Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/532

 new inspiration to the chin-wên school. He was the first scholar to point out the alleged misuse of the Tso-chuan by Liu Hsin. He believed that the Tso-chuan was originally not a commentary to the Spring and Autumn Annals but a separate history whose material was rearranged to form such a commentary. Hence in his opinion, the existing Tso-chuan, officially known as the 春秋左氏傳 Chun-ch'iu Tso-shih chuan, should in reality be called to 左氏春秋 Tso-shih ch'un-ch'iu after the manner of the 晏子春秋 Yen-tzŭ ch'un-ch'iu and the Lü-shih ch'un-ch'iu (see under )—both independent works of the pre-Han period. He observed that the structure of the Tso-chuan is in some respects similar to that of the Kuo-yü (see under ) and concluded that it was unjustifiably rearranged to follow the chronological order of the Annals. He implied that Liu Hsin had political reasons for giving supremacy to the Tso-chuan and therefore wished to make it appear as a commentary to the Annals. It remained for the modern scholar, Ts'ui Shih 崔適, in his important 春秋復始 Chun-ch'iu fu-shih, 38 chüan, published in 1918, and in his 史記探源 Shih-chi t'an-yüan, 8 chüan, preface dated 1910; and above all for K'ang Yu-wei (see under ) to develop the implications of these suggestions to their fullest extent and thus to find in Confucius an adequate sanction for the reforms that modern China was facing. Liu Fêng-lu stressed the study of the Annals because it was the only work that could conceivably have been written by Confucius himself. He favored the Kung-yang commentary above either of the others because it seemed to take him closer to the time of Confucius and because it embodied certain recondite concepts that could be elaborated into a social and political philosophy consonant with the needs of a changing social order. In the hands of his followers his aims became political rather than historical. Such an approach is known to modern Chinese scholars as t'o-ku kai-chih 託古改制, the practice of "finding in antiquity the sanction for present-day changes". This accommodation of ancient thought to modern ideals was in vogue until the close of the dynasty.

[1/488/16b; 2/69/34a; 3/148/36a; 3/420/58a; 5/72/9a; 7/17/12b; 7/35/14b; 13/4/22a;, Yang-i-chai wên-chi, 14/1; 武進陽湖合志 Wu-chin Yang-hu ho-chih 26/21; Ch'ien Hsüan-t'ung, Ch'ung-yin Liu Fêng-lu T'so-shih ch'un-ch'iu k'ao-chêng shu-hou, 師大學術叢刊 Shih-ta hsüeh-shu ts'ung-k'an, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 25–42; William Hung, "Prolegomena to Index to Ch'un-ch'iu and Commentaries," Historical Annual (史學年報), vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 19–96.]

2em

 LIU Hsi-hai 劉喜海, d. 1853, official and scholar, was a native of Chu-ch'êng, Shantung. He was a great-grandson of the Grand Secretary,, and the son of Liu Huan-chih (see under ). A chü-jên of 1816, Liu Hsi-hai was appointed an assistant department director of the Board of War, probably in 1824, two years after his father had died. In 1833, after serving for some time in the Board of Revenue as a department director, he was appointed prefect of T'ing-chou fu in Fukien (1833–38). Thereafter he served as intendant of the Yen-Yü-Sui Circuit, Shensi (1841–45), as provincial judge of Szechwan (1845–47), and as financial commissioner of Chekiang (1847–49). He was recalled to Peking early in 1849. A few months later it was reported by the governor of Chekiang that in the preceding twenty-seven years the deficit of the provincial treasury had accumulated to the amount of several million taels silver. Liu Hsihai was perhaps involved in this case and was reported by the governor as devoting his time to archaeology instead of to his official duties. Thus he lost his rank and left official life Little is known about the rest of his career except that the people of T'ing-chou showed their appreciation of his kind administration by celebrating his name in shrines.

Liu Hsi-hai is best known as a student of ancient inscriptions on metal and stone—a subject known to the Chinese as chin-shih-hsüeh 金石學. In this field he produced several important works, one entitled Chin-shih yüan (苑), 6 chüan, (preface dated 1848) is devoted to the epigraphy of Szechwan; and another, entitled Hai-tung (海東) chin-shih yüan, 8 chüan, deals with the ancient inscriptions of Korea. The first 4 chüan of the latter were printed in 1881, but a complete edition appeared in 1922 from the bibliophile, Liu Chêng-kan (see under ) who added two supplements, one in 6 chüan, another in 2 chüan. Liu Hsi-hai also made an annotated list of ancient inscriptions of Korea, entitled Hai-tung chin-shih ts'un k'ao (存考), which was printed in the 木犀軒叢書 Mu-hsi hsüan ts'ung-shu in 1888. [Mu-hsi hsüan was the library of the Li family of Kiukiang, later owned by Li Shêng-to 李盛鐸 (T. 木齋, 1860 520