Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/202

 Wan Ssŭ-chên 萬斯禎, a student of the Changes, the Odes and the Spring and Autumn Annals.

Wan Ssŭ-ch'ang 萬斯昌.

In 1935 his villa, Po-yün chuang 白雲莊, was restored; the graves of Wan Ssŭ-chang and Wan Ssŭ-hsüan were repaired; and tablets of eighteen members of the Wan family were entered in the shrine. Since the Po-yün chuang is the place where Huang Tsung-hsi lectured, Huang's tablet and those of eighteen of his pupils were likewise entered in the shrine.

[3/470/37; Yin-hsien chih (1877) 39/13a; Chronological biography (nien-p'u), compiled by Wang Huan-piao, printed in ''Fifth Annual Bul. of Kuo-hsüeh Library, Nanking (1923); Kao-t'ang wên-ch'ao (see bibl. under ); Hsü Chao-ping 徐兆昺, 四明談助 Ssŭ-ming t'an-chu (1828) 24/12a; Ch'ên Hsün-tz'ŭ, "On the Restoration of the Wan Family's Po-yün chuang and the Entry of Their Tablets in the Local Shrine" (in Chinese), Bulletin of the Chekiang Provincial Library'', Hangchow, vol. 4, no. 6.]

2em

 WAN Yen 萬言, Aug. 25, 1637–1705, May 8, scholar, son of Wan Ssŭ-nien (see under ), was a native of Yin-hsien, Chekiang. Like his father and his uncles, he was a pupil of and distinguished himself as an essayist. Appointed an unsalaried licentiate in 1675, he went to Peking in the following year to become an instructor in the school of the Plain Red Banner. About the same time he made the acquaintance of who in 1679 became the chief director of the reinstituted Historiographical Board, which was ordered to compile the official History of the Ming Dynasty (Ming-shih). On the recommendation of the director he assisted in the compilation, and remained in the Board for ten years. He contributed data covering the Ch'ung-chên reign period (1628–1644) which he entitled 崇禎長編 Ch'ung-chên ch'ang-pien. An anonymous work of the same name in 2 chüan, which, however, begins only in the tenth month of the sixteenth year of Ch'ung-chên (1643), is included in the 痛史 T'ung-shih, published in 1911 by the Commercial Press, Shanghai. This is thought by some scholars to be a fragment of WanWan Yen's original work. According to the local history, he is the author of another work on Ming history, entitled 明鑑舉要 Ming-chien chü-yao, in 17 chüan. In 1688 Wan Yen accepted a post as magistrate of Wu-ho, Anhwei. But for some reason he incurred official displeasure and three years later (in 1691) was sentenced to death. After much exertion his son, Wan Ch'êng-hsün 萬成勳, managed to gather five thousand taels silver to get him released in 1694.

Wan Ch'êng-hsün was a grandson-in-law of Huang Tsung-hsi. About the year 1721 he served as sub-prefect of Tz'ŭ-chou, Chihli. He was known as a poet and ranked with Li Tun 李暾, Chêng Hsing 鄭性 , and Hsieh Hsü-chang 謝緒章 , as one of "The Four Comrades of Ssŭ-ming" (四明四友)—Ssŭ-ming being a range of hills southwest of Yin-hsien (Ningpo), their native district. The collected essays of Wan Yen, entitled 管村文鈔內編 Kuan-ts'un wên-ch'ao nei-pien, in 3 chüan; and those of his son, entitled 千之草堂文鈔 Ch'iên-chih ts'ao-t'ang wên-ch'ao, 1 chüan, were printed in 1934 (from manuscripts) in the second series of the Ssŭ-ming ts'ung-shu, edited by Chang Shou-yung (see under ).

[2/68/21a; 3/255/36a; Yin-hsien chih (1877) 42/2a, 54/10b; Chu Hsi-tsu, "Notes on an Incomplete Copy of the Ch'ung-chên ch'ang-pien" (in Chinese) Yenching Journal, no. 3, p. 513; Chêng Hsing, 南谿偶刊 Nan-ch'i ou-k'an (1742); Ch'iên-chih ts'ao-t'ang wên-ch'ao, p. 39b.]

2em

WANG An-kuo 王安國, June 24, 1694–1757, Feb. 25, official and scholar, was a native of Kao-yu, Kiangsu. For many generations his forefathers were scholars and teachers. After obtaining his chin-shih degree with high honors in 1724 he was appointed a compiler in the Hanlin Academy, and in the following year participated in the compilation of the first edition of the Ta-Ch'ing i-tung chih (see under and ). In 1732 he was appointed a reviser for the compilation of the first edition (1739) of the Pa-ch'i t'ung-chih (see under ). In the same year (1732) he was 804