Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/543

 qualifying for the post of director of schools he left Peking (1781) to be with his father at Ching-chiang, but three years later returned to the capital where he competed for the sixth time for the chin-shih degree but failed. In 1785 he received appointment as sub-director of schools at Tan-t'u, Kiangsu, a position he held for seventeen years. In 1787 he competed for the last time in the chin-shih examination, and again was unsuccessful. Owing to his father's death he retired in the spring of 1801 to his native place, and four years later died there. During the latter half of his life he exchanged letters on classical researches with, , , , and other prominent scholars.

Though influenced much by the School of Han Learning, Liu T'ai-kung was not a slavish exponent of its tenets. He accepted at the same time the good points of Sung scholarship. For this non-partisan attitude he was highly esteemed by Shao Chin-han. Though he published no work in his lifetime, his critical theories were adopted by others. About a year after his death his son-in-law, Juan Ch'ang-shêng (see under ), printed (1806) Liu's work on the Analects, entitled 論語駢枝 Lun-yü pien-chih, and two other works by him under the collective title 劉端臨先生遺書 Liu Tuan-lin hsien-shêng i-shu. Juan also printed in 1808 a supplement consisting of Liu's collected prose and his notes on the classics. Certain works by Liu, found after 1808, were included in the definitive edition of 1834 of the Liu Tuan-lin hsien-shêng i-shu. This edition was reprinted in 1889 by the Kuang-ya Printing Office (see under ). A part of Liu's works were also included in the Huang-Ch'ing ching-chieh (see under ) under the title, Liu hsün-tao (訓導) i-shu.

A half-brother of Liu T'ai-kung, named Liu T'ai-tou 劉台斗, was a chin-shih of 1799 who rose to a first-class sub-prefect. He was known for his distinguished services in the river conservancy of Central China. Among the pupils of Liu Tai-kung the most brilliant was perhaps his second-cousin,. Liu Taikung's contemporary and fellow-townsman, Liu Yü-lin 劉玉麐, left a collection of works on the Classics which was printed in the Huang-Ch'ing ching-chieh and other collectanea, under the title 甓齋遺書 P'i-chai i-shu.

[1/487/24a; 2/68/61b; 3/256/37a; 4/135/2a; Liu Wên-hsing 劉文典, nien-p'u of Liu Tai-kung, with portrait, in 國學季刊 Kuo-hsüeh chi-k'an, vol. III, no. 2 (1932).]

2em

 LIU T'ing 劉挺 d. Apr. 17, 1619, age 67 (sui), Ming general, was the son of a provincial general-in-chief 都督 and a native of Nan-ch'ang, Kiangsi. Having accompanied his father on an expedition to the southwest, he distinguished himself in 1583 in warfare with the tribes on the Yunnan-Burma frontier. For thirty years thereafter he was engaged in a military career of varied character—stationed in Szechwan in 1585, resisting the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592–93, fighting on the Kokonor border in 1596, in Korea again to meet the Japanese in 1597, and finally for a long period coping with the turbulent Miao and Lolo tribes of Szechwan. In 1618 he went to Liaotung as secretary of the second army and was put by in charge of one of the four divisions that attempted in the following year to check the Manchus. His army of Chinese and Koreans was defeated at Dungge on April 17 when Liu lost his life. A few years later the rank of secretary of a garrison was made hereditary in his family. He was canonized as Chung-lieh 忠烈 and also as Chung-chuang 忠壯.

[M.1/247/1a; M.3/222/1a; Nan-ch'ang-hsien chih (1795) 22/8b, 文考 14/34a; 明季北略 Ming-chi pei-lüeh 1/2b; Ku Ying-t'ai, Ming-shih chi-shih pên-mo, 62, 64; Hauer, Kai-kuo fang-lüeh, pp. 7982;, Shan-chung wên-chien lu, 7/15b.]

2em

 LIU Tsê-ch'ing 劉澤清 d. Dec. 9, 1648, renegade Ming general with a reputation for cruelty, hypocrisy, and corruption, was a native of Ts'ao-hsien, Shantung. Starting his career as second captain in a military post in Liaotung, he distinguished himself fighting against the Manchu invaders and by 1633 had attained the rank of brigade-general and three years later, general-in-chief and Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent. In 1640 there was a great famine in Shantung, the people resorted to banditry, and Liu Tsê-ch'ing was assigned to suppress the disorder and ameliorate their condition. He was degraded one rank for misappropriation of funds. When  531