Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/204

 project for collecting all the incantations or magical formulae 咒 in the Tripitaka and editing them in Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan. His task was to help the lamas to choose the appropriate Chinese characters for the transcriptions. This work, entitled 滿漢蒙古西番合璧大藏全咒 Man Han Mêng-ku Hsi-fan ho-pi Ta-tsang ch'üan-chou, 88 chüan, includes the following appendices: 同文韻統 T'ung-wên yün-t'ung, 6 chüan, a list of standard works or alphabets used in transliterating from one language to another; 字母讀法 Tzŭ-mu tu-fa, 1 chüan, an aid to the pronunciation of the alphabets; and 讀咒法 Tu-chou fa, 1 chüan, about the ways to chant the charms. In the meantime he served in the Grand Secretariat, first as a secretary (1758–59) and then as an extra sub-reader (1759–63). After 1759 he served concurrently as a secretary in the Grand Council. In 1763 he was transferred to the Board of Punishments, and a year later was made a second class secretary. By quick promotion he became, within three years, director of a department (1767). However, in 1768 he was indicted and discharged for divulging state secrets to Lu Chien-tsêng when the latter was being accused of corruption. Involved in the same case were Wang's friends, and Chao Wên-chê (see under ). Chi was banished, but Wang and Chao were permitted to redeem themselves by serving in a literary capacity on the staff of, the newly appointed governor-general of Yunnan and Kweichow and successor to in directing the campaign against Burma. For three years (1768–71) Wang accompanied A-kuei wherever he went, even on the expedition to Burma in 1769. When A-kuei was discharged in 1771 and Wên-fu (see under ) appointed in his stead, Wang and Chao were assigned to serve Wên-fu in the same capacity. When the army in Yunnan was transferred to Szechwan to fight against the Chin-ch'uan rebels, Wên-fu took A-kuei, Wang and Chao with him. In 1772 A-kuei was reinstated in officialdom and was made commander of the southern route army while Wên-fu commanded the main army which attacked from the east. Wang accompanied A-kuei while Chao remained with Wên-fu. This was fortunate for Wang because Chao and Wênfu and a large number of men were killed in the defeat at Mu-kuo-mu (1773). As assistant to A-kuei who then became commander-in-chief, Wang composed most of the latter's memorials to the throne. After several years of fighting, the Chin-ch'uan area was finally conquered in 1776. Wang returned to Peking with the victorious commanders who were received by the Emperor with splendid ceremonies.

While he was living in Yunnan and Szechwan (1768–76) Wang Ch'ang wrote a number of works about his experience in these provinces. The following are in diary form: 漢行日錄 Tien-hsing jih-lu, 3 chüan, written in 1770; 征緬紀聞 Chêng-Mien chi-wên, 3 chüan, written in 1770; and Shu-chao (蜀徼) chi-wên, 4 chüan, written in 1771. His account of the war against the Burmese, Chêng-Mien chi-lüeh (略), is an important source on that subject. He also wrote four other accounts of travel, namely: 商洛行程 Shang-Lo hsing-ch'êng, written in 1786; 雪鴻再緣 Hsüeh-hung tsai-lu, written in 1788; 使楚叢譚 Shih-Ch'u ts'ung-tan, written in 1791; and 臺懷隨筆 T'ai-huai sui-pi, written in 1792. These eight works, known collectively as 春融堂雜記 Ch'un-jung t'ang tsa-chi, were reprinted with several of his short articles in the Hsiao-fang-hu chai yü-ti ts'ung-ch'ao (see under ).

During the Chin-ch'uan war Wang Ch'ang was several times promoted, and before the war ended he held the rank of a department director (appointed in 1774). After he returned to Peking he served first as deputy commissioner of the Transmission Office (1776–77) and then as director of the Court of Judicature and Revision (1777–80). In the meantime he served as one of the three chief compilers of the official history of the Chin-ch'uan war, 平定兩金川方略 P'ing-ting liang Chin-ch'uan fang-lüeh, 136 + 17 chüan, commissioned in 1776, completed about 1779–80, and printed in 1800. In 1785 he was concurrently appointed one of the chief compilers of the revised edition of the comprehensive gazetteer of the empire, Ta-Ch'ing i-t'ung chih (see under ). Early in 1780 he was made a vice-president of the Censorate. Thereafter he held the following posts: provincial judge of Kiangsi (1780), Chihli (1783) and Shensi (178386); financial commissioner of Yunnan (1787–88) and Kiangsi (1788–89); and junior vice-president of the Board of Punishments (1789–93). In the last capacity he was several times sent to the provinces to conduct important trials. In 1793, at seventy sui, he returned to Ch'ing-p'u on leave, but when he reached Peking late that year he was thought too old for service, and was allowed to retire. Thereafter he went to Peking twice: early in 1796 to attend the banquet of elderly men of the empire, and in 1799 to mourn the death of Emperor Kao-tsung. At this time his eyes and 806