Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/286

 another that he was born in 1813, still another giving his birth as October 9, 1805. According to one investigation, he was younger than Hung and was probably born on September 27, 1817. His ability as both soldier and administrator was acknowledged by the imperialists and the Taipings alike.

[1/481/1a; 5/50/20b; Li Hsiu-ch'êng kung-chuang (see under ); Chung-kuo chin pai-nien shih tzŭ-liao (see under ) 1st series pp. 75–115; for characters of following three works see bibl. under : Tsei-ch'ing hui-tsuan, chüan 1; T'ai-p'ing T'ien-kuo shih-liao ti-i-chi; T'ai-p'ing T'ien-kuo yeh-shih, chüan 12, 15; Brine, Lindesay, The Taiping Rebellion in China (1862); T'ung-chih Shang-Chiang liang-hsien chih (see under ) chüan 18 (1874) survey of Taiping calendar after 1853;, I-ping jih-chi; ''Bul. Natl. Lib. of Peiping, vol. 8 no. 4 showing recently-discovered Taiping documents; Kuo-wên chou-pao'' (see bibl. under ), vol. 14 no. 15 April 1937 for a study, in Chinese, of Yang's ancestry and time of birth.]

2em

 YANG I-tsêng 楊以增, Oct. 26, 1787–1856, Jan. 25, official and bibliophile, Was a native of Liao-ch'êng, Shantung. His father, Yang Chao-yü 楊兆煜, was a chü-jên of 1798 who served as director of schools at Chi-mo, Shantung (1808–12). Yang I-tsêng graduated as chü-jên in 1819 and as chin-shih in 1822. In 1823 he was made sub-prefect of Ch'ang-chai, Kweichow, and thereafter held successively the following posts in the same province: magistrate of Li-po (1824–28) and of Kuei-chu (1828–29), sub-prefect of Sung-t'ao (1829–32), prefect of Hsing-i (1832–33) and of Kuei-yang (1833–34). During his tenure as an official he gained distinction in judicial matters. In 1834 he was promoted to the intendancy of the Tso-Chiang Circuit, Kwangsi, and shortly afterwards (1834) was made intendant of the An-Hsiang-Yün-Ching Circuit, Hupeh. There he was busily engaged in clearing the area of bandits. In 1838 he returned to his native place to observe the customary period of mourning for the death of his father, and three years later was made intendant of the K'ai-Kuei-Ch'ên-Hsü Circuit, Honan.

During the summer of this year (1841) great floods in the Yellow River destroyed the dikes in K'ai-fêng, and Grand Secretary Wang Ting (see under ) was dispatched by the emperor to look after flood protection in that area. Under Wang, Yang I-tsêng was fully occupied in the construction of dikes which he completed several months later. In 1843 he was promoted to be judicial commissioner of Kansu where he suppressed remnants of the rebellious adherents of the White Lily Sect. In 1846 he was made financial commissioner of Shensi under Governor, and in the following year took the latter's place. Appointed director-general of the southern portion of the Grand Canal, he went to his post at Ch'ing-chiang-p'u (Huai-yin), Kiangsu, late in 1848. After 1853 he made strenuous efforts to protect the Grand Canal from the Taipings, and at the same time superintended the salt revenue in the Yangchow region with a view to increasing war funds. Falling ill after two years of excessive labor, he died in office. Emperor Wên-tsung, honoring him as one who had died for his country, promoted him posthumously to the title of junior president of the Censorate. He also canonized him as Tuan-ch'in 端勤.

Yang I-tsêng took an active interest in collecting books. In his native place he built a library named Hai-yüan ko 海源閣, for which a eulogistic poem was written in 1842 by his friend Mei Tsêng-liang (see under ). During his term in office as director-general of the Grand Canal, Yang obtained more than half the valuable books of the I-yün shu-shê (see under ), which he carried to the Hai-yüan ko by the official boats of the Grain Transport. These and other rare editions and manuscripts were preserved in a room of the Hai-yüan ko which he styled Sung-ts'un shu-shih 宋存書室. The treasures in his collection comprised rare editions of four of the Classics and of the first four Dynastic Histories. For that reason he styled his studio Ssŭ-ching ssŭ-shih chai 四經四史齋. In his declining years he printed at his office several rare items from his library, which he designated collectively Hai-yüan ko ts'ung-shu. In these undertakings he was assisted by several scholars, among them Mei Tsêng-liang and.

Yang I-tsêng's second son, Yang Shao-ho 楊紹和, inherited his father's interest as a collector of books. He graduated as chü-jên in 1852 and, after observing the period of mourning for the death of his father, was made a department director in the Board of Revenue. During several years, ending in 1861, he was engaged in 888