# Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Chang Ch'i

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​CHANG Ch'i 張琦 (T. 翰風, 宛鄰), Jan. 5, 1765–1833, May 1, scholar and official, was a native of Wu-chin, Kiangsu. His original name was Chang I 張翊 which he changed to Chang Yü-ch'üan 張與權 and finally to Chang Ch'i. Owing to his admiration for the famous work, Tu-shih fang-yü chi-yao, by Ku Tsu-yü [q. v.], he took the sobriquet 宛鄰 Wan-lin, meaning “Neighbor to Ku Tsu-yü”. His father, Chang Ch'an-pin 張蟾賓 (T. 步青, H. 雲墀), died four months before Chang Ch'i was born, and when his brother, Chang Hui-yen [q. v.], was only four (sui). As the family was poor, it was only with great difficulty that their mother (née Chiang 姜 1736–1794) could provide them with a good education. Both Chang Ch'i and his brother achieved literary fame and were known as "The Two Changs of P'i-ling"毘陵二張. Unlike his brother whose interest was entirely literary, Chang Ch'i hoped to render practical service to the government as an administrator, hence in his study he emphasized history and geography. In 1815 he published a work on the geography of the late Chou period, entitled 戰國策釋地 Chan-kuo ts'ê shih-ti, 2 chüan which was reprinted later in the Kuang-ya ts'ung-shu (see under Chang Chih-tung). In 1788 he became a licentiate of the first class and in the following year married a poetess, T'ang Yao-ch'ing 湯瑤卿 (1763–1831). In order to support himself he became a tutor to private families. In 1794 his mother died. About three years later he went to Shê-hsien, Anhwei, to join his brother in the teaching profession. There he met his life-long friend, Pao Shih-ch'ên [q. v.], who later composed his funerary inscription. When his brother proceeded to Peking and took his chin-shih degree (1799), Chang Ch'i continued to teach at Shê-hsien, for three years more. In 1802 his brother died and Chang Ch'i returned to his native place. Owing to lack of competent medical care, his eldest son, Chang Chüeh-sun 張珏孫, died in the following year and this led Chang Ch'i to stress the study of medicine. As a result he later published annotations on the ancient medical work, 素問 Su-wên, entitled Su-wên shih-i (釋義), 12 chüan.
In pursuance of his work as a teacher Chang Ch'i journeyed in Chekiang, Anhwei, Honan, and Shantung. In 1813 he went to Peking where, after eleven failures, he passed the Shun-t'ien provincial examination for the chü-jên degree. Seven years later (1820) he was appointed a copyist in the bureau for editing the "veritable records" (Shih-lu) of Emperor Jên-tsung. After two years in this service he was rewarded with the rank of a magistrate in Shantung. Early in 1824 he was made acting magistrate of Tsou-p'ing where he served for about five months. Then he was transferred to Chang-ch'iu, in the same province, where he remained some thirteen months and showed special skill in handling judicial cases. ​The people of Chang-ch'iu were fond of litigation and during his brief tenure more than two thousand cases were brought to court. His decisions were usually accepted as final. In 1826 there was a famine in the district of Kuan-t'ao, Shantung, and the district magistrate, fearful of an uprising, deserted his post. Chang Ch'i, being sent as acting magistrate, immediately started relief by distribution of grain to the poor. Two years later (1828) he was made magistrate of the district and remained there until his death.
Chang Ch'i's collected writings, entitled 宛鄰集 Wan-lin chi, 7 chüan, printed in 1840, consist of his verse, in 2 chüan, prose in 2 chüan, poems in irregular metre, 立山詞 Li-shan tz'ŭ, 1 chüan; life sketches and funerary inscriptions by his friends, 明發錄 Ming-fa lu, 1 chüan, and poems by his wife, 蓬室偶吟 P'êng-shih ou-yin, 1 chüan. This collection was reprinted in 1910 in the collectanea, Ch'ang-chou hsien-chê i-shu, hou pien (see under Shao Ch'ang-hêng). Chang Ch'i compiled an anthology of verse from the Han to the Sui dynasties inclusive, under the title 宛鄰書屋古詩錄 Wan-lin shu-wu ku-shih lu (commonly known as Ku-shih lu), 12 chüan, with a preface by himself dated 1815. He and his brother when they were teaching at Shê-hsien compiled an anthology of verse in irregular metre, entitled Tz'ŭ-hsüan (see under Chang Hui-yen). The last mentioned two works, together with the Chan-kuo ts'ê shih-ti and the Su-wên shih-i, were later included in the collectanea Wan-lin shu-wu ts'ung-shu (叢書) compiled by his descendants. [The gazetteer, 建寧府志 Chien-ning fu-chih, 48 chüan, which is sometimes attributed to him, was in reality compiled by another Chang Ch'i 張琦 (T. 佩玉), a chin-shih of 1670, who was prefect of Chien-ning in 1690.] Chang Ch'i was an accomplished calligrapher, noted for his skill in the official (li), the regular (k'ai), and the cursive (hsing) styles. He combined the gracefulness of the Han official writing with the vigor of the Northern Wei, and so formed a distinctive style. He was considered the equal of Têng Shih-ju [q. v.] in the li and of Pao Shih-ch'ên in the k'ai and hsing styles.
His four daughters were writers who achieved literary fame: the eldest, Chang Ch'ieh-ying 張䌌英 (T. 孟緹), married Wu T'ing-chên 吳廷鉁 (T. 偉卿, original ming 亮疇, later changed to 贊), chin-shih of 1826, and published a collection of verse, entitled 澹鞠軒詩稿 Tan-chü hsüan shih-kao, 4 chüan; the second, Chang Kuan-ying 張𥿑英 (T. 緯青, d. 1824, age 30 sui), left a work entitled 緯青遺稿 Wei-ch'ing i-kao, 1 chüan, the third, Chang Lun-ying 張綸英 (T. 婉川), was one of the best-known women calligraphers of the Ch'ing period and left a collection of verse entitled 綠槐書屋詩稿 Lü-huai shu-wu shih-kao, 5 chüan; and the fourth, Chang Wan-ying 張紈英 (T. 若綺) was both a poet and an essayist whose prose collection was published under the title 餐楓館文集 Ts'an fêng kuan wên-chi, 3 chüan, and verse under the title 鄰雲友月之居詩集 Lin-yün yu-yüeh chih-chü shih-chi, 4 chüan. Chang Wan-ying married Wang Hsi 王曦, a descendant of Wang Yüan-ch'i [q. v.], and gave birth to four daughters, all of whom became noted poetesses. Chang Ch'i's second son, Chang Yüeh-sun 張曜孫 (T. 仲遠, b. 1807), who married the daughter of Pao Shih-ch'ên, specialized in the study of medicine. Chang Yüeh-sun edited the poems of his sisters, under the title 毘陵四女集, P'i-ling Ssŭ-nü chi.
[1/484/10b, 513/19b, 20a–b; 2/76/6b; 3/247/50a; 5/41/10a; 7/54/20a; 21/9/2b–4a; 26/3/42b; 29/9/2a.]
S. K. Chang
J. C. Yang