Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/208

 as one of the most complete in the Yangchow area, and  frequently borrowed from it. The Huai-hai ying-ling chi, an anthology prepared by, reproduces a number of his poems and has a good sketch of his life. Twenty-nine poems by Wang Chi were included in the collection, Kan-chiu chi, compiled by Wang Shih-chên. He was also the author of a dramatic work entitled 補天石 Pu-t'ien shih.

[3/162/4a; 23/11/4b; 29/2/17b; I-chêng-hsien chih (1890) 36/13b et passim; Sui-shu 81/10b; M.1/323/ 1b;, P'u-shu t'ing chi 41/2b, 73/8a; Chou Huang (see under ), Liu-ch'iu kuo chih lüeh (1757) 3/46a; Kan-chiu chi 7/30b; Kiangsu Kuo-hsüeh Library Catalogue 35/9a; Wang Kuo-wei, 曲錄 Ch'ü-lu 2/39a.]

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WANG Ch'i-shu 汪啟淑, 1728–1799(?), bibliophile, and collector of ancient seals, regarded Shê-hsien (Huichow), Anhwei, as his ancestral home but, like many well-to-do fellow townsmen, lived in Hangchow where his family had amassed great wealth as salt merchants. In 1745 he was initiated into the poets' club of Hangchow, known as the Hsi-hu yin-shê 西湖吟社, of which and  were senior members. In the ensuing two or three decades he tried to become an official through the civil service examinations, but failed to obtain even the chü-jên degree. Having ample means, he lived, between examinations, a life of leisure, collecting rare books and antiques, and building gardens and country villas. In his mansion in Hangchow he had a studio, Fei-hung t'ang 飛鴻堂, to store, his collection of ancient and modern seals. In another building, Kai-wan lou 開萬樓 he housed his rare books. Occasionally he went to his ancestral town, Huichow, where he maintained a country villa known as Mien-t'an shan-kuan 綿潭山館. He also owned houses in Kashing, Sungkiang, Soochow, and for a time, in Peking.

Finally Wang Ch'i-shu gave up hope of obtaining a degree by way of the examinations and, like other affluent salt merchants of his day, had to content himself with occasional advancement in official rank in return for contributions he made to the imperial treasury to defray the cost of military campaigns. In the seventeen-seventies he held the rank of an expectant assistant department director of a Board; and it was in this capacity that he served, first, in the Board of Works, and then, in the Board of Revenue. Later he was promoted to be a department director in the Board of Revenue and in the Board of War. He seems to have left Peking in 1782.

In the years 1772 and 1773, when the compilation of the Imperial Manuscript Library, Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu (see under ), was initiated, book collectors of the empire were called upon to loan their rare works to the throne. Emperor Kao-tsung promised that all books so loaned would be returned to the owners as soon as they were copied. From his collection at Hangchow Wang Ch'i-shu selected 524 items which he submitted to the governor of Chekiang for transmission to Peking. Only three other families were able each to submit more than five hundred works (see under, , and ) and these, like Wang, were awarded a set of the 1728 edition of the Ku-chin t'u-shu chi-ch'êng (see under ). Two rare books were singled out from Wang's contributions as worthy of special notice, and for each of these Emperor Kao-tsung composed a eulogistic poem which was sent to Wang with the books he had loaned. The two works in question are: the 建康實錄 Chien-k'ang shih-lu, a work on Nanking, in 20 chüan; and the 錢塘遺事 Ch'ien-t'ang i-shih, a work on Hangchow, in 10 chüan. Later the Emperor bestowed other gifts on Wang and on bibliophiles of equal repute. In 1778 each of them was given a set of engraved illustrations showing the conquest of Ili (see under ), and in 1787, a set of illustrations depicting the Chin-ch'uan war (see under ). It is said that Wang died at the age of seventy-two sui in Sungkiang.

Though Wang Ch'i-shu was thus honored as a book collector, he had few friends among his scholarly contemporaries. Possibly the reason was that, unlike them, he obtained his official titles by purchase rather than by the usual examinations. Moreover, his special fields were expensive hobbies in which very few scholars of the time could indulge, however much they might desire to do so. Apparently also he was not on the best of terms with some contemporary collectors. , for example, recorded his dissatisfaction at the alleged illiberality of Wang in loaning his books.

Wang Ch'i-shu befriended many humble carvers of seals and wrote biographical sketches of the more important ones he had known personally. A collection of these sketches, entitled 810