Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/105

Rh CH'ÊN Mêng-lei 陳夢雷, b. 1651, scholar, was a native of Hou-kuan (Foochow). In 1670, at twenty sui, be became a chin-shih and was selected a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. , also a native of Fukien, entered the Academy in the same year and the two became intimate friends. They were made compilers in 1672, and soon afterward both asked for leave. Ch'ên, who left Peking a few months later than Li, arrived at Foochow early in 1674. The San-fan Rebellion had just broken out (see under ) and staged a revolt in Fukien, forcing many local men of note to join him. Li Kuang-ti went to Foochow, but after a few days he left for his home in An-hsi and therefore was not drafted into Kêng's service. Ch'ên Mêng-lei, having his residence in Foochow, Kêng's capital, was unable to depart and so was compelled to accept a post with the rebels. Ch'ên claimed later that he feigned illness and did not serve in Kêng's court. However that may be, he made an agreement of mutual help with Li when the latter was in Foochow, and persuaded him not to join the rebels. With Li on the Manchu side Kêng was in a position to send valuable secret information which Li could relay to the Manchus. It may be surmised that the agreement was really for mutual protection—should Kêng be victorious Ch'ên would help Li, and should the Manchus win Li would use his influence to save Ch'ên. In 1675 Li sent a secret memorial to Emperor Shêng-tsu after which his position as a loyal subject became secure. After the collapse of Kêng's rebellion in 1676 Ch'ên begged Li to save him by informing the emperor that the two had collaborated in framing the secret memorial. According to Ch'ên's account Li agreed to do this, but refrained from mentioning Ch'ên's name in the memorial for fear that if the document were intercepted Ch'ên, then in rebel hands, would be endangered. When the two were about to leave for Peking Li's father died and he returned home. Ch'ên proceeded to Peking alone (1678) and there discovered that he was accused by former rebels of having joined Kêng's court. He returned to Fukien and tried in various ways to clear himself, but failed. In 1680 he was arrested as a traitor and, though he pleaded innocent, he was sentenced to death along with Kêng Ching-chung and others. Nevertheless, early in 1682 his sentence and that of three others were commuted to enslavement and banishment. About the same time twenty-five insurgents were executed. Li maintained that he had privately begged the emperor to pardon Ch'ên, and thus was instrumental in saving Ch'ên's life. But Ch'ên was infuriated at Li's failure to report to the emperor that both had a part in drafting the above-mentioned memorial. Soon after his arrival in Mukden where he was exiled, Ch'ên wrote Li accusing him of faithlessness. Their friendship from then on was severed, and Ch'ên repeatedly denounced Li as a traitor.

Ch'ên's life in exile was at first very onerous. The property of his family in Foochow was confiscated and his wife was sent to join him in exile. Then his father, Ch'ên Hui-chieh 陳會捷, died. Ch'ên, being now a slave, was compelled to serve certain masters in Manchuria to whom he had been allotted. In the course of time, however, he came to be esteemed as a learned man by the gentry in his place of exile. He became a teacher and learned both to speak and to write Manchu. In 1698 Emperor Shêng-tsu celebrated his victory over by visiting the tombs of his ancestors near Mukden. Ch'ên managed to be received by the emperor, and owing to his scholarly attainments was pardoned and was brought back to Peking late in that year. There he served the emperor's third son,, as teacher and secretary. By 1705 he felt so secure at Court that he determined to reopen his case against Li Kuang-ti, but his memorial was not transmitted by the officials.

While serving in the household of Yin-chih Ch'ên Mêng-lei began to compile a classified encyclopedia consisting of extracts copied from various works. In 1701 he persuaded Yin-chih to finance the project further so that the encyclopedia would include as many excerpts as possible. These Ch'ên selected and classified with the help of a number of copyists. For source-material he drew on his own library and that of Yin-chih—the two collections amounting to some fifteen thousand chüan. This work began in November 1701 and the first draft was completed in May or June 1706—according to a letter which Ch'ên wrote to Yin-chih on the last-named date. In this letter Ch'ên reported on his scheme of classification and on the work that had up to that time been accomplished. He called the encyclopedia Hui-pien 彙編. Along with his letter he submitted a table-of-contents and a statement of the general purpose of the work, for presentation to Emperor Shêng-tsu. He hoped thus to gain the emperor's approval for 93