Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/244

Rh Mukden in 1644 Fan memorialized the princes regent urging them to seize this opportunity to conquer an empire, but in so doing to spare the lives of the common people and refrain from the destruction that characterized former invasions.

Fan Wên-Ch'êng accompanied in the expedition to Peking and suggested to him many ways of putting into effect the new Manchu regime and adapting it to the Chinese political organization. He recommended, for example, the introduction of extra sessions of the civil-service examinations, remittance of burdensome taxes, and the proper burial of the last Ming emperor. Although partially involved in 1651 in the case of Ganglin and Kicungge (see under ) who were condemned to death for having altered the official records of the reign of Nurhaci, Fan got off with but a brief suspension from office. In the following year he was made a member of the Council of princes and high officials and was raised to the hereditary rank of viscount of the first class. He retired in 1654, and three years later the emperor ordered that his portrait be painted and kept in the palace. He was canonized as Wên-su 文肅. Of his sons the best known was.

[1/238/2b; 3/1/3a; 4/4/1a; Tung-hua lu, Shun-chih 1/4b, 2/4b; China Review IX, 1880-81, pp. 95–97; Fan Ch'êng-mo, Fan Chung-Ch'ên kung wên-chi, 5/2b.]

2em

 FANG I-chih 方以智, Ming official and scholar, member of the politico-literary group known as Fu-shê (復社), and later a monk, was a native of T'ungch'êng, Anhwei. He came from a prominent family; his grandfather, Fang Ta-chên 方大鎮, was in 1622 vice-president of the Supreme Court of Justice (大理寺少卿); and his father, Fang K'ung-chao 方孔炤 , served (1638) as governor of Hu-kuang (Hunan and Hupeh) where he fought against but was defeated (1639). Censored by Yang Ssǔ-ch'ang (see under ), he was imprisoned (February 4, 1640) and banished to Shaohsing. Recalled in 1642, he was made supervisor of military settlements in Shantung and Chihli with headquarters at Tsinan.

Fang I-chih took his chin-shih degree in 1640 and was appointed a corrector in the Hanlin Academy with assignment as tutor to Chu Tz'ǔ-chiung 朱慈炯 (b. 1632), third son of the emperor ( q.v.). When took T'ung-kuan, Shensi, Fang memorialized the emperor for a post in the army, but the appointment did not materialize. On April 25, 1644 Peking fell to Li Tzŭ-ch'êng and Fang was taken prisoner, but was freed, it is said, upon payment of a ransom. Hearing that the Prince of Fu (see under ) had set up his court at Nanking, Fang came to join him. He found the new court, however, under the domination of and. The latter, though a fellow-townsman of Fang, was unfriendly to him because of his connection with the Fu-shê party in which he and three friends—,, and —had been active. When Juan Tach'êng initiated a wholesale arrest of Fu-shê members, Fang I-chih escaped in disguise as a drug-peddler to southeastern China. After the fall of Nanking the Prince of T'ang (see ) set up a court at Foochow and Fang was invited to join him, but declined. When was proclaimed emperor at Chao-ch'ing, Kwangtung (December 24, 1646), Fang I-chih accepted appointment as junior secretary of the Supervisorate of Instruction. In 1647 he was made concurrently vice-president of the Board of Ceremonies and Grand Secretary, but was soon dismissed. Although he was repeatedly recalled, he never returned to official life. He made his residence at P'ing-hsi ts'un 平西村, a village near P'ing-lo, Kwangsi, but before long the Manchus took P'ing-lo, and Fang was made captive. The enemy, failing to win him over to the Manchu cause, finally set him free. Thereafter he became a monk, took a monastic name, and spent the remainder of his life in travel, taking care, however, to change his name as he moved from one monastery to another. In 1671 he went to Chi-an, Kiangsi, where he paid respects to the tomb of Wên T'ien-hsiang (see under ). He died at Wan-an, Kiangsi, while on a pilgrimage.

At the age of fifteen (sui) Fang I-chih was already well-versed in the classics and in literature. His interests covered many fields, including astronomy, geography, music, mathemat- 232