Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/347

Rh Hu Lin-i's memorials, his letters, and his nien-p'u were brought together under the title 胡文忠公遺集 Hu Wên-chung kung i-chi, 10 chüan, and printed in 1863 by Yen Shu-sên 嚴樹 [澍 chu] 森 who succeeded him as governor of Hupeh (1861–64). The collection was later enlarged to 86 chüan, printed under the same title in 1867, and later reprinted several times. While in Hupeh Hu Lin-i sponsored the editing of the famous geographical atlas, 皇朝中外一統輿圖 Huang-ch'ao Chung-wai i-t'ung yü-t'u, 31 + 1 chüan, based on the Ch'ien-lung map of the Empire (see under ), and on the atlas by. It takes account of geographical changes such as the altered course of the Yellow River (1855). When Hu died in 1861 the atlas was barely completed, but was printed in Wuchang by Yen Shu-sên in 1863.

[1/412/5b; 2/42/44b; 5/25/15b; 7/26/20a; 8/2/1a; Yang-chih shu-wu wên-chi 17/36a, 19/32b;  Yung-an wên-pien, chüan 4.]

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 HU Wei 胡渭, 1633–1714, Feb. 22, scholar, was a native of Tê-ch'ing, Chekiang, where his ancestors had migrated from Yü-yao in the same province. His great-grandfather, Hu Yu-hsin 胡友信, appointed (1570) district magistrate of Shun-tê, Kwangtung, is said to have achieved in his day a literary fame equal to that of Kuei Yu-kuang (see under ). Hu Wei's father, Hu Kung-chüeh 胡公角, was a chü-jên of 1624 who died in 1644 when his son was twelve sui. The country was then in turmoil and the youth took refuge with his mother (née Shên 沈) on a near-by mountain, continuing his studies under her supervision. At the age of fifteen (sui) he became a licentiate of the second class but failed, after several attempts, to qualify for a higher degree. He then went to Peking where he continued his studies in the Imperial Academy. Later he became a private tutor in the family of, teaching the latter's sons, among them Fêng Hsieh-i 馮協一. In 1678, when high officials were ordered to recommend scholars who might compete in the special examination known as po-hsüeh hung-tz'ŭ (see under ), it is said that Fêng P'u offered to submit Hu's name, but that the latter declined. When, in the spring of 1690, went home to continue the compilation of the Ta-Ch'ing i-t'ung chih (see under ) Hu Wei and three other scholars,, , and Huang I 黃儀 , were invited to assist him at Tung-t'ing shan 洞庭山, southwest of Soochow. Having there at his disposal many works on geography, Hu took extensive notes which, during the years 1694–97, he brought together in an important treatise on the geographical section of the Classic of History (Yü-kung or "Tribute of Yü"), under the title 禹貢錐指 Yü-kung chui-chih, 20 + 1 chüan, including 47 maps. The last two characters of the title, chui-chih, "pointing at the earth with an awl", he took from the chapter "Autumn Floods" in Chuang-tzŭ to indicate that his treatise was only a modest approach to a vast subject. But the work is lauded by the editors of the Imperial Catalogue (1781, see under ) as the most reliable and comprehensive treatment of the subject. James Legge says of it, in his translation of the Shoo-king (see under ), "The work cannot be too highly spoken of". It attempts to correct earlier identifications of place names and mountain ranges and to trace the courses of rivers—particularly the various inundations of the Yellow River. He also sets forth a number of suggestions for river conservancy. In 1699, while visiting his nephew, Hu Hui-ên 胡會恩, in Peking, Hu Wei presented a copy of the Yü-kung chui-chih to Li Chên-yü 李振裕 who wrote a preface for it. This preface, which was not included until a later printing of the work in 1705, is based largely on an earlier preface composed by Yen Yü-tun 嚴虞惇 during the years when Hu was in Peking (1699–1701). In the meantime Hu Wei completed another important work, entitled I-t'u ming-pien (see below), which he often discussed with scholars in Peking, such as, , and —the latter writing a preface to the work in 1700. Hu Wei returned to his native place in 1701 and completed drawing in 1702 a total of 47 maps, entitled 禹貢圖 Yü-kung tu, which were included in a later printing (1705) of the Yü-kung chui-chih. In 1705, when Emperor Shêng-tsu made his fifth tour of South China, Hu Wei presented this work to the throne through Cha Shêng (see under ), together with a prose poem, entitled 平成頌 P'ing-ch'êng

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