宮保

The archaic usage referred to one of several titles during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. However, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, the title was merely honorific and did not necessarily mean that the person had anything to do with tutoring the crown prince. According to legend, because this title was bestowed upon Ding Baozhen, the inventor of Kung Pao chicken, it later came to be used as the name for the dish itself.

宮保

1. kung pao style of cooking (e.g. Kung Pao chicken)
2. (historical) senior tutor of the crown prince (during the Ming Dynasty, shorthand for 太子太保)
3. (historical) assistant to the senior tutor of the crown prince (during the Qing Dynasty, short for 太子少保)

   • 我只想到過寫遺囑，以為我倘曾貴為宮保，富有千萬，兒子和女婿及其他一定早已逼我寫好遺囑了，現在卻誰也不提起。
     我只想到过写遗嘱，以为我倘曾贵为宫保，富有千万，儿子和女婿及其他一定早已逼我写好遗嘱了，现在却谁也不提起。

     From: 1936, September 5, Lu Xun (魯迅), Death（《死》）

     Wǒ zhǐ xiǎngdào guò xiě yízhǔ, yǐwéi wǒ tǎng céng guì wéi gōngbǎo, fù yǒu qiānwàn, érzi hé nǚxu jí qítā yīdìng zǎoyǐ bī wǒ xiěhǎo yízhǔ le, xiànzài què shéi yě bù tíqǐ.

     The only thing that occurred to me was to write a will. Had I been royalty with extraordinary wealth, my sons and sons-in-law would have pressed me to write a will long ago, but no one brought up the matter then.

• 太子太保
• 太子少保

• Kung Pao chicken on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• 宮保雞丁 / 宫保鸡丁 on the Chinese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^zh
• 東宮三師 / 东宫三师 on the Chinese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^zh