honesty, frugality, and good sense. When he was prefect of Nanking (1703–05) his superior, Ašan (阿山, d. 1714), governor-general of Kiangsu, motivated by jealousy, falsely accused him of bribery in connection with revenue and taxation, and of impropriety in establishing lecture-halls on sites that had previously been utilized for houses of prostitution. Although sentenced to die, he was granted imperial pardon. Convinced of his innocence, the emperor summoned him to Peking where he was placed on the commission to edit the anthology of Sung, Chin, Yüan, and Ming poetry, 四朝詩 Ssŭ-ch'ao shih, which was printed in 1709 in 312 chüan.
In 1708 he was appointed prefect of Soochow and in the following year, acting-financial commissioner of Kiangsu. Gali [q. v.], governor-general of Kiangsu, accused him in 1711 of treason for a poem, entitled 虎邱 Hu-ch'iu, which he had written concerning a hillock of that name located seven li northwest of Soochow. This accusation was likewise disallowed by the emperor who again summoned him to Peking. This time (1719–1722) he served on the editorial board that compiled the phrase dictionary, Fên-lei tzŭ chin (see under Ho Ch'o). Later he was ordered to assist Chang P'êng-ko [q. v.] in a survey of the Grand Canal, and in 1721 was made director-general of Yellow River Conservancy in Honan, which post he held until his death in 1723. He was canonized as K'o-ch'in 恪勤. His collected prose works, 道榮堂文集 Tao-Jung-t'ang wên-chi, in 6 chüan, and his verse, Tao jung-t'ang (詩)-chi in 10 chüan, were printed, together with his nien-p'u, in 1762. An edition of his collected works, entitled Ch'ên K'o-ch'in chi, in 39 chüan, is listed in the Imperial Catalogue (see under Chi Yün). A treatise on public administration, 歷仕政略 Li shih chêng lüeh, in 1 chüan, and rules and regulations for river conservancy, 河工條約 Ho-kung t'iao-yüeh, also in 1 chüan, were both written shortly before his death.
[1/283/6b; 3/164/1a; 23/16/1a; 湖南文徵 Hunan wên-chêng 32/1, 61/59; Ssŭ-k'u (see under Chi Yün) 184/2b; Hsiang-t'an-hsien chih (1889) chüan 8, sec. 4/81a.]
CH'ÊN Shih-kuan 陳世倌 (T. 秉之, H. 蓮宇) Nov. 15, 1680-1758, May 21, official, was a native of Hai-ning, Chekiang. He received his chin-shih degree in 1703 and became a compiler in the Hanlin Academy (1706). Thereafter, until 1722, he filled various posts in the Hanlin Academy, serving concurrently as provincial examiner in Kwangtung (1714) and as commissioner of education of Shun-t'ien (1720–22). In 1724 he was appointed sub-chancellor of the Grand Secretariat, and later in the same year, governor of Shantung. In 1727 he was placed in charge of conservancy work in Kiangnan. Accused of dilatoriness in the performance of his duties, he was dismissed (1729) and was ordered to supervise the reparation of the Temple of Confucius at Ch'ü-fu, Shantung. In 1732 he returned to his native place, Hai-ning, and devoted himself to study. When he resumed official life he was made senior vice-president of the Censorate (1736–37, 1739–40), superintendent of government Granaries (1737–38), senior vice-president of the Board of Revenue (1738–39), and president of the Board of Works (1740–41). In 1741 he was promoted to be Grand Secretary. Early in 1749 he was once more dismissed for an error he is alleged to have made in an official communication, but was pardoned, and in 1751 was reinstated in his post as Grand Secretary. In the following years he served twice as director-general of the metropolitan military examination (1752, 1754). In 1757 he was permitted to retire and was honored with the title of Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. He died in the capital and was canonized as Wên-ch'in 文勤. He was known as a man of great industry and discretion, and is said to have been frugal and abstemious in his diet. His collected works are said to have the title 嘉惠堂集 Chia-hui t'ang chi.
Ch'ên Shih-kuan came from the famous Ch'ên family of Hai-ning—a family that produced, from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries inclusive, thirty-one chin-shih, one hundred and three chü-jên, seventy-four senior licentiates, and about one thousand hsiu-ts'ai and students of the Imperial Academy. Three became Grand Secretaries, thirteen were officials above the third rank, more than three hundred stood below the third rank, and thirteen were given a place in the national biographical records. The ancestor of this illustrious family was Kao Liang 高諒 (H. 東園) who in the early Ming period married a daughter of the Ch'ên family and later adopted his wife's family name. One of his descendants, Ch'ên Yu-hsiang 陳與相 (T. 卜野, H. 虛舟, 1545–1628), became a chin-shih in 1577, and this branch of the family
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