Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/514

 and again, in 1832, upon contributing 20,000 taels to a fund for coast defense in Kwangtung, he was given the rank of Salt Controller. When Canton was threatened by the Taipings, he and a few others donated money to a war fund, and organized a volunteer corps. In 1854, when the city was threatened by rioters known as Hung-chin-tsei 紅巾賊, who captured various towns and villages round Canton, he and Ho Jo-yao (see under ) were instrumental in organizing a volunteer corps which in the following year distinguished itself by suppressing the rioters. During the uprising the Kwangtung provincial authorities borrowed from Liang and Ho, as well as from other wealthy men, some 400,000 taels for war purposes. But finding themselves after the war unable to repay the sum, the mandarins offered both Liang and Ho official ranks which it is said they declined. In 1857–58, when the allied forces of Great Britain and France attacked Canton (see under ), Liang and negotiated several times with Harry Parkes (see under ) to save the city. Though Liang's desire for peace was motivated by his personal interest in commerce, his services were later handsomely recognized. On the recommendation of the governor-general of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, Lao Ch'ung-kuang 勞崇光, Liang was honored in 1862 with the nominal rank of second class official, and on the recommendation of Mao Hung-pin (see under ) and he was decorated in 1874 with the single-eyed Peacock Feather.

One of Liang Lun-shu's brothers, Liang T'ung-hsin 梁同新, graduated as chü-jên in 1818, and after competing ten times in the metropolitan examination, obtained his chin-shih degree (1836). After leaving the Hanlin Academy, he served as a censor (1850–52). In the summer of 1850, when the British plenipotentiary, Bonham (see under ), proceeded to Tientsin in order to negotiate directly with the Peking authorities on the right of British residence in Canton (see under ), Liang Tung-hsin memorialized the throne recommending a conciliatory policy toward Great Britain because of her power and because of her desire to develop trade with China. Not long after, he again memorialized the throne recommending prohibition of the Christian religion which he regarded as the cause of all the prevailing civil disturbances. After several promotions he was appointed, late in 1857, to the post of prefect of the Metropolitan area, Shun-t'ien, a post he lost in the following year for alleged mismanagement of the provincial examination. A son of Liang T'ung-hsin, named Liang Chao-huang 梁肇煌, was a chin-hsih of 1853 who served as prefect of Shun-t'ien (1870–73, and 1879) and as financial commissioner of Nanking (1879–86). Another son, Liang Chao-chin 梁肇晉, became a chin-shih in 1874, but died young.

[Kwangtung shih-san-hang k'ao, (see bibl. under, 1937) pp. 250–55, and 333–38; 番禺縣志 P'an-yü hsien-chih (1931), 19/13b, 16a, 20/27a, 39/25b; Morse, H. B., The Chronicles of the East India Company Trading to China, vols. III and IV (1926) passim.; Hunter, W. C., Bits of Old China (1885), pp. 82–108.]

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 LIANG P'ei-lan 梁佩蘭, 1632–1708, poet and calligrapher, was a native of Nan-hai, Kwangtung. Although he obtained the chü-jên degree with highest honors in 1657, he did not succeed in taking his chin-shih until 1688, thirty-one years later. His official career was uneventful, but he achieved distinction as a poet. He formed in his native place a society of poets known as the Lan-hu shê 蘭湖社. This group comprised, in addition to himself, six other poets of Kwangtung province—, Ch'êng K'o-tsê 程可則, Wang Pang-chi 王邦畿 , Fang Tien-yüan 方殿元 , and the latter's two sons, Fang Huan 方還 and Fang Chao 方朝 —who came to be known as the "Seven Poets of Lingnan" (嶺南七子). Liang P'ei-lan's poetry was highly praised by contemporary men of letters such as, , and. At other times his name was associated with Ch'ên Kung-yin and, and these were referred to collectively as the "Three Great Masters of Lingnan". An anthology of their verse, entitled 嶺南三大家詩選 Ling-nan san-ta-chia shih-hsüan, was compiled by Wang Chun 王隼, a son of the above-mentioned Wang Pang-chi. In this anthology the poetry of Liang P'ei-lan, entitled 六瑩堂詩 Liu-ying-t'ang shih, occupies 8 chüan. Another collection of his verse, arranged by Wang Kuan 汪觀, under the title 樂亭詩集 Yao-t'ing shih 502