Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/43

 ). It consists of four chronological lists of imperial reign-titles, the nobility, names of ministers of state, and posthumous names. To each list he appended an index arranged according to the syllabary of rhymes. Another work by him is the 九經辨字瀆蒙 Chiu-ching pien-tzŭ tu-mêng, 12 chüan, an etymological study of the characters used in the Nine Classics, which received notice in the Imperial Catalogue and was copied into the Ssŭ-k'u library (for both see under ). Manuscript copies of this work are preserved in the Kiangsu Kuo-hsüeh Library, Nanking, and the Seikadō Library, Tokyo. His collected verse appears under the title 增默齋集 Tsêng-mo chai chi, 8 chüan. One chüan of this collection, entitled 蠶桑樂府 Ts'an-sang yüeh-fu, is devoted to sericulture. Critical notice is given to it in the Imperial Catalogue. A work by Shên, entitled 唐詩金粉 T'ang-shih chin-fên, 10 chüan, is an anthology of phrases from T'ang poetry. This work was printed prior to 1736.

A younger brother, Shên Ping-hsün (see under ), was a student of the ancient work on the water courses of China, known as Shui-ching chu (see under ). He wrote a treatise on this subject, entitled 水經注集釋訂譌 Shui-ching chu chi-shih ting-ê, in 40 chüan, which received notice in the Imperial Catalogue and was copied into the Ssŭ-k'u. According to, this work was really initiated by Shên Ping-chên, and was completed by his brother. It was recently reproduced in the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu chên-pên (see under ).

[1/490/5b; 3/418/12a; 31/10/8a; 湖州府志 Hu-chou fu-chih (1874) 76/19a; Ssŭ-k'u 33/12a, 69/1b, 185/4b.]

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 SHÊN Tê-ch'ien 沈德潛, Dec. 24, 1673–1769, Oct. 6, official, poet and literary critic, was a native of Ch'ang-chou, Kiangsu. He was brought up in a poor but cultivated home. His grandfather and father were tutors, and he also began to teach when he was eleven (sui). His poetic genius was recognized early, for at the age of six (sui) he so impressed his grandfather with his knowledge of rhymes that the latter predicted he would become a great poet. But Shên Tê-ch'ien's way to political preferment was more difficult, for he did not become a chü-jên until he was sixty-six (sui), after seventeen attempts. Taking his chin-shih degree in 1739, he gained the favor of Emperor Kao-tsung and enjoyed the latter's literary friendship, being twice honored with imperial prefaces to his works (see below).

In 1742 Shên Tê-ch'ien was appointed a compiler in the Hanlin Academy and was assigned to edit the old and the new histories of the T'ang dynasty, and to participate in the compilation of the "Mirror of History" for the Ming period, which was printed in 1746 in a work of 20 chüan, entitled 資治通鑑鋼目三編 Tzŭ-chih tung-chien kang-mu san-pien. In 1743 Shên became senior secretary of the Supervisorate of Imperial Instruction, expositor in the Hanlin Academy, and diarist of the Emperor's movements. He was examiner of the provincial examination in Hupeh (1744), chief supervisor of imperial instruction, assistant director of the metropolitan military examination (1745), and sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat (1746). In 1747 he was made tutor to the imperial princes, and junior vice-president of the Board of Ceremonies, and in 1748 assistant director of the metropolitan examination. Retiring from official life in 1749, he became two years later (1751) principal of the Tzŭ-yang (紫陽) Academy at Soochow.

During the remainder of his long life he made two journeys to the capital (1751, 1761), attending on both occasions the birthday celebrations of the Empress Dowager; and four times he had the pleasure of greeting the Emperor on the latter's journey to South China (1751, 1757, 1762, 1765). On one of these occasions he was made honorary president of the Board of Ceremonies (1757), on another, Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent (1765). In 1769, at the age ninety-seven (sui), he died and was canonized as Wên-k'o 文愨. His name was entered in the Temple of Eminent Statesmen and remained there until 1778 when he was posthumously denounced for having written a biographical sketch of whose collection of verse, entitled I-chu lou shih (see under ), was banned for containing alleged seditious utterances. The decree denouncing Shên's works was issued on December 3, 1778. Upon reading certain of Shên's verses that seemed to him seditious the Emperor ordered the withdrawal of all his posthumous honors.

The literary remains of Shên-Tê-ch'ien are of two kinds: his own compositions, and anthologies which he compiled and edited. His creative writings, brought together under the title, 歸愚詩文鈔 Kuei-yü shih-wên ch'ao, comprise his poems in 30 chüan—the first 20 chüan, honored with a preface by Emperor Kao-tsung, being 645