"When Grand Secretary [sic] Han read this book, the references in the Jih-chiang [日講, Daily Discourses on the Classics to Emperor Shêng-tsu by selected officials] and other works had not yet been copied into it".
[1/272/7b; 2/9/42a; 3/58/1a; 4/21/1a; 21/2/16a; Tung hua-lu, K'ang-hsi 36:9; Wu-hsien chih (1933) 68上/8a, 11b; T'oung Pao (1924), p. 366; Pfister, P. L., Notices Biographiques et Bibliographiques I, p. 438; 國朝鼎甲徵信錄 Kuo-ch'ao ting-chia ch'êng-hsin lu, 1/27b; Pelliot, T'oung Pao (1932), p. 106.]
HANG Shih-chün 杭世駿 (T. 大宗, H. 堇浦, 秦亭老民, 智先居士), May 28, 1696–1773, Sept. 9, scholar, was a native of Jên-ho (Hangchow), Chekiang. Being studious and earnest, he soon became known as a writer and was applauded as a promising scholar by Wan Ching [q. v.]. In 1724 he became a chü-jên. Seven years later he assisted in compiling the 1736 edition of the Chekiang provincial gazetteer (浙江通志) and in 1732 was engaged as an assistant examiner in the provincial examination of Fukien. Recommended to compete in the second special po-hsüeh hung-tz'ŭ examination of 1736 (see under Liu Lun), he passed as fifth of the first class. The total number of scholars recommended for that examination was 267, the number of participants was about 180, and those who passed were fifteen. In his later years Hang compiled two works on the life and writings of the competitors, entitled 詞科掌錄 Tz'ŭ-k'o chang-lu, in 17 chüan, and Tz'ŭ-k'o yü-hua (餘話), in 7 chüan.
Appointed a compiler of the Hanlin Academy, Hang worked as a collator of the Wu-ying-tien 武英殿 editions of the Thirteen Classics, and of the Dynastic Histories, serving at the same time on the editorial board for the compilation of the Commentaries to the San-Li i-shu, or the Three Rituals (see under Fang Pao). When in 1743 he took the examination for the post of censor, his papers which made comments, under four heads, on the state of the empire, incurred the Imperial displeasure. Just what the offending statements were was never fully disclosed, but he is reported to have recommended the appointment of more Chinese officials to provincial posts, and to have discoursed on the advantages of depositing some silver in the provincial treasuries, instead of hoarding it all in Peking (see under Misḥan). Hang was in consequence dismissed and was never recalled to an official post. For several years he lived in or near Hangchow, composing poems with such friends as Ch'üan Tsu-wang, Li Ê, Ch'ên Chao-lun [qq. v.], Chao Yü (see under Chao I-ch'ing), and the painter and calligrapher, Chin Nung 金農 (T. 壽門, 吉金, H. 冬心, 司農, 1687–1764). He also made frequent trips to Yangchow where he and other impecunious poets were well received by the rich Ma brothers (see under Ma Yüeh-kuan). From 1749 to 1750 he was invited by the governor of Chekiang, Fang Kuan-ch'êng [q. v.], to compile the 海塘通志 Hai-t'ang t'ung-chih, the history of the dikes along the seashore at Hai-ning, Chekiang. After the completion of this work he remained at home for three years, accepting then an invitation to become head of the Yüeh-hsiu Academy (粵秀書院) in Canton. His friend, Ch'üan Tsu-wang, accepted the directorship of the T'ien-chang Academy (天章書院) at Kao-yao, also in Kwangtung, and both proceeded to their posts in 1752. Remaining there until 1755, Hang returned to Hangchow where he printed a collection of verse, entitled 嶺南集 Ling-nan chi, 8 chüan, which he had composed during his three years in Canton. For the next few years, until 1770, he taught in the An-ting Academy (安定書院) at Yangchow. Except for these brief absences he seldom left Hangchow where he died at the age of seventy-eight (sui).
Hang Shih-chün is noted more for his prose writings than for his verse. A collection of his short articles in prose, entitled 道古堂文集 Tao-ku t'ang wên-chi, in 48 chüan, and a collection of his poems, entitled Tao-ku t'ang shih-chi (詩集), in 26 chüan, were printed in 1776 by several of his pupils. The printing blocks were preserved in the home of a family named Wang, of Hangchow (see under Wang Hsien), but these blocks, together with several of his unpublished manuscripts, were destroyed in 1860 when the Taiping troops sacked Hangchow (see under Ting Ping). The printing blocks of the second edition, which appeared in 1790, were destroyed at the same time. A reprint of both collections, with supplements, was made in 1888 by Wang Tsêng-wei (see under Wang Hsien).
Hang Shih-chün is known to have written a great deal on the classics and on history, but only about a dozen works in these fields were printed. Ten of them, bearing the collective title, Tao-ku t'ang wai-chi (外集), were printed in 1788 by his son, Hang Pin-jên 杭賓仁, with the financial assistance of Pi Yüan [q. v.]. A
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