Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Hu Hsü
HU Hsü 胡煦 (T. 滄曉, H. 紫弦), 1655–1736, Oct. 17, scholar and official, was a native of Kuang-shan, Honan. Although he became a chü-jên in 1684, he did not succeed in obtaining his chin-shih until 1712 at the rather advanced age of fifty-eight (sui). In 1714 he was appointed to a post in the Imperial Study (see under Chang Ying) to assist in the compilation of the Chou-i chê-chung, a work on the Classic of Changes in 22 chüan which, under the general editorship of the Grand Secretary, Li Kuang-ti [q. v.], was completed in 1715. He became sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat in 1723 and was made a vice-president of the Board of War in 1727. Later he also served as a tutor to the princes and as one of the directors-general for the compilation of the official history of the Ming Dynasty (Ming-shih). In 1731, shortly after he became a vice-president of the Board of Ceremonies, he was ordered to retire on grounds of old age. A year later he was deprived of his former ranks for a minor offense. He was summoned to an audience with Emperor Kao-tsung in 1736, and in recognition of his past services all ranks were restored to him. He died in the capital in the autumn of the same year. In 1794, almost a cycle after his death, the posthumous name Wên-liang 文良 was officially conferred upon him.
As a scholar Hu Hsü devoted his attention to the Classic of Changes, and his 周易函書 Chou-i han-shu, in 52 chüan, is a thorough study of that classic. This work was originally in 158 chüan. Two sections of it were printed separately during his lifetime, but the work as a whole was never printed. An edition in 52 chüan, edited by his youngest son, Hu Chi-t'ang 胡季堂 (T. 升夫, H. 雲坡, 1729–1800), was presented to the editors of the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan shu (see under Chi Yün) in 1773 when the son was provincial judge of Kiangsu. This son, who later rose in his official career to the presidency of the Board of Punishments (1779–98), and to the governor-generalship of Chihli (1798–1800), also left a collection of literary works under the title 培蔭軒集 P'ei-yin hsüan chi (4 chüan of verse, 2 of prose, and 2 of notes) which was printed in 1822. Hu Hsü was the author of another work, entitled 卜法詳考 Pu-fa hsiang-k'ao, 4 chüan, which traces the development of the study of divination. It was originally a part of the aforementioned Chou-i han-shu. The Chou-i han-shu and the Pu-fa hsiang-k'ao were given notice in the Imperial Catalogue and were copied into the Imperial Manuscript Library. Hu Hsü's collected poems in 4 chüan, and his prose essays in 4 chüan, were first printed in 1772 under the title 葆璞堂集 Pao-p'u t'ang chi.
[1/296/6b; 3/71/26a, 182/20a; Kuang-shan hsien chih (1785) 27/14a; Ssŭ-k'u, 6/8b, 109/5a; Ch'ien Ch'ên-ch'ün [q. v.], Hsiang-shu chai wên, hsü ch'ao, 5/37a.]