Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/348

Rh sung. Hu was granted an audience with the Emperor and was honored with four large characters in the Imperial handwriting, reading 耆年篤學 Ch'i-nien tu-hsüeh, "Advanced in Age but Diligent in Study". A summary of the Yü-kung chui-chan, entitled Yü-kung chui-chih chieh-yao (節要), 1 chüan, was made by Wang Hsien-k'o 汪獻珂, a native of Chang-chou, Kiangsu; and a list of corrections to Hu's work, prepared by under the title Yü-kung chui-chih chêng-wu (正誤), 1 chüan, is included in the I-chih chai ts'ung-shu (see under ). Hu's maps were corrected by under the title 胡氏禹貢圖考正 Hu-shih Yü-kung t'u k'ao-chêng, 1 chüan, which appears in the Huang-Ch'ing ching-chieh hsü-pien (see under ).

In 1706 Hu printed his second important work on the Classic of Changes, entitled 易圖明辨 I-t'u ming-pien, "A Clarification of the Diagrams in the Changes", 10 chüan, which was completed in 1700 when the author was visiting Peking. This work was regarded by Liang Ch'i-ch'ao (see under ) as the most valuable contribution of Hu Wei to Chinese scholarship, and as significant in its sphere as the Shang-shu ku-wên shu-chêng by Yen Jo-chü. In the I-t'u ming-pien Hu Wei investigated the origin and development of the various illustrations or diagrams (known as 河圖 Ho-t'u, 洛書 Lo-shu, etc.) which had been so long attached to the text of the Classic of Changes that they came to be regarded as an integral part of it. These illustrations were originally drawn by the Taoist priest, Ch'ên Tuan 陳摶, and were transmitted through Mu Hsiu 穆修 and Li Chih-ts'ai  李之才  to the great Sung philosopher, Shao Yung 邵雍. Thereafter the illustrations attracted the attention of other Sung scholars such as Chou Tun-i 周敦頤, Ch'êng Hao 程顥 , Ch'êng I 程頤 , and Chu Hsi 朱熹 , who founded a new Confucian scholarship later known as the Sung Learning 宋學. By the time of Hu Wei the conclusions of the Sung scholars had dominated Chinese thought for some 600 years. Their interpretations of the Changes were regarded as authoritative and the diagrams were attributed to a remote antiquity, even to the time of the legendary emperor, Fu Hsi 伏羲. By disclosing the real provenance of the diagrams and differentiating them from the actual text of the Changes, Hu Wei was able to deal a severe blow to the cosmology of Sung Neo-Confucianism and thus place the study of the Changes on a sound historical basis. Prior to his investigations several similar studies appeared, among which are the following: I-hsüeh hsiang-shu lun, 6 chüan, by, written in 1661; I-hsüeh pien-huo, 1 chüan, by ; and 河圖洛書原舛編 Ho-t'u Lo-shu yüan-ch'uan pien, 1 chüan, and the 太極圖說遺議 T'ai-chi t'u-shuo i-i, 1 chüan, both by. But it was Hu Wei who made the most exhaustive study of the subject.

During the years 1704–09 Hu Wei completed a work on the chapter in the Classic of History known as the Great Plan, which he entitled 洪範正論 Hung-fan chêng-lun, 5 chüan. This work was first printed by Hu Hui-ên's grandson, Hu Shao-fên 胡紹芬, in 1739. Hu Wei also wrote a work on the Great Learning under the title 大學翼真 Ta-hsüeh i-chên, 7 chüan. The above-mentioned four works by Hu were copied into the Ssŭ-k'u Manuscript Library (see under ). Other works attributed to him are: 詩箋辨疑 Shih-chien pien-i, 2 chüan; 吳興典錄 Wu-hsing tien-lu; and 他山錄 T'a-shan lu; but these seem to be no longer extant. Hu's verse was collected under the title 東樵遺詩 Tung-ch'iao i-shih.

Hu Wei had four sons, one of whom, Hu Fang-t'êng 胡方騰, was district magistrate of Ta-t'ung, Shansi, during the years 1721–23. Two of Hu Wei's grandsons achieved distinction as writers: Hu Yen-Ying 胡彥穎 left a work entitled 北窗偶談 Pei-ch'uang ou-t'an, 3 chüan; and Hu Yen-shêng 胡彥昇, a musician, produced a work on music, entitled 樂律表徵 Yüeh-lü piao-wei, 8 chüan, completed in 1755. Like his grandfather, Hu Yen-shêng presented this work to Emperor Kao-tsung in 1762 when the latter was on a tour of South China. It was copied into the Ssŭ-k'u Manuscript Library.

[1/487/5a; 2/68/15b; 3/416/1a; 4/131/17a; 7/33/6b; 13/1/10b; 15/3/4b; 16/12/10a; 17/6/81a; 23/3/17b; 24/2/1a; Tê-ch'ing hsien-chih (1673) 6/7b, 16a, 7/16b, 22b, 續志6/2a–b, 3a, 8/4b–6b; Liang Ch'i-ch'ao 梁啟超, 清代學術概論 Ch'ing-tai hsüeh-shu kai-lun, passim; id. 中國 336