Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/578

 the world, and those from the Mao press are also highly prized and have often been reprinted.

A number of books from Mao's press are preserved in the Library of Congress. In addition to the above-mentioned Shih-ch'i shih, the Chin-tai pi-shu, and the Lieh-ch'ao shih-chi, the Library has the following two items: a collection of sixty dramas, entitled 六十種曲 Liu-shih-chung ch'ü; and a collectanea of twelve articles about antiques, flowers, perfumes, and games, entitled collectively 群芳清玩 Ch'ün-fang ch'ing-wan. This last is an expansion of an earlier collectanea, entitled 山居小玩 Shan-chü hsiao-wan, printed about the year 1629. Later two items were added, one about the year 1642, the other about the year 1654, and the title was then altered to Ch'ün-fang ch'ing-wan.

[2/71/11b; 3/428/3a; 6/36/4a; Ssŭ-k'u 15/2b ff.;, P'u-shu-t'ing chi 79/3 for epitaph of his third wife; Ts'ang shu chi-shih shih (see under ) 3/68b; 常昭合志 Ch'ang Chao ho-chih (1904) 32/25a; , Chi-ku-ko pi-pên shu-mu appeared in 1800 in Huang P'ei-lieh's Shih-li-chü Huang-shih ts'ung-shu (printed in instalments, 1800-24); Juan K'uei-shêng, 茶餘客誠 Ch'a-yü k'o-hua 6/8a; , Mu-chai yu-hsüeh chi 31/15a; T'ao Hsiang 陶湘, 明毛氏汲古閣刻書目錄 Ming Mao-shih Chi-ku-ko k'o-shu mu-lu.]

2em

MAO Hsiang 冒襄, Apr. 27, 1611–1693, Dec. 31, scholar, poet, was a native of Ju-kao, Kiangsu. He came from a family, probably of Mongolian origin, which had been domiciled in Ju-kao since the end of the Yüan dynasty. During the Ming period the family produced a number of officials and writers. His father, Mao Ch'i-tsung 冒起宗, was a chin-shih of 1628 and an official under Ming rule. From his youth Mao Hsiang was famous as a poet and was applauded by such scholars of his day as and. In 1635 he printed, besides several small collections of his own poems, a facsimile collection of Tung Ch'i-ch'ang's calligraphy, entitled 寒碧樓帖 Han-pi-lou t'ieh. He went several times to take the provincial examination at Nanking, but never passed. Nevertheless he became acquainted there with many scholars and joined the politico-literary society, Fu-shê (see under ). He and three other active members of this society,, and  were known as "The Four Esquires" (Ssŭ-kung-tzŭ 四公子). In 1642, through the help of, he received from Soochow the beautiful and talented singing-girl, Tung Po 董白 , as his concubine. When the Manchus advanced to South China in 1645 Ju-kao, his native place, was threatened by a local uprising. The members of the Mao family fled to Hai-ning, Chekiang, but were pillaged by the Manchus on the way, and so lost everything. They managed, however, to return to Ju-kao after order was restored in 1646.

Mao Hsiang was recommended several times by Ch'ing officials to the Court in Peking, but he refused to join the new regime. About 1650 Tu Chün 杜濬 edited a selection of Mao Hsiang's works, consisting of 1 chüan of poems, entitled 樸巢詩選 P'u-ch'ao shih-hsüan, and 4 chüan of prose, entitled P'u-ch'ao wên-hsüan (文選). In the following year (1651) Tung Po died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-seven (sui). In memory of her, Mao Hsiang wrote an account of her life in 1 chüan, entitled 影梅庵憶語 Ying-mei an i-yü, ("Reminiscences of the Studio of Shadowy Plum-blossoms") which was translated into English by P'an Tze-yen and published in 1931 under the title, The Reminiscences of Tung Hsiao-wan. In some accounts, she is said to have been kidnapped by Manchu soldiers and sent to the Palace in Peking where she became the most favored consort of Emperor Shih-tsu. But recent investigation shows that the imperial consort was a Manchu woman,, who was mistaken for Tung Po, probably because of the similarity in their surnames. Two other talented women who later came to Mao's home as concubines—Ts'ai Han 蔡含 who came in 1665, and Chin Yüeh 金玥  who came in 1667—were both famous painters. He maintained a troupe of boy actors and entertainers for his numerous friends, to whom he was very hospitable.

Among Mao Hsiang's younger friends was who lived in his home for a long time and later passed the po-hsüeh hung-tz'ŭ examination of 1679. Mao was also recommended to take the examination but declined the offer. He had so many literary friends that he printed, in 1673, a collection of prose and verse (comprising more than 450 items) which these friends wrote to or for him—entitled 同人集 T'ung jên chi, in 12 chüan. About the same time 566