Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/485

 salt receiver after 1803. It seems that Li Ju-chên then returned to Honan, remaining in that province for about five years. Thereafter he apparently went north, residing in or near Peking.

A work by Li Ju-chên on phonetics, entitled 音鑑 Yin-chien, or Li-shih (李氏） yin-chien, 6 chüan, was completed in 1805 and was first printed in 1810. Another edition of it was printed in 1868 to which 1 chüan of bibliography was added by Hung Ti-yüan 洪棣元. In writing this book Li Ju-chên applied his knowledge of both the Northern and the Southern pronunciations and so was able to make some radical improvements in orthodox phonetic theories. wrote two postscripts to the Yin-chien, in which he criticized Li Ju-chên for stressing only the sounds, neglecting the written characters, and disregarding references to earlier works. This criticism by Ho is an indication of how far Li Ju-chên's approach differed from that of his precursors, and also where his originality lay.

The famous novel by Li Ju-chên, entitled 鏡花錄 Ching-hua yüan, 100 chapters, was the result of some ten years of labor (1810–20). When first completed it was copied, circulated and read in manuscript. Though the date of the earliest printing is not definitely known, it is certain that a printed edition appeared in 1828. In 1829 it was reprinted in Kwangtung, supplemented by 108 pages of illustrations. In 1888 the Tien-shih chai 點石齋 (a publishing house famous for its lithographic work) of Shanghai printed it lithographically with new illustrations and a preface by. The Ya-tung Shu-chü 亞東書局 (Shanghai) printed a punctuated edition in 1923 with a long introduction by Dr. Hu Shih.

The background of the novel is laid in the time of the celebrated Empress Wu 武曌 or 武則天 (624–705), who reigned from 684 to 705 A.D. and in 690 changed the name of the dynasty from T'ang (唐) to Chou (周). The story centers round the adventures in various imagined overseas kingdoms of one hundred talented women who had been re-incarnated from different flowers. When the empress issued an edict to open the examinations to women as well as to men, these women competed successfully and received posts of various kinds. In his portrayal of these kingdoms Li Ju-chên gives an account of their customs and ridicules by contrast many customs then prevailing in China. Among the social problems he discusses are the double moral standard between the sexes, the neglect of women's education, and the evils of foot-binding and concubinage. Particularly effective is his description of the Women's Kingdom (女兒國) in which the relative position of the sexes is the reverse of that prevailing in China. In this kingdom the women are the overlords; the men stay at home, bind their feet, and adorn themselves with powder and rouge. Dr. Hu Shih regards the Ching-hua yüan as worthy of a permanent place in the world's history of the emancipation of women.

[Hu Shih, 鏡花緣的引論 in 胡適文存 Hu Shih wên-ts'un, second series (1924) 4/119, and 關於鏡花緣的通信 in Hu Shih wên-ts'un, third series (1930) 6/859; Ch'ien Ching-fang 錢靜方, 小說叢考 Hsiao-shuo ts'ung-k'ao (1916) 上/68; Lin Yutang, "Feminist Thought in Ancient China" in T'ien Hsia Monthly, vol. I, no. 2, pp. 127–150.]

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 LI Kuang-ti 李光地, Sept. 29, 1642–1718, June 26, official, was a native of An-hsi, Fukien. He was born in a scholarly family of moderate means which became impoverished in the course of the wars and lawlessness of the early Ch'ing period. In 1655, aged fourteen (sui), he and eleven members of his family were kidnapped by bandits but were rescued a year later by an uncle. He became a chin-shih in 1670, was selected a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy and was assigned to acquire the Manchu language. He later maintained that his interest in phonetics began with his study of Manchu. He was made a compiler in 1672 and a year later was granted leave to return home. In 1674 rebelled at Foochow and summoned many noted men-of-letters to his aid. Li Kuang-ti, realizing that not to side with Kêng might bring on difficulty for his family, went from An-hsi to Foochow to interview the rebel, but managed to depart soon on the plea that his father was ill. His friend,, was then staying in Foochow where the two agreed to help each other—Ch'ên would seem to favor Kêng while Li would act as a spy for the Manchus. Thus, whatever the outcome of the rebellion, each would have someone to plead his case with the victor. Li's family went into hiding in the mountains of southern Fukien. In 1675 he sent to Emperor Shêng 473