The above Edict, with the wording slightly modified in places, is quoted by 梁章鉅 Liang Chang-chü,[1] a retired provincial Governor, with these accompanying remarks: 'In my part of the country there is a tradition that the encyclopaedia T'u Shu Chi Ch'êng of the present dynasty was brought to completion under the hands of Ch'ên Hsing-chai,[2] but the truth of the matter has never yet been investigated. I have respectfully perused the following Edict of the 11th moon[3] of the 61st year of K'ang Hsi: [Edict] ... It appears, according to this Edict, that the credit of having brought the T'u Shu Chi Ch'êng to a conclusion cannot be exclusively arrogated by Hsing-chai. In reading it, moreover, we gain a general idea of the carelessness and negligence which marred Hsing-chai's talent'.[4]
These comments of Liang Chang-chü are obviously dictated by a desire not to offend the Manchu Government, in whose eyes, of course, Ch'ên Mêng-lei was a rebel who had died in disgrace. But to those who can read between the lines of an Imperial Edict it is perfectly plain that the T'u Shu was to all intents and purposes complete at the time of K'ang Hsi's death. Not only was the manuscript ready for the press, but the type had been prepared, [5] and it is by no means certain that the work of printing had not already begun. It is easy to understand Yung Chêng's feverish anxiety to get rid of Ch'ên Mêng-lei at the earliest possible moment, in order that the name of his enemy should not go down to posterity permanently associated with the most memorable literary undertaking of his father's reign. Although he gained his immediate object, it is important to note that as late as 1845 a tradition still existed as to the work having been actually completed by Ch'ên Mêng-lei. As it now became necessary to have some man of straw who could officially report the termination of the work, a new editor was appointed in the person of 蔣廷錫 Chiang T'ing-hsi,Chiang T‘ing-hsi. a scholar and statesman of some distinction who in his youth had achieved fame as a poet and a flower-painter. The 'polish' (潤色) which, in the terms of the Edict, he was required to impart, cannot in the nature of things have amounted to much, seeing that the Encyclopaedia consists solely of passages taken verbatim from other writings. It may therefore be assumed that his chief function was to throw dust in the eyes of the public and to mark time until the year 1726, when, a decent interval having elapsed, and the imaginary 'mistakes' having been corrected, the work was finally allowed to appear.
The scale on which this new lei-shu was designed is truly stupendous. Scale of the Encyclopedia.The total number of chüan or books, which vary but little in size, is 10,000, as compared with the 450 of the encyclopaedia next to it in size, the Yüan Chien Lei Han. The table of contents alone (printed, it must be said, with a generous disregard of space) occupies no fewer than 40 chüan. There are 9 columns to every page, with 20 characters in each column. Allowing- ↑ In a collection of desultory notes entitled 歸田瑣記, published in 1845 (chüan 4, fol. 9 r.).
- ↑ 'Hsing-chai' was Ch'ên Mêng-lei's hao or fancy name.
- ↑ In reality, as we have seen, it was the 12th moon.
- ↑ 吾鄉相傳，國朝圖書集成一書，成於陳省齋之手，實未核也， 恭讀康熙六十一年十一月諭。。。據此，則圖書集成之成帙，非省齋所能專其功，而省齋之負才跅弛，讀此亦可見其概矣。
- ↑ See infra, page xviii, note 2: 而設康熙中.
