Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/254

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Wêng
Wêng

treatises, all dealing with the Yüan period, were printed by Wang Kuo-wei 王國維 (T. 靜安, 伯隅, H. 觀堂, 永觀, 1877–1927) in the 廣倉學宭叢書 Kuang-ts'ang hsüeh-ch'ün ts'ung-shu (first series, 1916, known as 學術叢編 Hsüeh-shu ts'ung-pien), under the following titles: 大元官制雜記 Ta-Yüan kuan-chih tsa-chi, on the governmental organization;元代倉庫記 Yüan tai ts'ang-k'u chi, on the official granaries; Yüan-tai hua-su chi (畫塑記) on the bureaus of painting and sculpture in the Imperial Palace; Ta-Yüan chan-chi kung-wu chi ( 氈罽工物記), on the imperial weaving factories; and 元高麗紀事 Yüan Kao-li chi-shih, a history of the Mongol conquest of Korea. Wên T'ing-shih also left a short history of the political reforms in the beginning of the Southern Sung dynasty, entitled 中興政要 Chung-hsing chêng-yao, one chüan, which was printed in the Chên-ch'i t'ang ts'ung-shu (see under Wang Hsien). He was known as a writer of belles-lettres, being especially skilled in the balanced-prose style. A collection of his verse was printed in 1929 in one chüan, under the title 文道希先生遺詩 Wên Tao-hsi hsien-shêng i-shih. A collection of his poems in irregular meter (tz'ŭ), entitled 雲起軒詞鈔 Yün-ch'i hsüan tz'ŭ-ch'ao, was printed in 1907 in the collectanea, Huai-Pin tsa-tsu (see under Chih-jui).


[6/9/18b; Chin-shih jên-wu chih (see under Wêng T'ung-ho) p. 274; Ch'ing-hou wai-chuan (see bibl. under Hsiao-ch'in) p. 243; Fan-t'ien lu ts'ung-lu (see bibl. under Hsiao-ch'in) 2/9a; Appendix to 蒙古史研究 Mōko-shi kenkyū (1930) by Yanai Watari.]

Hiromu Momose


WÊN-tsung. Temple name of I-chu [q. v.].


WÊNG Fang-kang 翁方綱 (T. 正三, 忠敍, H. 覃溪, 蘇齋), Sept. 23, 1733–1818, Mar. 3, scholar, was a native of Ta-hsing (Peking), his family having migrated from P'u-t'ien, Fukien, about the middle of the Ming period. Although born into a poor family he became a hsiu-ts'ai in 1744 at eleven sui, a chü-jên in 1747 at fourteen sui, and a chin-shih in 1752 at nineteen sui. He was admitted to the Hanlin Academy as a bachelor, and in 1754 became a compiler. In 1759 he was appointed an examiner of the provincial examination of Kiangsi, and in 1762 held the same post in Hupeh.

During the years in the Hanlin Academy Wêng Fang-kang served on various projects. Owing to his calligraphic skill, he was named one of the penmen to make the final manuscript copy of the second collection of Emperor Kao-tsung's poems, entitled Kao-tsung yü-chih shih êr-chi (see under Hung-li). He also took part, together with Chu Kuei, Lu Wên-ch'ao [qq. v.], and others, in making the 1754 manuscript copy of the sixth century anthology, 文選 W ên-hsüan, or Chao-ming (昭明) wên-hsüan, Chao-ming being the posthumous name of its compiler, Hsiao Tsung 蕭統 (T. 德施, 501–531 A.D.). Of this work, Emperor Kaotsung had four manuscript copies made (in the years 1747, 1749, 1754, and 1770), each in the handwriting of one of the foremost calligraphers of the day. Included in each copy is an excellent portrait of the Emperor, one of which was reproduced in 1933 in the Ku-kung tien-pên-shu-k'u hsien-ts'un mu (see bibliography under Ch'ên Mêng-lei).

In 1764, Wêng was sent to Kwangtung as commissioner of education—a post he held for more than seven years. He then had the rank of subreader of the Hanlin Academy. In 1771, however, he was accused of having submitted a report in which the ages of certain students were incorrectly given and for this he was removed from his offices, returning early in 1772 to Peking. After a year of retirement he was re-instated as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy and was ordered to serve as an editor of the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu (see under Chi Yün) with the special task of selecting and editing the best editions which had been submitted to that enterprise by private collectors. In 1779 he was appointed an examiner of the provincial examination of Kiangnan. It is worth noting that the student who ranked highest in this examination was Ch'ien Ch'i [q. v.] who three years later also took first place in both the metropolitan and the Palace examinations.

After several promotions, Wêng was again given (1784) the rank of a reader in the Hanlin Academy. In 1786 he was appointed commissioner of education of Kiangsi and upon his return to Peking, three years later, was promoted to the post of a chancellor of the Grand Secretariat. In 1790, after accompanying the Emperor on a tour of Shantung, he was sent to collate the copy of the Ssŭ-k'u ch'üan-shu which had been deposited in Mukden. From 1791 to 1793 he served as commissioner of education of Shantung. In 1795 he was degraded to the rank of a reader of the Grand Secretariat and four years later was appointed a director of the Court of State Ceremonies. Owing to his age and growing inefficiency, he was transferred in 1801 to Ma-lan-yü to guard the tomb of Emperor Kao-

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