His friends, Hung Liang-chi and Sun Hsing-yen [q. v.], were then also in Sian and the three enjoyed a happy reunion. Upon his return to Peking he chafed at the prospect of further competition in the civil service examinations. He had worked in the Imperial Printing Office and had passed a special examination and therefore was entitled to a registrarship in a district. In accordance with government regulations of that time, his rank was raised, upon payment of a fee, to that of assistant district magistrate, but even for this rank he had to wait until there was a vacancy. Sensitive by nature, he could not easily endure the hardships of poverty, and for a time (1782) indulged in wine and voluptuousness. Although ill, he was forced by his creditors again to seek help in Sian, but died on the way at Yün-ch'êng, in An-i, Shansi. The expenses of his funeral, and removal of his body to Wu-chin, were undertaken by his friend, Hung Liang-chi.
Although Huang Ching-jên died at thirty-five sui, his achievement in poetry made him the idol of many a sympathetic reader. From youth on he admired the spontaneity of the Tang poet, Li Po 李白 (T. 太白, d. 762), but himself lived at a time when scholars overloaded their verses with terms taken from epigraphy and history and so made them uninspiring and almost unreadable. Huang was one of the few poets of his day to write lyrically about love, the beauties of nature, poverty, hate, and other themes in which the emotions can feature. This is especially true of his poems in irregular metre (tz'ŭ 詞). Selections of his verses were first printed by Pi Yüan in the anthology, 吳會英才集 Wu-k'uai ying-ts'ai chi. Another collection of about five hundred poems was made by Wêng Fang-kang and printed in 1796 under the title, 悔存詩鈔 Hui-ts'un shih-ch'ao. A larger collection, entitled 兩當軒詩鈔 Liang-tang hsüan shih ch'ao, in 14 chüan, appeared in 1799. It was reprinted in 1817 and 2 chüan of tz'ŭ were added. Several more editions appeared; the most complete one was edited by the author's grandson, Huang Chih-shu 黃志述 (T. 仲孫), and was printed in 1858 under the title Liang-tang hsüan ch'üan-chi (全集). Huang Chih-shu, having access to the original manuscripts, corrected many errors in other editions and compiled 2 chüan of collation notes as a supplement to the collection. In this supplement are prefaces to previous editions, sketches of the life of Huang Ching-jên, and a life in chronological order entitled, 黃仲則先生年譜 Huang Chung-tsê hsien-shêng nien-p'u, by Mao Ch'ing-shan 毛慶善 (T. 叔美) and Chi Hsi-ch'ou 季錫疇 (T. 菘耘, H. 範卿). During the Taiping Rebellion (see under Hung Hsiu-ch'üan) the blocks of this edition were damaged, but in 1876 the wife of Huang Chih-shu (née Wu 吳), then a widow, had them repaired.
[1/490/11b; 3/438/36a; 4/141/5a; 20/3/00; 25/6/1a; Mao and Chi (vide supra) Huang Chung-tsê hsien-shêng nien-p'u (1858); Huang I-chih 黃逸之, 黃仲則年譜 Huang Chung-tsê nien-p'u (1934); Chang I-p'ing 章衣萍, 黃仲則評傳 Huang Chung-tsê p'ing-chuan (1930); appendices to the 1858 edition of Huang's collected poems.]
HUANG Ch'un-yüeh 黃淳耀 (T. 蘊生, H. 陶庵), July 13, 1605–1645, Aug. 24, Ming scholar and loyalist, was a native of Chia-ting, Kiangsu. A chin-shih of 1643, he deplored the artificial literary style of the day and attempted to return to the rigid simplicity of the Classics. He formed a literary society (直言社 Chih-yen-shê) advocating "plain living and high thinking" and striving toward the way of the scholar. He held no office under the Ming and when the Prince of Fu (see Chu Yu-sung) set up a court and assigned posts to those who had become chin-shih, he did not present himself. In 1645, when Nanking fell, his district city was besieged by Ch'ing forces. He and his younger brother, Huang Yüan-yüeh 黃淵耀 (T. 金友, H. 偉恭, d. 1645), joined Hou T'ung-tsêng [q. v.] in leading the local populace in a desperate defense and when the city was lost, both committed suicide at Hsi-lin Monastery (西林庵), August 24, 1645, the elder brother at forty-one (sui), the younger, twenty-two. His contemporaries referred to him posthumously as Master Chên-wên (貞文先生); in 1703 the district erected a temple in honor of him and his brother, and in 1776 he was given the posthumous name, Chung-chieh 忠節.
Huang's collected works, 陶庵全集 T'ao-an ch'üan-chi, 22 chüan, published in 1761, were proscribed in the Ch'ien-lung period. His essays in the style of the examination hall (pa-ku-wên) were taken as models by scholars in the early Ch‘ing period. A little volume of notes on Shantung geography and historical land-marks, 山左筆談 Shan-tso pi-t'an, which is ascribed to him, the compilers of the Ssŭ-k'u Catalogue (see under Chi Yün), regard as of doubtful authenticity.
[M.1/282/36a; 南疆逸史 Nan-chiang i-shih, 25/2b; Chia-ting-sien chih (1742) 10/26b; (1882)
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