the authenticity of ancient books, and on new methods of historical research.
Wishing to devote his remaining years to the completion of his manuscripts, Ts'ui Shu begged repeatedly to be relieved of his post, but each time the governor, Wang Chih-i, urged him to remain. When, however, a deficit, left by his predecessor, was made up, Ts'ui felt he could leave in good conscience. In the spring of 1802 he and his wife travelled northward, happy to be released from six years of irksome official life. (The concubine, Chou Li-ê, had died in 1800.) They spent their remaining years in the neighborhood of Ta-ming and Chang-tê, still harassed, however, by poverty which in times of famine was so acute that once, at least, they had to pawn their garments to obtain food. Nevertheless, the work that Ts'ui was able to do on his manuscripts and the printing of occasional items, helped both of them to forget that old age was stealing upon them.
Ever since Ts'ui Shu and his devoted disciple, Ch'ên Li-ho, met in Peking in 1792, they had kept in touch by correspondence, but were never near enough to meet personally. In 1797 Ch'ên accompanied his father, Ch'ên Wan-li 陳萬里 (T. 飛九, H. 鯤池, 1740–1813, a chü-jên of 1780), to Kuang-fêng, Kiangsi, where the latter was magistrate. At Nanchang, in that province, Ch'ên Li-ho printed (1797) four of Tsui's works under the collective title, 東壁先生書鈔 Tung-pi hsien-shêng shu-ch'ao, of which there is a copy, bearing a postscript dated 1800, in the Library of Congress. The years between 1801 and 1816 he spent in assisting his father in other posts, recovering from a long illness (1805–08), begging for funds to print his teacher's works, or in travelling. The labor of printing was especially arduous because Ts'ui's manuscripts were frequently revised, and had to be transmitted over long distances by friendly messengers. Ch'ên managed, however, to print or reprint several items at Nanchang in 1805, and another in 1808. In the meantime Ts'ui himself printed an item at Lo-yüan (1801) and three at Chang-tê (1806–10)—one of the latter in movable type.
Chên described his teacher as being tall and graceful and as having a handsome beard. He was an engaging conversationalist, interlarding his speech, as he did his writings, with apt jokes and proverbs, to the great amusement of his listeners. In 1810, when Ts'ui was seventy-one end, his eyes began to trouble him, but he found pieasure in humming the Odes, especially the one beginning "In the seventh moon the Fire Star passes the meridian" (七月流火)—a song he had loved from childhood. By 1813 his strength so failed him that he became incapacitated for work. In that year Ch'ên set out to visit him, but turned back to Yunnan, owing to the death of his father. In the fourth moon of the following year Ts'ui Shu's wife (Ch'êng Ching-lan) died, aged seventy-five (sui). Ts'ui had previously written an account of her life and appended it to a collection of her verse, but Ch'ên was unable to print it and consequently it is now lost. Scattered through Ts'ui's writings, however, are many informative references to her—all of them indicative of a sincerely affectionate relationship. He was thus left with only a concubine (taken in later years) to look after him. Realizing that his own end was near, he compiled a table-of-contents of all his writings, wrapped the precious manuscripts in nine portfolios, and on October 24, 1815 penned a last statement which reads: "In my lifetime I have written thirty-four works in eighty-eight chüan; save them until Ch'ên Li-ho of Yunnan comes in person to claim them." Though the table-of-contents is included in Chên's final edition of 1824-25, Ch'ên was able to print, before he died, only nineteen items in 54 chüan. Except for a few which have been recently found, the rest are lost.
On, or shortly after, August 8, 1816, Ch'ên arrived in Chang-tê, expecting once more to greet his teacher after a lapse of nearly twenty-four years. But Ts'ui had died on March 4, nearly six months earlier. Ch'ên bowed reverently before the coffin and received with tears the manuscripts written in his masters hand. After discussing with Ts'ui's nephew the plans for the burial, he went on to Peking, and in the autumn received appointment as magistrate of Taiku, Shansi. There he arranged for the printing of four more items, including a reprint of the Chu-Ssŭ k'ao-hsin lu, which was financed by a local descendant of Confucius, named K'ung Kuang-yüan 孔廣沅. But Ch'ên was in Taiku less than a year when he had to leave a successful post (1817) to mourn the death of his stepmother. While travelling in the southwest in 1818 he wrote a long sketch of the life of Ts'ui Shu which is now a part of the collected works. In 1821 he returned to Peking and there saw to the printing of four items. In the spring of 1823 he assumed the post of magistrate of Tung-yang, Chekiang; and early in the following year completed the carving of the blocks for twelve items
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