Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/88

Rh Fang-wêng nien-p'u; a collection of miscellaneous notes, entitled 簷曝雜記 Yen-p'u tsa-chi; a selection of his poems, entitled 甌北詩鈔 Ou-pei shih-ch'ao; and the 皇朝武功紀盛 Huang-ch'ao wu-kung chi-shêng in 4 chüan, a record of the military achievements (seven campaigns) of the Ch'ing Dynasty. Chao I's accounts of the campaigns against Burma and Formosa are particularly noteworthy in view of the fact that he himself took part in them. As a poet he was one of the foremost of his time, being classed with and.

[1/490/11a; 3/212/9a; 甌北先生年譜 Ou-pei hsien-shêng nien-p'u in Ou-pei ch'üan-chi; 武進陽湖合志 Wu-chin Yang-hu ho-chih (1886) 26/43a.]

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CHAO I-ch'ing 趙一清, 1710?–1764?, scholar, was a native of Hangchow, Chekiang. His father, Chao Yü 趙昱, and his uncle, Chao Hsin 赵信 , were outstanding poets, scholars, and bibliophiles of their time. Chao Yü's mother (née Chu 朱) was a granddaughter of whose famous library, Tan-shêng t'ang, was dispersed in the early years of the Ch'ing period. Part of this library went to enrich the collection of the Chao family. The latter collection was housed in the studio, Hsiao-shan t'ang 小山堂, one of the meeting places of the scholars of Hangchow. Chao Yü and Chao Hsin were two of the seven authors of a collection of poems about the Southern Sung period (1127–1279), entitled 南宋雜事詩 Nan Sung tsa-shih shih, 7 chüan. Both brothers took part in the second special examination, po-hsüeh hung-tz'ŭ, held in 1736, but failed. Each left a collection of verse. Chao Yü was known for his hospitality to other scholars—among them who invariably visited the Chao family when he passed through Hangchow. Ch'üan wrote an account of the Chao library, the Hsiao-shan t'ang.

The hospitality of the Chao brothers must have made heavy drains on the wealth of the family, for in 1749 or 1750, shortly after the death of his father, Chao I-ch'ing left Hangchow to seek employment among officials or merchants. In 1750 he was in Tientsin, probably in the employ of Kao Hêng (see under ), the salt censor. In 1751 he went to Taiyuan, Shansi. During these years of travel he became interested in geography and began to annotate the sixth century work on waterways, the 水經注 Shui-ching chu, which contains the comments of Li Tao-yüan 酈道元 on the yet earlier Shui-ching or Classic of Waterways. The friend of the family, Ch'üan Tsu-wang, was likewise interested in its collation, and was the first to render it readable by differentiating Li's comments from the original text—the two having for centuries been confused by scribes and printers. In 1754 when Chao was again in Hangchow he and Ch'üan compared and made free use of each other's notes. At the same time Ch'üan wrote a preface to Chao's studies of this ancient work, thus demonstrating their cordial co-operation which lasted until Ch'üan's death in 1755. Chao, like Ch'üan, made use of some thirty earlier editions, and his collations and explanatory notes are entitled Shui-ching chu shi (釋), 40 + 2 chüan. He also collated the text of one of the best editions of the Ming period—that by Chu Mou-wei 朱謀㙔, entitled Shui-ching chu chien (箋). Chao's collation notes on this edition were edited under the title Shui-ching chu chien k'an-wu (刊誤), 12 chüan. He had no means to print either of these works, but several copies circulated in manuscript.

In the meantime Chao I-ch'ing lived for a number of years in North China, for we find him in Taiyuan in 1756; in Ting-chou, Chihli, in 1759; and in Shun-tê, Chihli, in 1762. Presumably he was then in the employ of the governor-general,, who appreciated his scholarship, especially in the field of geography, and invited him to compile a work on the waterways of Chihli. It seems that Chao left Chihli sometime between 1762 and 1764. At any rate, in 1764 he passed by T'ai-shan, Shantung, and was suffering from an illness. He certainly did not live long after 1764 and possibly he died in that year. His unfinished manuscript on the waterways of Chihli was for a time, in 1768, in the hands of the great scholar,. According to the latter's disciple and biographer,, Tai made contributions to it for which he did not receive due credit. At any rate the work was published under the name of Wang Li-t'ai 王履泰 who, after re-editing it, gave it the title 畿輔安瀾志 Chi fu an-lan chih, 56 chüan, and submitted it to the throne in 1809. For not mentioning Tai's part in the work Wang was charged with plagiarism by Tuan Yü-ts'ai who 76