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Rh family (see under  and ). Hsü gleaned his facts from numerous sources, appending to each item his personal comment. The Hsiao-t'ien chi-chuan is a byproduct of the first work, consisting of classified biographies, not only of the princes and dominant figures who participated in the stirring events of that period, but persons in every walk of life. This work was left unfinished at the time of his death, but the task of completion was entrusted by him to his sons. The two elder sons, Hsü Ch'êng-hsi 徐承禧 and Hsü Ch'êng-tsu 徐承祖 (minister to Japan from 1884 to 1887), were preoccupied with official tasks. Hence the responsibility fell to the third and youngest son, Hsü Ch'êng-li 徐承禮, consul at Kobe from 1884 to 1887. He, with the help of a few outstanding scholars, edited it.

Hsü Tzŭ was the author of many other works, most of which were destroyed in the turmoil of the time. Among those in print are the 未灰齋文集 Wei-hui-chai wên-chi, 8 chüan, with a supplement in 1 chüan; and the 讀書雜釋 Tu-shu tsa-shih, in 14 chüan, both first printed in 1861.

[2/73/47b; 6/24/11b; Liu-ho hsien-chih (1884) 5 之 2/15b; Wei-hui-chai wên-chi, and supplement (1861, preface); 敝帚齋主人年譜 Pi-chou-chai chu-jên nien-p'u, 1 chüan, supplement 1 chüan (1874); Fu Yün-lung 傅雲龍, 日本圖經 Jih-pên t'u-ching 18/71b.]

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HSÜ Wên-ching 徐文靖, 1667–after 1756, classicist, was a native of Tang-t'u, Anhwei. He did not become a chü-jên until 1723. Thirteen years later (1736) he was recommended by Kan Ju-lai (see under ), for the po-hsüeh hung-tz'ŭ examination (see under ), but failed to qualify. In 1744, Chang P'êng-ch'ung (see under ), recommended him to Emperor Kao-tsung and presented two of his classical studies and some of his poetry to the throne. Again, in 1750, the governor of Anhwei, Wei Chê-chih 衛哲治, recommended him for his classical scholarship to the Emperor. In the following year Hsü participated in the metropolitan examination and failed to pass, but because of his advanced age was awarded the rank of corrector in the Hanlin Academy. He spent his remaining years as the chief lecturer at the Ts'ui-lo 翠螺 Academy in his native town.

Eighty or ninety percent of Hsü's writings were lost during the floods and political strife of the first half of the nineteenth century. There is, however, a collection of six of his works (printed at different times) under the title, 徐位山先生六種 Hsü Wei-shan hsien-shêng liu-chung. The first work, entitled 天下山河兩戒考 T'ien-hsia shan-ho lang-chieh k'ao, 14 chüan, printed in 1723, is a study in fên-yeh 分野, the ancient rudimentary scientific attempt to demarcate geographical boundaries by reference to the stars. The first eight chüan are critical notes to an earlier study by the T'ang Buddhist monk, I-hsing 一行 (683–727), cited in the New History of the T'ang Dynasty, 新唐書 Hsin T'ang-shu (31/13b). The last six chüan are inquiries into material of the Chin, Sui, and Sung histories, and into the theories of Westerners contemporary with Hsü. This work contains, in addition, 24 astronomical and geographical charts. The second work in the compilation, the 竹書統箋 Chu-shu t'ung chien, 12 chüan, printed about 1750, is a running commentary on the text of the Chu-shu chi-nien (see under ). The third work, entitled 禹貢會箋 Yü kung hui-chien, 12 chüan, printed in 1753, is a historico-geographical study of the Yü kung section of the Shu-ching, or Classic of History. It contains a catalogue of the mountains and rivers cited in the Classic, and eighteen maps with explanations. It compares favorably with a similar work by because it pushes further into problems unknown to the latter, but in certain respects is inferior to Hu's study, in that it places too much reliance on the mythological parts of the 山海經 Shan hai ching. The fourth work, entitled 管城碩記 Kuan-ch'êng shih chi, 30 chüan, printed about 1744, is a collection of Hsü's study notes on the classics and on philosophical, historical and other matters. The fifth, entitled 周易拾遺 Chou-I shih-i, 14 chüan, which Hsü wrote when he was eighty-nine sui, and the preface of which he wrote when he was ninety sui (1756), appears in this compilation under the title Ching-yen (經言) shih-i, with Chou-I shih-i as the sub-title. The sixth work is a collection of Hsü's literary efforts, entitled 志寧堂稿 Chih-ning t'ang kao, or 詩賦全集 Shih-fu ch'üan-chi.

[1/490/9a; 3/127/2a; 當塗縣鄉土志 Tang-t'u hsien hsiang-t'u-chih (1916), 2/31b.]

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