Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/452

Rh of 1678, with the help of Chinese soldiers under Governor-general Tung Wei-kuo 董衛國 (d. Jan. 1684), he succeeded finally in defeating Han Ta-jên and forcing him to surrender. He then advanced to Ch'a-ling in Hunan, which had been recovered a few months earlier. After the death of Wu San-kuei Labu's army advanced and at the beginning of 1679 he recovered Hêng-chou and other cities, continuing on into Kwangsi and Yunnan. In 1681, after seven years of campaigning, he was recalled to Peking where he soon died. A year after his death he was retrospectively accused of inefficiency in operations at Chi-an and posthumously stripped of his titles.

[1/221/9b; 34/124/16b; Liu Chien 劉健, 庭聞錄 T'ing-wên lu (1915, Yü-chang ts'ung-shu edition) 5/8b-11a; Tung-hua lu K'ang-hsi 21: 6, 21: 12; Haenisch, E., T'oung Pao 1913, p. 85.]

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LAN Ting-yüan 藍鼎元, Sept. 19, 1680–1733, Aug. 1, official and author, was born in Chang-p'u, Fukien. His father, Lan Pin 藍斌, was a scholar, and his mother (née Hsü 許, 1661–1713) was commended for her many virtues to the governor, , and to the provincial commissioner of education, Shên Han 沈涵. About the year 1703 he ranked first as hsiu-ts'ai, but never succeeded in passing the provincial examinations. Nevertheless he was immediately taken into the office of Shên Han. In 1707 Chang Po-hsing founded the Ao-fêng (鼇峯) Academy where Lan and other scholars of the province were invited to edit the writings of former philosophers. In 1710 Lan felt it incumbent upon himself to retire from active service to his home in order to support his aged mother and his grandparents by writing and teaching. He remained in seclusion until 1720, devoting his spare time to study. When in the following year revolted in Formosa a cousin of Lan, Lan T'ing-chên (see under ), brigade general of Namoa, led a flotilla and defeated the rebels after seven days. Lan Ting-yüan was with the army during the entire campaign, and thus was able to acquire first-hand the information which he afterwards used in his writings and discussions about Formosa. In 1724 he was chosen to go to Peking as a student of the Imperial Academy and in the following year helped in the compilation of the Ta-Ch'ing i-t'ung chih (see under ), his thorough knowledge of the southeast coast being of value in this work. His reputation as a geographer spread, and ministers leaving the capital to undertake duties in the provinces flocked to him for information concerning the regions in which they were to be stationed.

In 1728 introduced Lan to Emperor Shih-tsung. They discussed geographical and historical matters, river and sea transportation, and methods of governing Formosa. Shih-tsung appointed him district magistrate of P'u-ning, Kwangtung, and a month later Lan also became acting magistrate of Ch'ao-yang. In this double capacity he distinguished himself for the subtle and effective ways in which he suppressed bandits, and for his severity with the sung-shih 訟師, or lawyers who preyed upon simple folk by pretending to teach them schemes for getting money and evading the law. His wisdom in settling legal cases led the common people to believe he had supernatural aid. Zealous in furthering the interests of sound learning he personally arrested and had executed a woman who called herself "The Latter Day Leader of the Heavenly Religion" (後天教主) and her husband who was known as "The Fairy Duke," (仙公). Transforming the house which they had used as a temple for their cult into the Academy called Mien-yang Shu-yüan 棉陽書院, he there had sacrifices performed to various Sung philosophers and authorized the appropriation of a sum of money from the taxes for the employment of teachers and for scholarships.

Lan's career as district magistrate ended unfortunately. He had gained the enmity of the intendant of Hui-chou and Ch'ao-chou for examining too closely into transactions connected with the distribution of grain during a famine, whereupon the intendant brought six charges against Lan, the chief of which was bribery. As a result he was removed from office by imperial decree and imprisoned. Meanwhile the intendant was promoted to provincial judge. Lan's innocence, however, was generally recognized, both by the common people and by the officials. The prefect ordered his release and invited him to compile a history of the prefecture. The governor general, Omida 鄂彌達 (d. 1761), invited him to stay with him as secretary. In 1732 Omida addressed the throne vindicating Lan of all guilt in the P'u-ning 440