Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/329

Rh reviser in the Historiographical Board, and in the same year wrote (from Ursis' dictation) and published a work on western hydraulics, entitled 泰西水法 T'ai-hsi shui-fa, 6 chüan, which was later included in the Nung-chêng chüan-shu (see below) and was copied into the Ssŭ-k'u Manuscript Library (see under ). In 1613 a number of instruments for the use of astronomical calculation were constructed with the help of missionaries. But owing to illness Hsü resigned in the same year and retired temporarily to Tientsin where he cultivated a farm and wrote a number of articles, such as 闢釋氏諸妄 P'i Shih-shih chu-wang (commonly known as P'i-wang), 1 chüan, a short treatise denouncing Buddhism; 諏諮偶編 Tsou-tz'ŭ ou-pien, 1 chüan; and a preface to the T'ung-wên suan-chih (see under ).

In 1616 Hsü Kuang-ch'i was recalled and reinstated in his former post as reviser in the Historiographical Board. But about this time a renewed persecution of Christians was begun in consequence of a memorial which Shên Ch'üeh (see under ) submitted to the throne in the fifth moon of 1616. In this crisis a number of Christians, including Alphonse Vagnoni (see under ), were arrested at Nanking. To answer Shên's charges against the missionaries, Hsü presented a memorial, later known as 辯學疏稿 Pien-hsüeh shu-kao, in which he praised the missionaries as "disciples of the sages" (聖賢之徒). During this period of persecution most missionaries sought safety in the families of Hsü Kuang-ch'i, Li Chih-tsao, and their relatives.

Early in 1617 Hsü was advanced to assistant secretary of the Supervisorate of Imperial Instruction, but owing to illness retired three months later to his farm near Tientsin. In 1618 when Fu-shun was taken by the Manchus, Hsü was recalled to Peking to be Supervisor of Instruction, and concurrently a censor. On August 7, 1619 he petitioned the Emperor to dispatch him to Korea as a special envoy to advise the Korean government in its struggle against the Manchus. Though the petition was disallowed, Hsü was ordered, on November 28 of the same year, to drill newly appointed recruits at Tungchow, east of Peking. Owing to lack of funds he asked his friends to contribute money to support the troops, and at the same time ordered from Macao four cannon of western design. These cannon did not get farther than Kuanghsin, Kiangsi, though destined for the capital. When ascended the throne (1620), it was ordered that Hsü must reduce his troops to 4,600 men. In the following year he once more retired to Tientsin on grounds of ill health. In the meantime (1621) Shên-yang and Liao-yang fell to the Manchus (see under ) and Hsü was again recalled to the capital, whereupon he once more (July 1, 1621) petitioned the emperor to send him on the above-mentioned mission to Korea. But as the suggestion was strongly opposed by Ts'ui Ching-jung 崔景榮, then president of the Board of War, the petition was once more denied. Hsü resigned and later returned to Shanghai where he wrote, from dictation by Francis Sambiasi 畢方濟, a treatise on the soul, under the title 靈言蠡勺 Ling-yên li-shuo, 2 chüan, printed in 1624. In 1622 Shên Ch'üeh was made Grand Secretary, the persecution of Christians was renewed, and missionaries were forced to go into hiding. In 1623 Hsü was offered the post of vice-president of the Board of Ceremonies, but declined, preferring still to remain in retirement.

Early in 1628, after the accession of, Hsü was recalled and made a diarist. In the following year he was promoted to senior vice-president of the Board of Ceremonies which later made public the results of competitive tests on the prediction of a solar eclipse that took place on June 21, 1629. Calculations were made by adherents of three schools of astronomy: the Chinese or Ta-t'ung 大統, the Mohammedan, and the Western. The predictions submitted by the first two schools were found to be erroneous whereas those submitted by Hsü were correct. A new demand arose for the revision of the calendar and Hsü, on recommendation of the Board of Ceremonies, was appointed to take charge of a newly-established Calendrical Bureau (曆局), located at Shou-shan 首善 Academy, east of the Catholic church inside the gate Hsüan-wu mên 宣武門, Peking—with Li Chih-tsao, Longobardi (see under ) and Terrenz (see under ) as assistants. Toward the close of the year (7629) Tsunhua, Hopei, fell to the Manchus, and Hsü was ordered to manufacture firearms in order to provide against a possible attack on the capital. Terrenz having died (May 13, 1630) and he himself being occupied with the manufacture of arms, Hsü recommended Johannes Adam Schall von Bell (see under ), and Jacques Rho (see under ) to assist in the calendrical work. In July 1630 Hsü was made president of the Board of Ceremonies. On December 4 Li Chih- 317