Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Wang Ch'i-shu
WANG Ch'i-shu 汪啟淑 (T. 秀峯, 愼儀, H. 訒庵, 槐谷), 1728–1799(?), bibliophile, and collector of ancient seals, regarded Shê-hsien (Huichow), Anhwei, as his ancestral home but, like many well-to-do fellow townsmen, lived in Hangchow where his family had amassed great wealth as salt merchants. In 1745 he was initiated into the poets' club of Hangchow, known as the Hsi-hu yin-shê 西湖吟社, of which Li Ê and Hang Shih-chün [qq. v.] were senior members. In the ensuing two or three decades he tried to become an official through the civil service examinations, but failed to obtain even the chü-jên degree. Having ample means, he lived, between examinations, a life of leisure, collecting rare books and antiques, and building gardens and country villas. In his mansion in Hangchow he had a studio, Fei-hung t'ang 飛鴻堂, to store, his collection of ancient and modern seals. In another building, Kai-wan lou 開萬樓 he housed his rare books. Occasionally he went to his ancestral town, Huichow, where he maintained a country villa known as Mien-t'an shan-kuan 綿潭山館. He also owned houses in Kashing, Sungkiang, Soochow, and for a time, in Peking.
Finally Wang Ch'i-shu gave up hope of obtaining a degree by way of the examinations and, like other affluent salt merchants of his day, had to content himself with occasional advancement in official rank in return for contributions he made to the imperial treasury to defray the cost of military campaigns. In the seventeen-seventies he held the rank of an expectant assistant department director of a Board; and it was in this capacity that he served, first, in the Board of Works, and then, in the Board of Revenue. Later he was promoted to be a department director in the Board of Revenue and in the Board of War. He seems to have left Peking in 1782.
In the years 1772 and 1773, when the compilation of the Imperial Manuscript Library, Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu (see under Chi Yün), was initiated, book collectors of the empire were called upon to loan their rare works to the throne. Emperor Kao-tsung promised that all books so loaned would be returned to the owners as soon as they were copied. From his collection at Hangchow Wang Ch'i-shu selected 524 items which he submitted to the governor of Chekiang for transmission to Peking. Only three other families were able each to submit more than five hundred works (see under Pao T'ing-po, Ma Yüeh-kuan, and Fan Mou-chu) and these, like Wang, were awarded a set of the 1728 edition of the Ku-chin t'u-shu chi-ch'êng (see under Ch'ên Mêng-lei). Two rare books were singled out from Wang's contributions as worthy of special notice, and for each of these Emperor Kao-tsung composed a eulogistic poem which was sent to Wang with the books he had loaned. The two works in question are: the 建康實錄 Chien-k'ang shih-lu, a work on Nanking, in 20 chüan; and the 錢塘遺事 Ch'ien-t'ang i-shih, a work on Hangchow, in 10 chüan. Later the Emperor bestowed other gifts on Wang and on bibliophiles of equal repute. In 1778 each of them was given a set of engraved illustrations showing the conquest of Ili (see under Chao-hui), and in 1787, a set of illustrations depicting the Chin-ch'uan war (see under A-kuei). It is said that Wang died at the age of seventy-two sui in Sungkiang.
Though Wang Ch'i-shu was thus honored as a book collector, he had few friends among his scholarly contemporaries. Possibly the reason was that, unlike them, he obtained his official titles by purchase rather than by the usual examinations. Moreover, his special fields were expensive hobbies in which very few scholars of the time could indulge, however much they might desire to do so. Apparently also he was not on the best of terms with some contemporary collectors. Pao T'ing-po [q. v.], for example, recorded his dissatisfaction at the alleged illiberality of Wang in loaning his books.
Wang Ch'i-shu befriended many humble carvers of seals and wrote biographical sketches of the more important ones he had known personally. A collection of these sketches, entitled Fei-hung t'ang yin-jên chuan (印人傳), 8 chüan, was printed in 1789. The Library of Congress possesses a Fei-hung t'ang yin-p'u (譜), printed in four series from 1745 to 1757, which contains impressions of the seals which he owned, and also his portrait. Among some twenty works compiled by him on the subject of seals are: 漢銅印叢 Han t'ung-yin ts'ung, 12 chüan, printed in 1755; and 訒庵集古印存 Jên-an chi ku-yin ts'un, 16 volumes. He also left several collections of miscellaneous notes, among them the 水曹清暇錄 Shui-ts'ao ch'ing-hsia lu, 16 chüan, reprinted in Japan in 1862. A collection of his verse, entitled Jên-an shih-ts'un (詩存), 8 chüan, was printed in 1772. He reprinted a number of old works, issuing in 1782, for example, the Shuo-wên hsi-chuan (see under Wang Hsien and Tuan Yü-ts'ai) by Hsü Ch'ieh (see under Fêng Kuei-fên).
The metropolitan area of Hangchow was, from the Sung period onward, the seat of many famous libraries. This was particularly true in Wang's day, the most prosperous period of the Ch'ing dynasty. Some of the collectors of this region—men like Lu Wên-ch'ao [q. v.] and Hang Shih-chün—were not wealthy, but accumulated large libraries by years of unremitting effort. Pao T'ing-po and Wang Ch'i-shu, on the other hand, were men of wealth who, though recorded as belonging to the neighboring town of Shê-hsien, nevertheless had frequent social contacts with collectors in Hangchow, of whom the following may be mentioned: the Chao family (see under Chao I-ch'ing); the Wang family (see under Wang Hsien); Wu Ch'o 吳焯 (T. 尺鳧, H. 繡谷, 葯園, 1676–1733); Sun Tsung-lien 孫宗濂 (T. 栗忱, H. 隱谷, chü-jên of 1744); and Wang Jih-kuei 汪日桂 (T. 一枝, H. 一之). The last named is the least known, although his library, Hsin-t'o chai 欣託齋, was said by Hang Shih-chün to have contained some 200,000 chüan.
The library of Wu Ch'o, known as P'ing-hua chai 瓶花齋, was a frequent meeting-place for Jocal poets. Wu prepared an annotated catalog of his collection, entitled 繡谷亭薰習錄 Hsiu-ku t'ing hsün-hsi lu, 8 chüan, of which only three chüan were salvaged and printed in 1918 in the Sung-lin ts'ung-shu (see under Hsü Sung). His sons, Wu Ch'êng (see under Li Ê) and Wu Yü-ch'ih 吳玉墀 (T. 蘭陵, H. 小谷, chü-jiên of 1770), were both noted bibliophiles. The library of Sun Tsung-lien was known as Shou-sung t'ang 壽松堂. A His son, Sun Yang-tsêng 孫仰曾 (T. 虛白, H. 景高), and Wu Ch'o's son, Wu Yü-ch'ih, each presented more than one hundred items to the throne for the compilation of the Imperial Manuscript Library, and received appropriate rewards.
Two other early Ch'ing bibliophiles of Hangchow were noted for their achievements in textual criticism, namely: Yao Chi-hêng 姚際恆 (T. 立方, H. 源首, b. 1647) and Sun Chih-tsu 孫志祖 (T. 頤谷, 貽榖, H. 約齋, 1737–1801). Yao possessed, in addition to paintings and antiques, a collection of rare books of which the catalog is entitled 好古堂書目 Hao-ku t'ang shu-mu, 4 chüan (reproduced in 1929 from an early manuscript copy). An exceptionally critical scholar, he refuted the traditional commentaries to the Classic of Poetry, and set forth his own views with a high degree of common sense, in a work entitled 詩經通論 Shih-ching t'ung-lun, 18 chüan, written in 1705 and printed in 1837. He wrote commentaries to the other Classics, but these seem to have been lost. Yao was interested also in the genuineness of ancient books, or the detection of forgeries whose age or authenticity had not been adequately studied. He prepared a list of spurious works, entitled 古今僞書考 Ku-chin wei-shu k'ao (Forgeries of Ancient and Modern Times), of which a re-punctuated edition, with notes by Ku Chieh-kang (see under Ts'ui Shu) was published in 1929. Though brief, it is one of the landmarks in Chinese historical criticism.
Sun Chih-tsu was a chin-shih of 1766 who, after serving a number of years in the Board of Punishments, became a censor (1775). He soon retired, however, and devoted the remainder of his life to study. Like Yao Chi-hêng, he was an exponent of the School of Han Learning (see under Ku Yen-wu) and wrote several works on the Classics. His collection of study notes, entitled 讀書脞錄 Tu-shu ts'o-lu, 7 chüan, printed in 1809, and its supplement, were included in the Huang-Ch'ing ching-chieh (see under Juan Yüan). In these works he corrected many mistaken interpretations of the Classics.
[6/45/20b, 10a; 3/454/51a; 3/137/14a, 補錄; Anhwei t'ung-chih (1934) 10/23a; Ssŭ-k'u, 50/2b, 51/6b; Chin-ch'êng shu-mu (see under Ma Yüeh-kuan); Shên Shu-yen 沈叔埏, 頤綵堂文集 I-ts'ai t'ang wên-chi, 5/23b; Ch'ien Ch'ên-ch'ün [q. v.], Hsiang-shu chai hsü-chi, 15/26a; Swann, N. L., "Seven Intimate Library Owners", in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 1 (1936), pp. 363–90; Wu-lin ts'ang-shu lu (see under Ting Ping); 6/45/10a; 3/454/51a; 3/137/14a; 6/39/1a; Ts'ang-shu chi-shih shih (see under P'an Tsu-yin 5/36a; Sungkiang fu chih (1884) 83/20b; Wêng Fang-kang [q. v.], Fu-ch'u chai chi-wai shih, 9/11a, 14/1b, 16/5a.]