Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/241

Rh Perceiving that it was impossible to decline this appointment, he requested an audience with the emperor before proceeding to his new post. This audience took place in Peking in the summer of 1673. South China was then in ferment owing to the approaching San-fan rebellion (see under ).

Shortly after Fan Ch'êng-mo assumed his post at Foochow,, the third Prince Ching-nan (靖南王), was assigned the territory of Fukien but rebelled and threw in his lot with Wu San-kuei. Failing to induce Fan to become an accomplice in the plot, Kêng had him imprisoned on April 20, 1674. Bitterly opposed to the rebels, Fan attempted to starve himself to death, but failed. When hope of the success of the rebellion dwindled, Kêng Ching-chung was ready to reaffirm his allegiance to the Manchus, but fearing that his share in the revolt would be reported to the government, he ordered Fan Ch'êng-mo to hang himself on the night of October 22, 1676. Fan's corpse and those of fifty-three others of his staff who suffered a similar fate were burned. In 1677 Fan Ch'êng-mo was given the posthumous name, Chung-chên 忠貞, and in 1695 a temple was erected in Foochow to his memory. His friend,, was deeply affected by his death and composed an obituary notice in which he compared Fan to the famous Sung patriot, Wên T'ien-hsiang (see under ).

While imprisoned in Foochow, Fan Ch'êng-mo styled his cell Mêng-ku 蒙谷, "Dark Valley", and on its white-washed walls he scrawled essays and poems with the charred ends of half-burned sticks. These drafts were copied and were published in 1708, under the title 畫壁遺稿 Hua-pi i-kao, to which Emperor Shêng-tsu wrote a preface in 1718 at the request of Fan's son, Fan Shih-ch'ung 范時崇, president of the Board of War (1717–20). The Hua-pi i-kao was included in the collected works of Fan Ch'êng-mo, entitled Fan Chung-chên kung wên-chi (公文集), 10 chüan, printed by Fan Shih-ch'ung in 1708.

A younger brother of Fan Ch'êng-mo, Fan Ch'êng-hsün 范承勳, who died in 1714 at the age of seventy-four (sui), held posts as governor of Kwangsi (1685–86), governor-general of Yunnan and Kweichow (1686–94), and president of the Board of War (1699–1704). Fan Ch'êng-hsün's son, Fan Shih-i 范時繹 (d. 1741), rose in his official career to the presidency of the Board of Works (1732–34). Among the fifty-three who died with Fan Ch'êng-mo was Chi Yung-jên 稽永仁, a man of letters who also was skilled in medicine. The latter's literary remains, 抱犢山房集 Pao-tu shan-fang chi, in 6 chüan, were edited by his son,, and were printed in 1704.

[1/258/2a; 3/341/28a; 4/119/2b; 29/2/5b; 盛京通志 Shêng-ching t'ung-chih (1769) 86/2b; Ssŭ-k'u 173/3b, 6a; Li Yü, 一家言 I Chia Yen series 2, 4/15b; China Review IX, 1880–81, p. 97–98; 稽氏宗譜 Chi-shih tsung-p'u (1907) 4/4a, 7/16a.]

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 FAN Ching-wên 范景文, Nov. 29, 1587–1644, Apr. 25, Ming official, poet and painter, native of Wu-ch'iao, Chihli, was the son of a prefect of Nan-ning, Kwangsi. After becoming a chin-shih in 1613 he made a good record as police magistrate in Tung-ch'ang, Shantung, and was promoted to the post of assistant director in the Board of Civil Appointments. He retired in 1620, was reappointed a director in the same Board in 1625, but resigned after less than a month as a result of difficulties with the eunuch. Made governor of Honan in 1629, he drilled a model army which he brought to the defense of the capital when it was threatened by a Manchu incursion in the following spring. He remained for two years in Tungchow (twelve miles east of Peking) to assist in defense operations, and then retired on account of his father's death. In 1635 he was made president of the Board of War at Nanking and maintained a firm resistance to the bandit-leader,.

In 1642 Fan Ching-wên was summoned to Peking and made president of the Board of Works. Two years later, soon after he was promoted to a Grand Secretary, the capital was taken by. Believing that the emperor had fled safely to the south, he committed suicide by throwing himself into a well after the bandit forces entered the city. For this, his chief claim to fame, he was given the posthumous, title of Grand Tutor and was canonized by the southern Ming government as Wên-chên 文貞. In 1652 he was honored, along with others, by the Manchu government and canonized as Wên-chung 文忠. (One source states that he was finally canonized as Wên-lieh 文烈.) His literary works, 范文忠公集 Fan Wên-chung kung chi, are found in 229