Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/556

 LU Hsi-hsiung 陸錫熊, Dec. 26, 1734–1792, Mar. 17, scholar and official, was a native of Shanghai. His grandfather, Lu Ying-ling 陸瀛齡 was for a time district director of schools of Shih-tai, Anhwei; and his father, Lu Ping-hu 陸秉笏, was a chü-jên of 1741. His mother, Ts'ao Hsi-shu 曹錫淑, was a poetess whose collection of verse, entitled 晚香樓詩稿 Wan-hsiang lou shih kao, was given notice in the Ssŭ-k'u Catalogue (see under ). After the death of his mother Lu Hsi-hsiung accompanied his grandfather several times to Shih-tai. In 1761 he became a chin-shih and in the following year passed a special examination granted by Emperor Kao-tsung on his third tour of South China. Lu was appointed a secretary of the Grand Secretariat and so became acquainted with many scholars in Peking. Three times he was sent to the provinces to take charge of examinations (Shansi in 1765, Chekiang in 1768, and Kwangtung in 1770), and twice he was assistant examiner in the metropolitan examinations (1771, 1772). He also served as a compiler of the general history of China, 歷代通鑑輯覽 Li-ta t'ung-chien chi-lan, 120 chüan, which was completed in 1768 and printed about 1771. Meanwhile he was promoted to an assistant department directorship in the Board of Punishments (1771) and later was made full director (1772).

In 1773 Lu Hsi-hsiung and were appointed chief-editors of the Imperial Manuscript Library, known as the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu (see under  and ) and both served in that capacity until the work was completed, more than ten years later. They also compiled, by imperial order (1780), several important works, among them the 歷代職官表 Li-tai chih-kuan piao, 72 chüan, completed in 1784, and printed by the Wu-ying tien press. Together they were made sub-readers of the Hanlin Academy (1773) and thereafter received many honors, especially at the completion, in 1781, of the great Imperial Catalogue, Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu tsung-mu t'i-yao, and at the presentation of the memorial announcing the completion of the first of the four main sets of the Ssŭ-k'u library (see under ). In 1780 Lu was appointed director of the Banqueting Court, and two years later, director of the Court of Judicature and Revision. In 1782 he and the other editors of the Ssŭ-k'u library were reprimanded for having copied into the library a work by which seemed not to give due recognition to the Manchu dynasty. Early in 1784 Lu was informed of his father's death and returned to Shanghai to observe the period of mourning, but after the funeral he was so pressed financially that he made a journey to Hupeh (1785) to solicit help from his friends. Returning to Peking in 1786 he was reappointed director of the Banqueting Court and later in the same year was made provincial director of education in Fukien. Although promoted to the rank of a vice-president of the Censorate he was ordered to continue his duties in Fukien.

Meanwhile (1787) it was discovered that several works, regarded as prejudicial to the reigning dynasty, had been copied into the Imperial Manuscript Library (see under, , and ). For this Lu was not only severely reprimanded but was ordered to share with Chi Yün the expense of making the necessary alterations. When in 1790 he finished his term of office in Fukien he volunteered to effect the required changes in that set of the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu which was deposited in the Wên Su Ko library at Mukden, the other three sets in or near Peking having by this time been collated by Chi Yün. Accompanying Lu to Mukden were several other former editors of the Ssŭ-k'u, among them. In 1791 more mistakes in the Ssŭ-k'u were disclosed, and all the former editors from Lu and Chi down were again ordered to re-collate the different sets of the Library in and near Peking. Late in 1791, after helping Chi several months in Peking, Lu went to Mukden for the second time to collate the Wên Su Ko set, but he found the northern winter so inclement that he died soon after his arrival. According to the Shanghai gazetteer of 1871, his tomb in Shanghai was located in the neighborhood of the present racecourse.

Lu Hsi-hsiung, like Chi Yün, was a good writer in the court style of ceremonial literature. He drafted many public documents and composed several articles published in the name of. His collected works in prose, entitled 寶奎堂文集 Pao-k'uei tang wên-chi, and those in verse, entitled 篁邨詩集 Huang-ts'un shih-chi, each in 12 chüan, were printed by one of his sons in 1810. The printing blocks for these works were burned in 1842 when the British troops entered Shanghai, but were recarved in 1849 by one of his grandsons. 544