Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Tai Tun-yüan
TAI Tun-yüan 戴敦元 (T. 士旋, H. 金溪), 1768–1834, Dec. 18, official, was a native of K'ai-hua, Chekiang. Precocious as a child, he obtained the chü-jên degree when he was only fifteen sui. Many stories are told of his genius. Becoming a chin-shih in 1793, he was three years later appointed a second class secretary in the Board of Ceremonies. In 1797 he was appointed to the Board of Punishments where he rose to be a department director (1809), serving concurrently as assistant provincial examiner in Shansi (1798) and in Shun-t'ien (1804), and as an assistant examiner of the metropolitan examination (1801). Later he served as intendant of the Kao-Lien Circuit, Kwangtung (1820–21), provincial judge of Kiangsi (1821–22), and financial commissioner of Shansi (1822) and Hunan (1822–23). In 1823 he was recalled to the capital and was appointed senior vice-president of the Board of Punishments. This post he held for nine years, and in 1832 was made president of the same Board. In 1834 he died and was canonized as Chien-k'o 簡恪. He was a man of great discretion and reserve, he kept himself aloof from the world, and was known as an incessant worker. It is said that during his term as provincial judge in Kiangsi he cleared up, within a few months, some four thousand accumulated cases. As vice-president and president of the Board of Punishments he effected, directly or indirectly, many reforms and alterations in criminal law and procedure, and in the treatment of criminals.
Though a great lover of books, especially in the fields of astronomy and mathematics, Tai Tun-yüan never produced a systematic treatise on those subjects. He left some scattered verses, collected after his death and printed in 1844 under the title, Tai Chien-k'o kung i-chi (公遺集), 8 chüan. He was a disciple of Wang Ch'ang [q. v.].
[1/380/3b; 3/108/34a; 5/8/23a; 7/21/16a; 13/4/9a; 20/3/00 with portrait.]