Xianghou (祥厚) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Xianghou as a general, military officer, and royal family member. This record brings together 13 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Xianghou	祥厚	Xianghou
Title	Imperial clansman	宗室
Posthumous	Loyal and Brave	忠勇	Zhongyong

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0004

Roles

General
Military Officer
Royal Family Member

Life and dates

Death

Manner: killed in battle after taking dozens of wounds / 身被數十創，死之 · Place: Nanjing banner garrison / 江寧駐防城 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 咸豐三年 · Western Year: AD 1853
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:398:s0026, qingshigao:398:s0024, qingshigao:398:s0025

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 咸豐三年正月 · Western Year: AD 1853
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0007
Source Date: Text: 道光二十八年 · Western Year: AD 1848
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0006

Career and standing

Label: acting Governor-General / 兼署總督 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 咸豐三年 · Western Year: AD 1853
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:398:s0021
Label: General of Jiangning / 江寧將軍 · Action: appointed · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 道光二十八年 · Western Year: AD 1848
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0006
Label: Mongol deputy commander-in-chief of the Bordered Red Banner / 鑲紅旗蒙古副都統 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0005
Label: orderly in the Imperial Procession Guard / 鑾儀衛整儀尉 · Action: appointed
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0004
Label: hereditary Commandant of Cavalry / 騎都尉世職 · Action: inherited
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0004
Label: deputy commander at Shanhaiguan, Xiongyue, and Jinzhou / 山海關、熊岳、金州副都統 · Action: served
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0005
Label: posthumous name Loyal and Brave / 諡忠勇 · Action: granted
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0027
Label: Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent / 太子太保 · Action: posthumously-granted
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0027
Title: hereditary second-rank Commandant of Light Chariots / 二等輕車都尉世職 · Action: granted
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0027

Places and affiliations

Label: Qing / 清 · Relation: served
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0004
Organization: Bordered Red Banner / 鑲紅旗 · Relation: registered-in
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0004

Works and attributed material

Kind: memorial · Role: author · Co Author Person Ids: Huo Longwu (霍隆武), Fu Zhu Hong'a (福珠洪阿), Qi Suzao (祁宿藻)
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0009, qingshigao:398:s0010, qingshigao:398:s0011, qingshigao:398:s0012, qingshigao:398:s0013, qingshigao:398:s0014, qingshigao:398:s0015, qingshigao:398:s0016, qingshigao:398:s0017, qingshigao:398:s0018, qingshigao:398:s0019, qingshigao:398:s0020

Events and relationships

Kind: ritual · Role: honoree · Action: enshrined in Zhaozhong shrine and Nanjing special shrine
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0028
Kind: military · Role: defender · Action: held Nanjing with Yang Wending · Other Person Id: Yang Wending (楊文定) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 咸豐三年正月 · Western Year: AD 1853
Explicit event contextual date · qingshigao:398:s0007

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: loyal martyr who could hardly have succeeded against overwhelming odds · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · qingshigao:398:s0156, qingshigao:398:s0159

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Draft History of Qing, Chapter 398Volume 398 Biographies 185: Zong Shixianghou, Huo Longwu, Fu Zhu Hong A, En Zhang, Chen Shengyuan, Qi Suzao, Chen Kerang, Liu Tongying, Rui Chang, Jie Chun, Xi Ling A · 13 passages

Open chapter

宗室祥厚霍隆武福珠洪阿恩長陳勝元祁宿藻陳克讓劉同纓 Imperial clansman Xianghou; Huo Longwu; Fu Zhu Hong'a; En Chang; Chen Shengyuan; Qi Suzao; Chen Kerang; Liu Tongying

宗室祥厚，隸鑲紅旗，襲騎都尉世職，授鑾儀衛整儀尉。 Xianghou, a member of the imperial clan, was registered in the Bordered Red Banner. He inherited a hereditary commandant-of-cavalry post and was appointed an orderly in the Imperial Procession Guard.

咸豐三年正月，粵匪既陷武昌，兩江總督陸建瀛赴上游督師，祥厚偕江蘇巡撫楊文定留守江寧。 In the first month of 1853, after the Taiping forces had captured Wuchang, Governor-General Lu Jianying of the Two Jiangs went upriver to take command of the campaign, while Xianghou and Jiangsu governor Yang Wending stayed behind to defend Nanjing.

祥厚偕副都統霍隆武、提督福珠洪阿、布政使祁宿藻疏言：「督臣藉口江寧吃緊，趕回佈置，沿途險要，並不屯紮，上駛師船，一概撤回，專守水路之東西梁山。 Xianghou, Deputy Commander Huo Longwu, Regional Commander Fu Zhu Hong'a, and Provincial Commissioner Qi Suzao submitted a joint memorial: "The governor-general, pleading the crisis at Nanjing, hurried back to make dispositions; yet he left no garrisons at any of the strategic points along the way, recalled every war-junk that had been sent upriver, and concentrated his efforts only on holding the Eastern and Western Liang hills on the water route.

疏入，詔逮建瀛治罪，命祥厚兼署總督，與霍隆武、福珠洪阿、祁宿藻悉心防禦，以在籍前廣西巡撫鄒鳴鶴熟悉賊情，命同籌辦。 When the memorial reached the throne, an edict ordered Jianying arrested and punished. Xianghou was appointed acting governor-general and, with Huo Longwu, Fu Zhu Hong'a, and Qi Suzao, charged to organize the defense. Zou Minghe, the former Guangxi governor now at home and familiar with the rebels, was ordered to assist in planning.

祥厚偕霍隆武斂兵守駐防城，婦女皆助戰，逾日亦陷。 Xianghou and Huo Longwu drew their forces back into the banner garrison quarter. Women joined the fighting as well. A day later that stronghold too was lost.

祥厚手刃數賊，身被數十創，死之。 Xianghou killed several rebels with his own blade, took dozens of wounds, and died.

事聞，贈太子太保，予二等輕車都尉世職，諡忠勇。 When word reached the court, he was posthumously made Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, granted a hereditary second-rank commandant-of-light-chariots title, and honored with the posthumous name Loyal and Brave.

賊圍城，偕祥厚登陴固守，歷十餘晝夜，外城陷，同守內城，策馬督戰，受傷墮，力竭陣亡，贈都統，予騎都尉兼雲騎尉世職，諡果毅。 When the rebels besieged the city, he and Xianghou held the ramparts for more than ten days and nights. After the outer city fell they defended the inner quarter together. He rode out to direct the fighting, was wounded and thrown from his horse, and died when his strength gave out. He was posthumously made commander-in-chief, granted a hereditary cavalry command with an additional cloud-cavalry title, and honored as Resolute.

見督撫倉皇失措，各存意見，勸諫不聽，乃偕祥厚等密疏上聞。 Finding the governor-general and governor panicked and at odds with each other, he urged them in vain to pull together and finally joined Xianghou and others in a secret memorial to the throne.

曾國籓以聞，請附祀祥厚專祠，追諡文節。 Zeng Guofan reported the find and asked that Suzao be worshipped in Xianghou's memorial shrine. He was posthumously honored with the name Cultured and Upright.

忠勇得士心，為瑞昌所倚。 Brave and loyal, he won the soldiers' devotion and became Rui Chang's right hand.

祥厚倉猝專任，以孤城當方張之寇，寧有幸焉。 Xianghou, thrust suddenly into sole command with a lone city against a rebel army at the height of its power, could hardly have hoped to succeed.