Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/70

 of his 甲申大難錄 Chia-shên ta-nan lu, concerning the brave men who gave their lives in defense of their country in 1644, caused the imprisonment of the magistrate of Tsining, Shantung, who sponsored the printing. Hearing of his dilemma, Sun, then eighty-one (sui), hastened north and would have gone as far as Peking to defend himself and his sponsor had not the latter been released before Sun reached his destination. After careful official examination, the work was found to contain nothing prejudicial to the Manchus. Sun returned to Hsia-fêng in 1665. In the following year went to visit him and became his disciple. In 1669, when Sun was eighty-six (sui), his great-great-grandson was born and elaborate congratulatory festivities were arranged to commemorate the event. In the following years several eminent scholars visited him, including, and. Even at the age of ninety-five (sui) his mind was clear, and until a few days before his death he was reading and writing.

Sun Ch'i-fêng was a disciple of the Confucian school of Wang Shou-jên (see under ). Unlike, who advocated the philosophy of Chu Hsi (see under ) exclusively, Sun was tolerant of both schools. The Imperial Catalogue (see under ) sums up his viewpoint in the words, "If you are destined to endure poverty, then hammer out for yourself a superior character; if you engage in public service, make it your aim to reform society." He wrote three works on the Classics: 讀易大旨 Tu I ta-chih, in 5 chüan, completed in 1669; 尚書近指 Shang-shu chin-chih, in 6 chüan, completed in 1662; and 四書近指 Ssŭ-shu chin-chih, in 20 chüan, completed in 1659. Two biographical works on the famous men of Honan and Chihli, entitled respectively 中州人物考 Chung-chou jên-wu k'ao, and Chi-fu (畿輔) jên-wu k'ao, both completed in 1658, are authoritative studies when viewed from the Confucian standpoint. He also wrote a biographical work, 理學宗傳 Li-hsüeh tsung-chuan, in 26 chüan, printed in 1666 and dealing primarily with Confucian scholars since the Sung period. It was at his suggestion that T'ang Pin compiled the Lo hsüeh pien (see under ), or biographical sketches of the philosophers of Honan; and that Wei I-ao 魏一鼇, a chü-jên of 1642, compiled the 北學編 Pei hsüeh pien (completed in 1646) on the philosophers of North China. The collected prose and verse of Sun Ch'i-fêng, entitled 夏峯先生集, Hsia-fêng hsien-shêng chi, in 14 chüan, including his nien-p'u, his family regulations under the title 孝友堂家規 Hsiao-yu t'ang chia-kuei, and lecture notes taken down by his disciples, were printed in the Chi-fu ts'ung-shu (see under ). His diary, 孫徵君日譜 Sun chêng-chün jih-p'u, 36 chüan, covering the years 1655–58, 1659–69, and 1672–75, was published by his descendants (with the help of many friends) in the years 1874–85.

His tablet was placed, by imperial decree, in the Temple of Confucius in 1828.

[Sun Hsia-fêng hsien-shêng nien-p'u; 1/486/3a; 3/397/11a; 4/127/13a; 17/1/1a; M.83/57/7b; Ssŭ-k'u 36/6a passim; Watters, T., A Guide to the Tablets in a Temple of Confucius (1879), p. 227.]

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 SUN Chia-kan 孫嘉淦, Mar. 14, 1683–1753, Dec. 29, official and scholar, was a native of Hsing-hsien, Shansi. Born into a poor family, he succeeded, after many hardships, in obtaining a chin-shih degree (1713) and becoming a corrector in the Hanlin Academy (1716). In 1719 he retired to his home to attend to his invalid mother and to observe the period of mourning after her death. In this interval he made a journey to South China (1721), visiting Honan, Shantung, Kiangsu, Chekiang, Kiangsi, Hunan, Hupeh, and Kwangsi. Upon his return north in the winter of that year, he wrote a long account of his travels, entitled 南遊記 Nan-yu chi "Record of a Southern Journey."

Sun's temerity in memorializing Emperor Shih-tsung in 1723, advising him to be more considerate of his imperial kinsmen, to discourage the purchase of office, and to make an end to wars on the western border, so attracted the attention of the Emperor that he was appointed tutor in the Imperial Academy (1724–26) and concurrently commissioner of education in Anhwei (1725–26). In 1726 he was made libationer in the Imperial Academy where he paid much attention to the curriculum, especially to better training in the Classics. Owing to his appeals to the throne, the Academy was enlarged and the annual subsidy was increased. Later in the same year (1726) he served in the Imperial Study (see under ), and in 1728 became acting prefect of Shun-t'ien fu. But at the death of his father in 1728 he retired to his native place. In the following year he was recalled to the capital and was reappointed prefect of Shun-t'ien, and libationer in the Imperial Academy. Subsequently he served as 672