Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/248

Rh torial bureau of the Imperial Printing Establishment known as the Wu-ying tien. In the following year he and his family were freed and by edict of the new emperor, Shih-tsung, were permitted to return to their ancestral town of T'ung-ch'êng. Granted a year's leave in 1724, Fang returned to Peking in the following year, and although partially crippled he resumed his duties in the Wu-ying tien. In 1731 he was especially appointed to the office of a secretary of the Supervisorate of Imperial Instruction, a post rarely given to one who had not been admitted to the Hanlin Academy. After several promotions, he was made a sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat (1733), but requested permission to remain in the Wu-ying tien on the plea of the ailment in his feet. In the same year he was made a teacher to the bachelors of the Hanlin Academy and in the following year an associate director of the editorial bureau for the compilation of the anthology, Huang-Ch'ing wên-ying (see under ).

In 1735 Emperor Kao-tsung succeeded to the throne and in the following year he ordered Fang Pao to select and edit a collection of pa-ku or examination hall essays of the Ming and early Ch'ing periods as models for students in the examinations. This anthology in 41 chüan, entitled 欽定四書文 Ch'in-ting Ssŭ-shu wen, was printed in 1739. Fang Pao also served as a director of the bureau for the compilation of the commentaries to the Three Rituals, the 三禮義疏 San Li i-shu. The texts and commentaries were printed in 1748 under the titles: 周官義疏 Chou-kuan i-shu, in 48 chüan; 儀禮義疏 I-li i-shu, in 48 chüan; and 禮記義疏 Li-chi i-shu, in 82 chüan. He was appointed junior vice-president of the Board of Ceremonies but resigned early in 1738. He continued his editorial work, but was allowed the stipend of the higher post. When in 1739 the project for reprinting, in the Wu-ying-tien, the standard editions of the Thirteen Classics and of the Twenty-one Dynastic Histories began, Fang suggested ways of utilizing the most suitable editions, and of incorporating the collation notes on the Han shu, the Hou Han-shu, and the San-kuo chih which had been made by. Fang's suggestions were carried out, and Ho's unpublished manuscripts were borrowed for this purpose. In the same year (1739) Fang was censured by the emperor for recommending men for public office to whom he was personally obligated. In the edict relating to this matter it was pointed out that two of the men he had recommended had been his hosts in Peking. Fang was deprived of all rank, but was given a chance to redeem himself by working in the bureau for the compilation of the commentaries to the Three Classics on Rites. Upon his retirement soon after, he was granted the rank of a subexpositor in the Hanlin Academy, and spent the rest of his life (1742–1749) at his home in Nanking. His epitaph was written by who lamented that after Fang and  had passed on there were no great teachers left in the country.

Fang's whole life was devoted to study, and even in his official career he concentrated on literary activity. A bibliography of his works (see below) lists 39 titles. His collected works of 16 titles, known as 方望溪全集 Fang Wang-hsi ch'üan-chi, or 抗希堂十六種 K'ang-hsi t'ang shih-liu chung, were printed at various times by friends or disciples during the last thirty years of his life. Seven of these titles deal with the Classics on Rites but they were unimportant in comparison with studies on the same subject made by, and others. He also made a study of the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Tso-chuan, but was more interested in the literary style of these works than in questions of philology or history. Yet he was held in high esteem as a master of the ku-wên 古文 style and as founder of the T'ung-ch'êng School 桐城派. He himself had no intention of founding such a school, but was exalted by other writers after his death (see under ). Nevertheless he did state his views on this type of writing in his preface to an anthology of selected examples which he compiled in 1733 under the title 古文約選 Ku-wên yüeh-hsüan. His selections were made from the Han-shu, the Hou Han-shu, and from the writings of the "Eight Masters of the T'ang and Sung Dynasties" 唐宋八家, namely: Han Yü (see under ); Liu Tsung-Yüan 柳宗元, 773–819; Ou-yang Hsiu (see under ); Su Hsün 蘇洵, 1009–1066; Tsêng Kung 曾鞏, 1019–1083; Wang An-shih 王安石, 1021–1086; Su Shih 蘇軾, 1036–1101; and Su Chê 蘇轍, 1039-1112. Fang Pao maintained that by a study of this anthology a student might readily discover the i-fa 義法 or "purpose and mode of expression" of deeper works, and might more easily compose in the pa-ku or examination style. Some held that the anthology could serve as a key to the teachings of the sages, and open the door to fame and wealth through the examination system. This 236