Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/311

 to Manchuria and never returned. As Yen Yüan grew up he knew that his father had been taken away, but believed him to be, like himself, of the surname Chu. At the age of five sui he accompanied his foster grandfather to the district city of Li-hsien where the latter was serving as a minor local official. There, from 1642 to 1646, he studied under Wu Ch'ih-ming 吳持明, and after 1647 continued his studies under a fellow-townsman, Chia Yü 賈琻. About the year 1648 he became interested in occult Taoist writings on the prolongation of life. He married, in 1649, the adopted daughter (born 1634) of Chang Hung-wên 張宏文, but owing to the Taoist beliefs he then held, he did not consummate the marriage relationship. Soon afterwards he became convinced of the irrationality of these Taoist doctrines and by 1653 betook himself to serious studies under the tutorship of a local scholar, Chia Chên 賈珍. In the same year (1653) his foster grandfather left home, after being involved in a law-suit, and Yen Yüan was imprisoned in his stead. Meanwhile he continued his studies. When he regained his freedom he registered in the district -school under the name Chu Pang-liang. Returning to Liu-ts'un in 1654, he began a study of the famous chronological history of China, Tzŭ-chih t'ung chien (see under ). At this time he privately decided to abandon the type of scholarship required in the civil service examinations, and so gave up hope of an official career. Obliged, however, to earn more money for the support of his family, he took up in 1656 the study of medicine, which he began to practice two years later. While teaching in a private school which he opened in 1658 he wrote a small treatise, entitled 王道論 Wang-tao lun, 1 chüan, on the ideal system of government, attributed as usual to remote antiquity. The title was later changed to 存治編 Ts'un-chih pien and the work was printed with that title in 1705. Being interested in ancient ethical systems, he named his studio Ssŭ-ku chai 思古齋, "Studio for Reflecting on the Ancients", and styled himself Ssŭ-ku jên (人), "Contemplator of the Ancients".

About 1660 Yen Yüan made a study of the famous symposium of Sung philosophy known as 性理大全 Hsing-li ta-ch'üan, 70 chüan, compiled by imperial decree (1414) under the editorship of Hu Kuang 胡廣 and completed in 1415. Yen thus became deeply interested in "Sung Learning" (see under ), and strictly observed the ethical admonitions of the Sung scholars, including the practice of sitting in contemplation and divesting the mind of extraneous influences, as the way to intellectual enlightenment. In the same year (1660), at the behest of his foster grandfather, he went to Peking to compete in the provincial examination, but failed. Upon his return he continued to conduct a private school located in a nearby village called Hsi-wu-fu ts'un 西五夫村. In 1661 he went to a neighboring district, Ch'i-chou (present An-kuo), where he made the acquaintance of Tiao Pao 刁包 who gave to him a copy of his book, entitled 斯文正統 Ssŭ-wên chêng-t'ung, 12 chüan, which so influenced Yen that, upon his return from Ch'i-chou, he erected a shrine in which to honor the Sung scholars almost as he did Confucius. In the following year (1662) he and several local scholars, including Kuo Ching-kung 郭靖共, organized a literary society called Wên-shê 文社 to promote the writing of essays and the observance of ancient ceremonies. Early in 1664 he made the acquaintance of Wang Yang-tsui 王養粹, a native of Li-hsien who became his life-long friend and with whom he kept a diary. This diary was later used by Yen's disciple,, to compile Yen's chronological biography, entitled 顏習齋先生年譜 Yen Hsi-chai hsien-shêng nien-p'u, 2 chüan, completed in 1705, but expanded by another disciple, , in 1706. Yen and Wang met every ten days for self examination and mutual improvement. Humble and eager to learn, Yen Yüan, during the ensuing two years (1664–66), repeatedly paid visits to a number of contemporary scholars of near-by districts, among them Wang Yü-yu 王餘佑, Li Ming-hsing (see under ), Chang Lo-chê 張羅喆 , and Lü Shên 呂申. In 1666 he went to Peking in the hope of locating his father by distributing descriptive handbills to travellers who came from Manchuria.

On March 26, 1668 Yen Yüan's foster grandmother died and this event effected a great change in his life, both socially and intellectually. Still supposing himself to belong to the Chu clan, he carried out at the time of her death every detail of the mourning ceremonies which his overconscientious Confucian studies now demanded, with the result that his mind became greatly 913