qing court and put his henchmen into official posts without obtaining the warrant of the central government. In order to fill his coffers for a future rebellion, he exploited mines, minted his own currency, dominated border trade, and kept all revenue thus earned.

The ruling emperor at this time was the young and ambitious Kangxi. His grandmother Xiaozhuang helped him plan the dissolution of these three suzerainties. The first step was to secure Guangxi by marrying Kong Sizhen to its charge d’affaires Sun Yanling, on the pretext that their fathers had previously arranged the marriage. Kong had no affection for Sun who, according to historical documents, was illiterate and coarse. But she was aware of the political significance of the marriage, and how much power she had over troops in the southwest by virtue of their unquestioning loyalty to her father’s memory. In the interests of the nation, and in reciprocation of the kindness shown to her by the imperial family, Kong Sizhen married Sun Yanling and followed him to Guilin in Guangxi. Emperor Kangxi had granted Sun Yanling further official titles in a bid to secure his loyalty, in addition to having Kong Sizhen in place to keep an eye on him. The marriage was, as might be expected, doomed. The princess loathed her husband, and lived separately from him, consenting to see him by appointment only.

Quelling a Revolt

In 1673, the aging Duke Pingnan (pacifier of the south) Shang Kexi requested permission to retire. Emperor Kangxi immediately agreed and proposed revocation of the now subdued feudal estate of Guangdong. Alarmed at the turn of events, the remaining two errant dukes decided to test this new ground by offering to surrender their feudal estates. Upon the emperor’s prompt assent, Wu Sangui rose up in Yunnan in a revolt supported by the other two dukes that in its first years swept across 11 provinces.

Wu Sangui fully expected Sun Yanling to join in the insurrection. Sun was willing but constrained by Kong Sizhen, resolutely loyal to the Qing court and, more importantly, held in high esteem by the army. It was only when the insurgents won the upper hand that Sun Yanling felt empowered to take revenge on Kong Sizhen and the Qing court for the years of humiliation he had suffered at their hands. After putting his wife under house rest, he brought the army under his control by executing 30 officers, and arrested the governor of Guangxi. He then proclaimed himself Duke Anyuan (placator of the remote) and sent troops to support Wu Sangui.

Kong Sizhen did everything she could to reverse the situation by bringing pressure to bear on Sun Yanling. He was aware of her meeting with a local magistrate Fu Honglie in which she convinced him to bring government troops to Guangxi in support of troops loyal to the memory of her father. These concerted forces could then take coordinated action to suppress the rebellion. Sun Yanling began to vacillate under this threat and was on the point of surrender. Wu Sangui, however, having got wind of Kong Sizhen’s strategy, had him assassinated and occupied Guilin City. He arrested Kong Sizhen and took her to Yunnan but stopped short of killing her in view of her status as sole descendant of the late Duke Dingnan and high prestige among the people and soldiery.

Kong Sizhen was not freed until four years later in 1681, when the revolt of the three feudatories had been quelled. She returned to the capital at Emperor Kangxi’s behest, and at the age of 36 was finally able to live at peace among the millions of people she had worked so selflessly to defend. Kong lived the life of a recluse until her death at the age of 68. Like her father before her, she was accorded a state funeral by the Qing court with full honors in recognition of her meritorious service to the nation. She is remembered as the paradigm of filial piety and patriotic self-sacrifice.