Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/506

 early 1660's he was careful not to offend the powerful Manchu regents (see under ), but stood aloof from them. He was much relied upon by Emperor Shêng-tsu for his advice during the years of turmoil resulting from the rebellion of. After the rebellion was suppressed he was appointed (1682) to direct the compilation of several official works, including the chronicles of the revolt (P'ing-ting San-ni fang-lüeh, see under ). For his part in re-editing the Ch'ing T'ai-tsung Wên Huang-ti shih-lu (see under ), he was given the title of Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. After his death he was given various posthumous honors, and was canonized as Wên-ch'in 文勤. In 1710, in memory of his services, Emperor Shêng-tsu specially raised the ranks of one of his sons and a grandson.

Li Wei left two collections of poems: 心遠堂詩集 Hsin-yüan tang shih-chi, 12 chüan (printed in 1671 and again in 1677); and Hsin-yüan t'ang shih êr-chi (二集), 4 chüan. A collection of his works in prose, entitled Hsin-yüan t'ang wên-chi (文集), 12 chüan, was printed in 1691.

A clansman of Li Wei (a descendant in the seventh generation of an uncle of Li Kuo-p'u), named Li Tien-t'u 李殿圖, was a chin-shih of 1766 and a member of the Hanlin Academy, who served as governor of Anhwei (1801), of Fukien (1802–06), and of Kiangsi (1806). Li Tien-t'u's grandson,, likewise rose to be a Grand Secretary.

[11/256/1a; 2/7/31b; 3/3/3a; Kao-yang hsien-chih (1933), with portraits of members of the Li family and examples of their handwritings; 露桐先生年譜 Lu-t'ung hsien-shêng nien-p'u (concerning Li Tien-t'u);, Ch'ing-hsiang t'ang wên-chi, 7/7a.]

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LI Wên-t'ien 李文田, 1834–1895, Dec. 6, official and scholar, was a native of Shun-tê, Kwangtung, but spent much of his youth at Fo-shan (Fatshan) in the neighboring district of Nan-hai, where his father was in business. He lost his father when he was fourteen (sui), but under the patronage of a local scholar, Liang Chiu-t'u 梁九圖, was able to graduate as hsiu-ts'ai in 1851 and as chü-jên in 1855. He and Liang's son, Liang Sêng-pao 梁僧寶, took their chin-shih degrees in 1859. After serving for a few years as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy he was asked (1864) to serve in the Imperial Study. In 1870 he was appointed educational commissioner of Kiangsi where he remained for about three years. Promoted to the rank of reader in the Hanlin Academy in 1873, he returned early in the following year to Peking where he resumed his work in the Imperial Study. Shortly afterwards, when several officials proposed rebuilding the Yüan-ming Yüan which had been destroyed by the allied forces of Great Britain and France (see under ), Li opposed the move and won on the ground that it was not a pressing need. In the autumn of the same year (1874), he returned to his native place owing to the advanced age of his mother, and for eight years thereafter directed the Ying-Yüan (應元) Academy in Canton. After observing the customary period of mourning for his mother, who died in 1882, he went to Peking (1884) and resumed his former position in the Imperial Study where he remained until his death. He served as chief examiner in the provincial examination of 1888 in Kiangsu and of 1889 in Chekiang. Late in 1890 he was promoted to the vice-presidency of the Board of Ceremonies. During the years 1891–94 he was educational commissioner of Chihli. In November 1895 he was ordered to take charge of the Three Granaries of the Board of Revenue, but he contracted a cold while investigating the granaries and died about a month later. Some twenty years later he was given the posthumous name, 文誠 Wên-ch'êng, by the deposed emperor P'u-i (see under ).

Li Wên-t'ien belonged to a group of influential conservatives in Peking who believed that the time-honored civilization and institutions of the Middle Kingdom were the best in the world. Late in 1888, when the famous radical, K'ang Yu-wei (see under ), presented to the throne his first memorial advocating modernization of traditional institutions, and in the spring of 1895, when he presented a similar memorial, Li suppressed them before they reached the Empress Dowager and the young Emperor Tê-tsung—on the ground that the ancient institutions should not be changed. His nationalistic pride made him a patriot as well as an anti-foreign agitator. When Franco-Chinese relations became acute in 1884 he advised and  to take decisive action, and recommended to them  as a commander. During the 494