Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/239

Rh chih (1931) 41/1a; Chronological autobiography entitled 黃山年略 Huang-shan nien-lüeh (not consulted).]

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 FA-shih-shan 法式善, Feb.–Mar., 1753–1813, official, scholar and poet, was a Mongol whose family belonged to the Plain Yellow Banner of the Imperial Household Division. After the Manchu conquest of China his ancestors resided in Peking and many of them served as minor officials. Shortly after his birth Fa-shih-shan was adopted by Ho-shun 和順 (d. 1761), an uncle who was an overseer of the Imperial Armory. Ho-shun's Chinese wife, née Han 韓, was a poetess who left a collection of verse, entitled 帶綠草堂遺詩 Tai-lü ts'ao-t'ang i-shih, 1 chüan (1797). To his foster mother Fa-shih-shan owed much of his early education. In 1778, at the age of sixteen (sui), he graduated as hsiu-ts'ai, and during the ensuing two years obtained his chü-jên (1779) and chin-shih (1780) degrees. Thereafter, as a bachelor, and then as a corrector of the Hanlin Academy, he participated in the compilation of the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu (see under ). In 1783 he was made tutor of the Imperial Academy and two years later became deputy supervisor of Imperial Instruction. Though promoted in 1786 to a readership in the Hanlin Academy, he was degraded in 1791 to the post of an assistant department-director of the Board of Works, owing to poor grades in his examination at the Academy. Two years later, however, he was appointed libationer of the Imperial Academy, a position he held for six years (1793–99). During his term in office he won high recognition for his services and for his scholarship. For this reason he is often ranked with —the two being regarded as the ablest bannerman libationers in the Ch'ing period. In the spring of 1799, when Emperor Jên-tsung sought political advice, Fa-shih-shan presented to him a memorial consisting of eighteen treatises on educational and administrative affairs. Unfortunately, however, his treatise on the military settlement of bannermen on the northern frontiers incurred the displeasure of the emperor, and Fa-shih-shan was degraded to a compilership in the Hanlin Academy. In 1801 he rose to be an expositor, but in the following year was again degraded because of his poor attainments in the regular examination of the Academy. It took him three years to regain his position as expositor.

After 1801 Fa-shih-shan, and others were engaged, under the direction of Grand Secretary Ch'ing-kuei (see under ), in the compilation of the 國朝宮史續編 Kuo-ch'ao kung-shih hsü-pien, 100 chüan, a work on the history of the Imperial Palace. This is a continuation of the Kuo-ch'ao kung-shih which was completed in 36 chüan in 1770. Owing to a few errors discovered in his work, Fa-shih-shan was degraded in 1806 to be expectant deputy supervisor of Imperial Instruction, but upon the completion of the Kuo-ch'ao kung-shih hsü-pien in the autumn of 1810 he was ordered to serve in the Imperial Study. Both the original work and the continuation were preserved in manuscript in the Palace library, but were printed in 1925 and in 1932, respectively, the title of the latter being then changed to Ch'ing (清) kung-shih hsü-pien. Late in his official career Fa-shih-shan was one of the senior editors of two great collectanea of prose works compiled by Imperial order, namely the Ch'uan T'ang wên (see under ) and the 國朝文頴續編 Kuo-ch'ao wên-ying hsü-pien, 108 + 58 + 10 chüan, a continuation of the Kuo-ch'ao (Huang-Ch'ing) wên-ying (see under ). The continuation was completed in 1810 and was printed soon after in the Palace printing-office.

Fa-shih-shan retired from office before the completion of the Ch'uan T'ang wên, which was in 1814. His residence, known as Shih-k'an 詩龕 or Wu-mên Shu-wu 梧門書屋, was famous for its bamboo garden and for its rich collection of books, paintings, and calligraphy. It was built on the site of the residence of the Ming Grand Secretary, Li Tung-yang 李東陽, north of the Ti-an Gate, Peking. Being a great admirer of Li, Fa-shih-shan wrote several poems in praise of him and compiled a chronological biography of him, entitled 李文正公年譜 Li Wên-chêng kung nien-p'u which was first printed in 1803 at Yangchow by an intimate friend, Wang Ch'i-sun (see under ). In the following year Fa-shih-shan enlarged and printed the nien-p'u in 7 chüan, in Peking. He also collated Li's collected works, 懷麓堂集 Huai-lu t'ang chi, 100 chüan, which was first printed in 1518–19 and was reprinted in 1681–82. He intended to print his collated edition of this collection, but when he discovered that T'an Wan 譚琬 and other 227