Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/232

 retired because of illness. The fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644 did not greatly disturb his routine. The Prince of Fu (see under ) twice summoned him to be director of the Court of Sacrificial Worship at Nanking but he declined. He lived in peaceful contemplation of nature, engaged in painting and in writing verse. In 1663 he asked, the landscape artist, to replant his garden, where he intended to spend his last days. At this time he also maintained as family actors a group of boys who were taught by the famous teacher of dramatic singing and acting, Su K'un-shêng 蘇崑生, a name made immortal in the drama, T'ao-hua shan (see under ).

In the history of Chinese painting Wang Shihmin is recognized as one of the great masters of the early Ch'ing period. He is known to artists as one of the Four Wangs (四王), the other three being, , and. The first of the three was a relative; the last was his grandson. Most of his nine sons were poets as well as painters. His second son, Wang K'uei (see under ), was a chin-shih of 1655, and his eighth son,, was a famous Grand Secretary in the late K'ang-hsi period.

The collected works of Wang Shih-min, entitled 西田集 Hsi-t'ien chi, have perhaps never been printed. A collection of his colophons, entitled 烟客題跋 Yen-k'o t'i-pa, in 2 chüan, was edited by Li Yü-fên 李玉棻 and printed in 1910. A short article, 奉常家訓 Fêng-ch'ang chia-hsün, being Wang's instructions to his family in 1670, was printed in the collectanea 婁東雜著 Lou-tung tsa-chu (latest preface 1839).

[西廬先生年譜 Hsi-lu hsiem-shêng nien-p'u (unpublished), condensed by Ku Wên-pin 顧文彬, and printed in 過雲樓書畫記 Kuo-yün lou shu-hua chi (1882); 1/509/1a; 2/70/44b; 3/426/33a; 3/428/35a; 20/1/21a, (with portrait); 國華 Kokka, vol. 24, no. 285, p. 191; Waley, An Index of Chinese Artists, p. 95; Tomioka Kenzō 富岡謙藏, 四王吳惲 Shiō-goun (not consulted). L.T.C.L.H.M., p. 41; T'oung Pao (1909) p. 518.]

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 WANG Shih-to 汪士鐸 (original ming 鏊, T. 振庵, 晉侯, 梅村 H. 悔翁, 芝生, 無不悔翁}}, July 14, 1802–1889, Aug. 3, scholar, was a native of Nanking. His father, Wang Chün 汪均, was a follower of Neo-Confucianism and a strict disciplinarian. When Wang Shih-to was young he was taught to read nothing but Neo-Confucian books. Though the family was very poor, his father resolutely declined to seek the help of relatives. When Wang Shih-to was fifteen sui, and again when he was sixteen sui, he was compelled by poverty to become an apprentice to a dealer in second-hand clothes. His last employer having become bankrupt, Wang lived precariously at home improving his calligraphy. In June 1818 he became an apprentice in a cake-shop, but after three months his employer, perceiving that the youth showed promise as a student, sent him home to pursue his studies. But at home he endured the ridicule of neighbors for being, in their eyes, a failure, even as an apprentice. Baffled at every turn, there was then nothing for him to do but to improve his knowledge of the Four Books and to practice writing the official examination essays. Impressed by his studious habits, his grandmother and his uncle—on his mother's side—provided him with occasional funds to continue his studies. It is reported that when he married in 1827 his wedding presents consisted entirely of books. His wife, Tsung Chi-lan 宗繼蘭, being much interested in his studies, is said to have pawned her trousseau and other items of dress in order to help him purchase the books he needed. She died in 1847 after an illness of seven years.

From 1821 to 1858 Wang Shih-to spent most of his time teaching in private schools or in families of affluence. By making the most of his opportunities to borrow books and to come into contact with eminent scholars he managed to obtain a good grasp of the rites, history, poetry, philology, geography, mathematics, calligraphy and painting. In 1840 he became a chü-jên, his chief examiner being who later took an important part in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion. In 1848–49 he was engaged by a patron of means to compile the 南北史補志 Nan-Pei shih pu-chih, 14 chüan, printed in 1878–a supplement to the official histories of the Period of Division between the North and the South (420–589 A. D.). His two elder daughters assisted him in compiling his references which relate chiefly to astronomy, geography, strange happenings, and rites.

When the Taiping Rebels took Nanking on March 19, 1853, Wang Shih-to did not flee the city. His eldest daughter, Wang Shu-ch'in 汪淑菦, was forced to act as a clerk to the Taiping leader,

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