Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/185

Rh son, Ch'iu Hsing-chien 裘行簡. The latter was given the degree of chü-jên in 1775 and later served as acting governor-general of Chihli (1805-06).

[1/327/1a; 3/85/4a; 3/190/32a; Hsin-chien hsien-chih (1871) 33/4b, 41/3a, 16b, 27b.]

2em

 CHOU Liang-kung 周亮工, May 7, 1612–1672, July 17, scholar and official, was born in Nanking. His ancestors, originally from Nanking, removed in the Sung period to Chin-ch'i, Kiangsi. His grandfather made his home in Hsiang-fu (Kaifêng), Honan. His father lived mostly in Nanking but the family retained its registry at Hsiang-fu where Chou Liang-kung took his district and provincial examinations. He became a chin-shih in 1640 and a year later was appointed magistrate of Wei-hsien, Shantung, where in 1642 and 1643 he successfully defended the city against the attack by the Manchu forces under. Early in 1644 he was called to Peking and was made a censor, but a few days after his appointment Peking fell to the rebel leader,. Chou escaped to Nanking but did not serve in the Court of. In 1645, when the Manchu army under conquered Nanking, Chou joined the new regime, serving in northern Kiangsu, first as salt controller of the Huai River region (1645) and then as intendant of the Huai-Yang Circuit (1646). In 1647 he was sent to Fukien where he served as provincial judge (1647–49), as junior financial commissioner (1649–53), and as senior financial commissioner (1653–54). During these years of service in Fukien he subdued certain bands of criminals and office seekers, successfully defended several cities against the armies of, and in various ways won the esteem of the people. Though busily occupied, he found time to make notes about the customs and products of Fukien, which were published in 4 chüan, under the title 閩小記 Min hsiao-chi, and were reprinted in 2 chüan in several ts'ung-shu. This work contains a passage on the introduction of the sweet potato to Fukien from the Philippine Islands about the year 1590.

In 1654 Chou Liang-kung was summoned to Peking and made senior vice-president of the Censorate. In June 1655, two months after he was raised to the rank of junior vice-president of the Board of Finance, he was accused by T'ung-tai (佟岱 or 屯泰), governor-general of Fukien and Chekiang, of corruption and of cruelty to culprits while he was in Fukien. Chou was dismissed and sent to Foochow for trial. In the meantime T'ung-tai, by intimidating the local judges, obtained testimony against Chou. However, the successes of the naval forces of Chêng Ch'êng-kung in Fukien and Chekiang caused the removal of T'ung-tai in 1656. While Chêng's forces attacked the city of Foochow, Chou, though a prisoner, was called upon by local officials to help in the defense of the city. Under his leadership the invaders were repelled, and his trial was resumed. After T'ung-tai's removal, the judges were no longer afraid to declare Chou innocent, but as some of them had previously turned in a verdict of guilty, they were themselves tried to ascertain why they had changed their minds. In 1658 Chou and the judges and witnesses were all escorted to Peking where the case was taken over by the Board of Punishments. As bribery was suspected, the prisoners were cross-examined and several of the judges died of injuries inflicted upon them. Although slated first for capital punishment and then for banishment, Chou took his imprisonment so calmly that in 1660 he edited his own poems, entitled 賴古堂詩 Lai-ku t'ang-shih—a work printed in Nanking about 1661 by his eldest son, Chou Tsai-chün 周在浚. Chou Liang-kung also wrote during imprisonment a volume of miscellaneous notes in 10 chüan, entitled 因樹屋書影 Yin-shu-wu shu-ying, which was printed in 1667—Yin-shu-wu being the name he gave to the cell in which he was lodged. Finally in 1661 he and others involved in his case were released in the general amnesty that followed the enthronement of Emperor Shêng-tsu. Later in the same year, for his part in defending Foochow in 1656, he was rewarded with the rank of an expectant secretary to a provincial judge. Thereafter he served as intendant of the Ch'ing-chou Circuit, Shantung (1663–66), and as grain intendant at Nanking (1666–69). While in Nanking in 1667 he printed several of his works, including the Min-hsiao chi, the Yin-shu-wu shu-ying, and the 字觸 Tzŭ-ch'u, 6 chüan, the last being a work on divination by the use of ideographs. Again accused of corruption in 1669, he was sentenced to be hanged, but once more was released in a general amnesty of 1670. In the latter year, before he was set free, he burnt, for reasons unknown, all his writings and printing blocks, but spared the works of 173