Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/509

 concerning household equipment, were reprinted separately in 1921 by the Chinese Architectural Association (中國營造學社). The section on charm in women was recently translated into English by Lin Yutang (see bibliography). Other works of Li Yü are the 笠翁詩韻 Li-wêng shih-yün, a dictionary of rhymes in 5 chüan published in 1673, and various anthologies of poems, essays, and letters from writers of repute. The best known of these anthologies is the 資治新書 Tzŭ-chih hsin-shu containing two collections of short essays by various authors on subjects dealing with governmental administration. The first collection, in 14 chüan, was issued in 1663; and the second, in 20 chüan, in 1667.

The Chieh-tzŭ-yüan hua-chuan, although named after his garden, was not his own work. He wrote only the preface to the first series containing specimens of landscape paintings gathered by his son-in-law, Shên Hsin-yu 沈心友, the elementary methods of painting being described and illustrated by Wang Kai 王概. The second, the third, and the fourth collections were issued long after Li's death. The work was translated into French with annotations by Raphael Petrucci, and printed in 1918 under the title Kiai-tseu-yuan houa tchouan: les Enseignements de la Peinture du Jardin grand comme un Grain de Moutarde, Encyclopédie de la Peinture Chinoise. Three of Li Yü's works, the I-chia-yen, the 古今史略 Ku-chin shih-lüeh, and the 四六初徵 Ssŭ-liu ch'u-chêng were listed among the books to be wholly or partially destroyed in the eighteenth century—possibly because they contain many comments by or references to.

Li Yü possessed great creative talent and a keen sense of humor. All his writings have an original and entertaining quality. The expression is bold and free, the language is simple and easy. His ten dramas show inventive genius and exploit more fully than most of his contemporaries the dramatic possibilities of the stage. His experience as a producer and as a director enabled him to understand thoroughly the secret of the stage and to exemplify in practice the principles of acting and play-writing which he formulated in the Hsien-ch'ing ou-chi.

[3/426/46b; Lan-ch'i hsien-chih (1888) 5/41a, 8/59a; Hang-chou fu chih (1922) 170/1b; 浙江新城縣志 Chekiang Hsin-ch'êng hsien-chih (1679) 15/10b; Chu Tung-jun 朱東潤, 李漁戲劇論總述 Quarterly Journal of Liberal Arts, Wuhan University, vol. III, no. 4 (1934) pp. 727–53; Sun K'ai-ti 孫楷第, 日本大連圖書館所見小說書目 Jih-pên Ta-lien t'u-shu-kuan so-chien hsiao-shuo shu-mu t'i-yao (1931) pp. 23–26; idem, 李笠翁箸無聲戲即連城璧解題, Bulletin of the National Library of Peiping, vol. VI, no. 1 (1932) pp. 9–25; idem, 李笠翁與十二樓 Library Science Quarterly, vol. IX, no. 3–4 (1935) pp. 379–441 with portrait; Lin Yutang, "On Charm in Women," China Critic, vol. XII, no. 11 (March 5, 1936), p. 231.]

2em

LI Yüan-tu 李元度, Sept. 20, 1821–1887, Nov. 12, scholar and official, was a native of P'ing-chiang, Hunan, and a chü-jên of 1843. In 1852 he joined the staff of the provincial director of education in Manchuria. As a staff member he had access to the so-called "veritable records" 實錄 of the Ch'ing dynasty and followed the director in his travels over Manchuria, thus becoming familiar with political events of that period. He was also interested in geography and literature. After a special examination he was appointed a district director of schools in the province of Kweichow. In 1853 he sent a long letter concerning military defense to who was then organizing his Hunan militia for the suppression of the Taiping rebels (see under Tsêng and ). Tsêng was pleased with the letter and invited Li to become his assistant. In the following ten years Li fought against the Taipings in Hunan, Hupeh, Kiangsi, Anhwei and Chekiang. In 1858, he wrote, by order of Tsêng Kuo-fan, a long persuasive letter to the Taiping leader,, urging him to acknowledge allegiance to the Ch'ing government, but Shih did not comply. As a reward for his achievements in the preceding years Li was promoted to an expectant intendant of a circuit in Chekiang, but was soon transferred to the same duties in southern Anhwei (1860) where a few days after his installation the strategic city of Hui-chou, in his jurisdiction, fell to the Taipings. The loss of this city put Tsêng Kuo-fan in a very embarrassing position at Ch'i-mên, a city west of Huichou. For this failure Li Yüan-tu was cashiered and was ordered to await further inquiry and sentence. Instead of waiting he went home, on his own account and without orders, to raise a body of 8,000 volunteers, for the relief of Chekiang. On his way he falsely reported the recapture of many cities in Hupeh. On the basis 497