Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 1.pdf/99

Rh attention to the education of the Miao tribes in that province. The Miao were also a problem in his native province. He contributed funds for the printing of elementary text-books and distributed them among these schools. Because of his efforts in behalf of the Miao and of barbarian peoples on the borders, many individuals of these groups became able to read and even to take literary degrees.

Ch'ên compiled five treatises on moral and educational subjects, under the collective title 五種遺規 Wu-chung i-kuei. They are: the Hsün-su (訓俗) i-kuei, 4 chüan, about community life; the Yang-chêng (養正) i-kuei, 3 chüan, about the education of youth; the Chiao-nü (教女) i-kuei, 3 chüan, about rules for the education of women; and the Ts'ung-chêng (從政) i-kuei, 2 chüan; and 在官法戒錄 Tsai-kuan fa-chieh lu, 4 chüan, about morals in official life. The dates of the prefaces range from 1739 to 1743. The works themselves are collections of abstracts or quotations from different works by scholars and sages of former days. The comments of Ch'ên Hung-mou about some of these passages are translated by Evan Morgan (see bibliography). While in Hunan Ch'ên sponsored the compilation of the Hunan t'ung-chih, 174 chüan, published in 1757. His collected works, in 61 chüan, were printed under the title 培遠堂偶存稿 P'ei-yüan t'ang ou-ts'un kao. In Wylie's Notes on Chinese Literature (p. 223), reference is made to an edition by Ch'ên of a collection of legends of Taoist and a few Buddhist saints.

A great-great-grandson of Ch'ên Hung-mou, named Ch'ên Chi-ch'ang 陳繼昌, attained the highest examination honors known as san-yüan in 1820 (see under ).

[1/313/8b; 2/18/37b; 3/20/1a; Morgan, Evan, A Guide to Wenli Styles and Chinese Ideals pp. 150, 164, 168, 194 ff.; Ch'ên Chung-k'o, 陳鐘珂, 先文恭公年譜 Hsien Wên-kung kung nien-p'u; 廣西通志 Kwangsi t'ung-chih 260/14b; Lin-kuei hsien-chih 29/10a.]

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 CH'ÊN Hung-shou 陳洪綬, 1599–1652, Ming artist and poet, was a native of Chu-chi, Chekiang. His grandfather, Ch'ên Hsing-hsüeh 陳性學, chin-shih of 1577 and financial commissioner for Kwangtung in the years 1601-06, left the family a moderate fortune. But Ch'ên Hung-shou's father died when he was eight years old and the family inheritance was appropriated by his eldest brother. His childhood drawings surprised artists of high repute and he later made his living by painting. As early as 1616, when he was eighteen sui, he produced a series of twelve illustrations depicting legendary figures in poetry of the fourth century B.C. known as the Elegies of Ch'u (楚辭 Ch'u-tz'ŭ). One of these drawings is a portrait of Ch'ü Yüan 屈原 (ca. 343–ca. 277 B.C.). The other eleven represent fairies mentioned in that portion of the Ch'u-tz'û known as the Nine Songs (九歌 Chiu-ko). These pictures, with a preface dated 1638 written in his own beautiful hand, were reproduced in 1930 in the third instalment of the 喜詠軒叢書 Hsi-yung hsüan ts'ung-shu, under the title 離騷圖像 Li-sao t'u-hsiang. Printed in the same collectanea is a set of 69 illustrations to the Elegies of Ch'u, entitled Li-sao t'u-ching (經), made by Hsiao Yün-ts'ung 蕭雲從. Hsiao's illustrations were rearranged and supplemented in 1782 by order of Emperor Kao-tsung, and were then copied into the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu (see under ) under the title, Li-sao ch'üan t'u, 2 chüan, with 91 illustrations.

Other works which bore illustrations by Ch'ên Hung-shou are the drama, Hsi-hsiang-chi, and the novel, Shui-hu chuan (for both see under ). His fame as a painter, calligrapher, and poet soon became widespread, as did also his reputation for freedom with wine and women. He was regarded as the most noted figure painter of his day in south China, as his contemporary,, was of north China—hence the phrase "Nan Ch'ên pei Ts'ui" (南陳北崔). About 1640 he went to Peking, and two years later he enrolled as a student in the Imperial Academy (國子監). During this period he served for several months as court painter. He returned to his home in 1643 and when Nanking fell to the Manchus (1645) he entered the Buddhist priesthood, fleeing to the mountains in 1646, possibly in consequence of some anti-Manchu activities. Six years later he returned to his home where he died. Although chiefly known for his portrayal of human figures, he did well as a painter of landscape (山水 shan-shui) and flowers (花卉 hua-hui). In his later life he devoted himself chiefly to drawings of Buddhist divinities, particularly Kuan-yin 觀音 and Lo-han 羅漢. More than 100 of his drawings are listed by different collectors, 21 of these being cited in the Shih-ch'ü 87