Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/425

Rh funds. Held responsible for their offense, Kao Pin was also arrested, but his own punishment consisted in having to witness their execution. He died at his post in Kiangsu (1755), and was canonized (1758) as Wên-ting 文定. His tablet was ordered (1757) to be entered in the temple erected in 1729 at Ch'ing-ho for Chin Fu, Ch'i-su-lo 齊蘇勒 (clan name 納喇氏, d. 1729), and Chi Tsêng-yün. After the tablet of Kao Pin was installed, the temple was known as Ssŭ-kung tz'ŭ 四公祠, or The Temple of the Four Conservancy Officials of the Reigning Dynasty. By an edict of 1786 his tablet was also entered in the Temple of Eminent Statesmen at the capital.

Kao Pin was industrious and conscientious in the performance of his duties. Even though occupied with official tasks he took a great interest in poetry and philosophy. His literary collection was published (latest preface dated 1762) by his son, Kao Hêng (see below), under the title 固哉草亭集 Ku-tsai tsao-t'ing chi, comprising 4 chüan of verse and 2 chüan of miscellaneous prose.

A son of Kao Pin, Kao Hêng 高恆, was acting salt censor at Tientsin (1750) and at Yangchow (1758–65). In 1768, while serving as acting vice-president of the Board of Civil Office he was executed for corruption and for receiving bribes during his term at Yangchow as salt censor. (See also ).

A son of Kao Hêng, Kao P'u 高樸, was senior vice-president of the Board of War from 1775 to 1778. In 1776 he was sent to Yarkand as the Imperial Resident of that city, but two years later was condemned to death for smuggling and for illegally selling jade from a government mine near Yarkand.

Although Kao Pin's son and grandson disgraced the family, a nephew,, was an able official and succeeded him in the work of river control.

[1/316/7a; 3/20/35a ; 11/47/34b; 碭山縣志 Tang-shan hsien-chih (1767) 2/10b; 清河縣志 Ch'ing-ho hsien-chih (1854) 3/15b, 5/9a with maps; Chang Ts'ai-t'ien (see under ), Ch'ing lieh-ch'ao Hou-fei chuan-kao (1924) 傳下 21b.]

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KAO Shih-ch'i 高士奇, Oct. 26, 1645–1703, literary man, was born in Ku-an, Chihli, and was brought up in Hangchow which he designated as his home when he registered for the examinations. His ancestral home was in Yü-yao, Chekiang. At nineteen sui, poor and forlorn, but gifted as a writer and calligrapher, he went north to try his fortune. Establishing his residence in Peking in 1665, he became a student in the Imperial Academy, winning by competitive examination in 1671 a position as clerk in the Hanlin Academy, and in 1675 a clerkship in the Supervisorate of Imperial Instruction. By 1677 his calligraphy and his skill in writing court poems so impressed the young Emperor Shêng-tsu that he was ordered to serve, together with, in the Imperial Study, although Chang was then an expositor of the Hanlin Academy and Kao was only a recently-appointed secretary of the Grand Secretariat—a difference of seven grades between them. But, like Chang, he was given a home west of the Palaces to be near when the emperor summoned. From this time until 1688 he was frequently in the emperor's company. In 1680 he was especially elevated to an expositorship in the Hanlin Academy and in 1687 was made a supervisor of instruction. He often lingered with the emperor till late at night, helping him in calligraphy and poetry. He accompanied him on many tours, concerning most of which he left intimate accounts: 松亭行紀 Sung-t'ing hsing-chi, concerning a journey to Jehol in 1681; 扈從東巡日錄 Hu-ts'ung tung-hsün jih-lu, concerning a journey to Mukden and Ula (Kirin) in 1682; 扈從西巡日錄 Hu-ts'ung hsi-hsün jih-lu, concerning a journey to Wu-t'ai-shan in 1683; and 塞北小鈔 Sai-pei hsiao-ch'ao, concerning a second journey to Jehol in 1683.

In 1688 Kao Shih-ch'i was involved in a bribery case and was relieved of his duties inside the Palace. Nevertheless he was entrusted with the compilation of several unimportant works. Early in 1689 he was especially commanded to accompany the emperor on his second tour of south China, in the course of which the emperor paid a visit to Kao's lavish garden near Hangchow. Later in the year Kao was accused by of having accepted bribes. According to Kuo's memorial, he is said to have entered Peking a poor student but became, in less than twenty-five years, a man of great wealth. Kao was then ordered to retire. Adopting Ping-hu, Chekiang, as his home, he remodelled an old mansion which he called Pei-shu 北墅 of which the main structure was called Chiang-ts'un tsao-t'ang 江村草堂. There in 1690 he printed a number of his works: 413