Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/134

Rh All these four depositories were constructed on the same general plan. By imperial decree of August 16, 1782 three more sets were ordered to be prepared for the Wên Hui Ko 文匯閣 at Yangchow, for the Wên Tsung Ko 文宗閣 at Chinkiang, and for the Wên Lan Ko 文瀾閣 at Hangchow (see under, , and ). All three were completed by 1787 and were the only ones open to students possessing the requisite credentials. During the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64) the sets in Yangchow and Chinkiang were entirely destroyed, and the one at Hangchow partially so. By 1926 the copy in Hangchow was almost completely restored by transcription from the Wên Ching Ko copy which was then in the Metropolitan Library. The basic printed books and manuscripts from which these seven transcriptions were originally made were (with the exception of those that were borrowed from private collections) deposited in the Hanlin Academy where students could consult them on application.

As soon as the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu was initiated Emperor Kao-tsung ordered that a smaller collection of the most important titles be copied which could more easily be housed in a study in the palace. Two such sets, comprising 473 works, were transcribed and given the comprehensive title Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu hui-yao (薈要). Only one of these sets is now in existence; the other was also destroyed with the Yüan-ming Yüan.

In sponsoring the compilation of these great manuscript libraries it is possible that Emperor Kao-tsung had in mind, not only the preservation of ancient literature, but the detection and suppression of specific works regarded as hostile to the reigning dynasty. Be this as it may, it is significant that at the time the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu was compiled thousands of works with their printing-blocks were destroyed and a considerable number of authors were persecuted (see under ).

For his work in connection with the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu, Chi Yün was several times promoted, frequently honored by gifts, and usually exempted from punishment for editorial errors. In 1773 he was made a sub-reader in the Hanlin Academy and in 1776 a reader. In the latter year the Wên Yüan Ko was completed and Chi Yün was appointed librarian—an office that was abolished in 1788 after which the library was under the jurisdiction of the ministers of the Imperial Household. When thirteen bibliophiles were rewarded in 1774 for the loan of rare items to the Ssŭ-k'u, Chi Yün was one of nine to be given a copy of the phrase dictionary, P'ei-wên yün-fu (see under and ), the four largest contributors being given a copy of the famous encyclopaedia, Ku-chin t'u-shu chi-ch'êng (see under ). When the first complete set of the library was presented to the throne (1782) the memorial that accompanied it, elegantly written in the balanced prose, or p'ien-t'i 駢體 style, is said to have been drafted by Chi Yün. A separate edition of this memorial, entitled Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu piao-wên chien-shih (表文箋釋) in 4 chüan, appeared with annotations in 1915. In 1782 Chi was promoted to the post of junior vice-president of the Board of War and three years later was made president of the Censorate.

Meanwhile many errors were discovered in the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu; some, of course, had previously been noted, but were not regarded seriously. But in 1787 the emperor was much disturbed when he himself found errors, even at random. That summer he ordered all the officials in the capital who could be spared to recollate the sets in Peking and at the Summer Palace. The collators found, in addition to blunders of copyists, remarks unfavorable to the Manchus (see under and ) which were expunged. For allowing such works to be incorporated into the Library, Chi Yün undertook to make, at his own expense, the necessary corrections and to substitute new works for those that were banned. A number of former collators were also induced to proceed to Jehol to collate the Library there at their own expense. The revision of the three supplementary sets was completed in 1789. At the same time Lu-fei Ch'ih and Lu Hsi-hsiung were punished. In 1790 Chi Yün was again chastened by being ordered to revise the two sets of the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu hui-yao. Errors in the first four sets of the complete work were inevitable, in view of the fact that the copyists were not paid directly but were rewarded with official posts after they had transcribed a given number of words within a limited time. Some perhaps employed other copyists, less responsible than themselves, to do the work for them. For that reason, when the three supplementary sets were made, the emperor specifically ordered that the copyists should be paid from the national treasury and should work under strict supervision.

Chi Yün and Tai Chên were good friends and 122