Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Shên Han-kuang
SHÊN Han-kuang 申涵光 (T. 孚孟, 和孟, H. 鳧盟, 聰山, 臥樗老人), Jan. 4, 1620–1677, July 5, poet, philosopher and artist, was a native of Yung-nien, Chihli. His father, Shên Chia-yin 申佳胤 (T. 孔嘉, 1602–1644), took his own life as a martyr to the Ming cause and was canonized as Tuan-min 端愍 in the Ch'ing period. Shên Han-kuang showed early in his career an interest in literature, taking for his model the T'ang poet, Tu Fu (see under Ch'ou Chao-ao). He and two friends, Yin Yüeh 殷岳 (T. 宗山, 伯嚴, 1603–1670) and Chang Kai 張蓋 (T. 覆輿, 命士), were known as "The Three Geniuses of Southern Chihli" (畿南三才子). A contemporary poet, Wang Shih-chên [q. v.], stated that Shên Han-kuang really set the standard of poetry for the region north of the Yellow River. After traveling in Shantung and Shansi he visited Sun Ch'i-fêng [q. v.] in 1657 at the latter's home in Honan and became his disciple. From then on his interest in pure literature diminished and he devoted himself to the philosophy of human nature. He was several times recommended for official appointments, but always declined. In addition to being a poet, he was an accomplished calligrapher, a landscape painter and a skillful player of the lute (琴). His collected poems and other works, together with writings of his father and two younger brothers, as well as other members of the Shên family, are reproduced in the Chi-fu ts'ung-shu (see under Ts'ui Shu) under the title 永年申氏遺書 Yung-nien Shên-shih i-shu.
His two younger brothers, Shên Han-yü 申涵煜 (T. 觀仲, 1628–1694) and Shên Han-pan 申涵盼 (T. 隨叔, 1638–1682), were also well known, and both received their education under his direction. The former was a poet, calligrapher, and painter; the latter, a chin-shih of 1661, compiled in 1676 the gazetteer of their home prefecture, 廣平府志 Kuang-p'ing-fu chih.
[2/70/23a; 3/399/21a; 10/11/12a; 19/甲下/51b; Shên Fu-mêng (鳧盟) hsien-shêng nien-p'u in Chi-fu ts'ung-shu; Yung-nien-hsien chih (1758) 31/6a, (1877) 31/4b.]