Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/369

Rh without an error. Like his father, he studied the Classics with great penetration, and late in life completed the following works: 易說 I shuo, 6 chüan; 春秋說 Ch'un-ch'iu shuo, 15 chüan; and 禮說 Li shuo, 14 chüan. In the first of these he criticized the current texts of the Book of Changes, including the comments of Wang Pi 王弼 who had disregarded the interpretations of Han scholars. In the Ch'un-ch'iu shuo, Hui Shih-ch'i stressed the importance of the three ancient commentaries to the Spring and Autumn Annals, whose significance had, in his opinion, been overlooked by scholars after Wang T'ung 王通. In the Li shuo he emphasized the value of Chêng Hsüan's (see under ) comments on the Institutes of Chou (Chou-li) and disparaged those by the T'ang and Sung scholars. These three works by Hui Shih-ch'i, and the Shih shuo by his father, were later reprinted under the collective title 惠氏四說 Hui-shih ssŭ-shuo, and were also printed in the Huang-Ch'ing ching-chieh (see under ) and other collectanea. The distinguishing feature of Hui Shih-ch'i's studies is that he regarded Han scholarship as the most authoritative in all matters concerning the Classics. While he was thus able to develop the theory of the School of Han Learning advocated by, his critical technique lacked the perfection of his son, , who followed him in the same field.

Hui Shih-ch'i also studied astronomy and music, about which he is said to have produced two works: 交食舉隅 Chiao-shih chü-yü, 2 chüan; and 琴笛理數考 Ch'in-ti li-shu k'ao, 4 chüan. Several of his literary works were collected under the titles, Hung-tou chai chi (齋集) and Pan-nung (半農) hsien-shêng chi.

[1/487/8b, 9a; 2/68/21b; 3/124/1a; 3/224/28a; 7/33/11a; Ssŭ-k'u 6/8b, 16/8a, 19/8b, 29/7a; Wu-hsien chih (1933), 39下/13a, 66上/38b, 66下/4b, 6a; Morimoto Sugio 森本杉雄, 清朝儒學史概說 Shinchō jugaku-shi gaisetsu (1930) pp. 91–102: Yeh Ch'ang-ch'ih, Ts'ang-shu chi-shih shih (see under ) 4/47b.]

2em

 HUI Tung 惠棟, Nov. 18, 1697–1758, June 17 or 27, scholar, native of Yüan-ho (Soochow), was the second son of. He studied under his father and graduated as licentiate in 1716. Several years later he distinguished himself in Canton as one of the most brilliant of his father's many students. After Hui Shih-ch'i had expended his fortune (1731) in the repair of the city wall of Chinkiang, Hui Tung taught in his native city of Soochow. He competed in the provincial examination of 1744, but failed owing to infraction of the rules. When Emperor Kao-tsung ordered (1751) high officials to recommend to him learned students of the Classics Hui Tung was nominated by governors-general, and, but was not selected, and hence remained a private scholar throughout his life. Late in life (1754–57) he was employed by, then Commissioner of the Salt Administration at Yangchow. During this period he, Shên Ta-ch'êng (see under ) and other scholars worked for Lu Chien-tsêng in the compilation of the latter's Kuo-ch'ao Shan-tso shih-ch'ao. The studio of Hui Tung, styled Hung-tou chai (紅豆齋), was famous for its library.

Hui Tung developed further the theories of the School of Han Learning (see under )—a school that was interested in a philological or textual study of the classics as over against the ideological approach of the Sung and Ming scholars. This school stressed the importance of the supposedly oldest annotations, namely, those of the Han scholars, which for centuries had been neglected. Hui Tung's method of study, based on this point of view, was sound, and he produced works of lasting importance. But he was perhaps too credulous in his respect for Han scholarship as the final authority in matters pertaining to the Classics, being less liberal in this respect than his great contemporary,. His disciples, such as, and , followed him faithfully and became celebrated scholars in the field of textual criticism. These followers naturally came to organize a school which recognized Hui Tung as its founder—the so-called Wu (吳) or Soochow School.

Hui Tung was particularly interested in the textual criticism of the Classic of Changes. After K'ung Ying-ta (see under ) and other scholars had prepared, in 638 A.D., an annotated text of this classic under the title 周易正義 Chou-i chêng-i, 14 chüan, on the basis of the commentaries of Wang Pi (see under ), the comments of the Han scholars on the Changes were disregarded. Hui Tung made efforts to recover the texts of the Han period, chiefly from fragments preserved in the Chou-i chi-chieh (集解), 17 chüan, by the T'ang scholar, Li Ting-tso 357