Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/531

 in 10 chüan, his own preface being dated 1805. To elucidate difficult and doubtful points he produced two other works, one entitled 何氏解詁箋 Ho-shih chieh-ku chien, in 1 chüan; and 答難 Ta-nan, in 2 chüan. In a work entitled 申何難鄭 Shên-Ho nan-Chêng, 4 chüan, Liu compared the Tso and Ku-liang commentaries with the Kung-yang, much to the advantage of the last mentioned. In his as 議禮决獄 I-li chüeh-yü, 4 chüan, he singled out from history many cases which in his opinion violated the principles laid down in the Classics. Next in importance to the Spring and Autumn Annals, he placed the Analects of Confucius (Lun-yü), since for him both works disclosed the hidden meanings of the Master. Seizing upon certain pregnant sentences attributed to Ho Hsiu, he utilized them to exemplify the inner doctrines of Confucius and thus wrote the 論語述何 Lun-yü shu-Ho, 2 p'ien, with a preface dated 1812. Under the title 春秋賞罰格 Ch'un-ch'iu shang-fa ko, 2 chüan, he brought together examples to illustrate Confucius' use of certain terms for purposes of praise and blame. Believing that had violated the orthodoxy of the Kung-yang school (不守公羊家法), and knowing that  before him had doubted that fixed principles could be deduced from the Annals, Liu wrote the Chun-ch'iu lun (論), 2 p'ien, giving many reasons why he adhered to the viewpoints of Ho Hsiu.

But his cardinal work on the Tso-chuan, and one that was almost epoch-making, was the 左氏春秋考證 Tso-shih ch'un-ch'iu k'ao-chêng, in 2 chüan. In the first chüan he examines evidence for the belief that Liu Hsin 劉歆 had a hand in its rearrangement; in the second chüan he compares the annotations of various commentators from Han to T'ang times. The Tso-shih ch'un-ch'iu k'ao-chêng was reprinted in 1933, with modern punctuation, in the series 辨僞叢刊 Pien-wei ts'ung-k'an. Liu's comments on the Classic of History, entitled 尚書今古文集解 Shang-shu chin-ku wên chi-chieh, in 30 chüan, were in reality based on two works by Chuang Shu-tsu (see under ), known as 書序說義 Shu-hsü shuo-i, 1 chüan, and Shang-shu shou-tu (授讀), 1 chüan. It is evident that he did not credit the authenticity of the 'ancient text' (see under ). As for the Preface to the Classic of History, he seems in his Shu-hsü shu-wên (述聞) to accept its authenticity, though on the first page of his Tso-shih ch'un-ch'iu k'ao-chêng he remarks that it may be a forgery of the Eastern Chin period (317–419 A.D.). In his study of the Classic of Changes he was a follower of whose incomplete work on the subject he continued under the title, 易言篇 I-yen pien. Other works by Liu in this field are the following: 易虞氏變動表 I Yü-shih pien-tung piao; 六爻發揮旁通表 Liu-yao fa-hui p'ang-t'ung piao; 卦象陰陽大義 Kua-hsiang yin-yang ta-i; 易象賦 I-hsiang fu; and 卦氣頌 Kua-ch'i sung—each in 1 chüan. His interest in phonetics is exemplified in the 詩聲衍 Shih-shêng-yen, 28 chüan, which probably was not printed. But from the abstract by Ch'ên Ch'ao 陳潮, which appears in Liu's collected works, it is clear that he attempted to ascertain, by comparative methods, the ancient pronunciations and meanings of characters. His other works on the study of astronomy, mathematics, and geography, and his various anthologies of ancient prose and verse, are indications that his interests were very wide.

Liu Fêng-lu was survived by four sons: Liu Ch'êng-k'uan 劉承寬, a chü-jên of 1816; Liu Ch'êng-hsiang 劉承向, and Liu Ch'êng-shih 劉承實, both students of the Imperial Academy; and Liu Ch'êng-an 劉承安. Another brilliant son, Liu Ch'êng-ch'ung 劉承寵 (1798—1827), who died before his father, left a collection of prose and verse, entitled 麟石詩文鈔 Lin-shih shih-wên ch'ao, in 2 chüan, which is appended to his father's collected works. This last, entitled 劉禮部集 Liu Li-pu chi, in 12 chüan, with a preface written by, was first printed in 1830 by the Liu family.

The achievements of Liu Feng-lu as a scholar are attributable in part to the rich heritage he received from both sides of his family and in part to his contacts with eminent contemporaries, such as, , , , , , Ch'ên Huan (see under ), and others. He proposed to the printing of the (Sung-pên) Shih-san ching chu-shu and the Huang Ch'ing ching-chieh (for both see under )—two great collectanea for which the public had been waiting for years.

Though Chuang Ts'un-yü was the one who laid the foundations of the so-called modern text (chin-wên 今文) school of classical criticism, he nevertheless credited the authenticity of the 'ancient text' (ku-wên 古文) of the Classic of History whose spuriousness Yen Jo-chü had demonstrated some decades earlier. But Chuang's grandson, Liu Fêng-lu, laid the foundation for a new approach to the Classics and so gave 519