# Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Ch'üan Tsu-wang

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​CH'ÜAN Tsu-wang 全祖望 (T. 紹衣, H. 謝山, childhood name 補), Jan. 29, 1705–1755, Aug. 9, historian, was a native of Yin-hsien (Ningpo), Chekiang. His great-grandfather, Ch'üan Ta-ch'êng 全大程 (T. 式躬, 襄孫, 1608-1667), was a loyalist to the Ming cause who in 1645 joined the Court of Chu I-hai [q. v.] to resist the Manchus. When, in 1649, Ch'üan Ta-ch'êng was sought by the Ch'ing authorities he fled to the mountains, abandoning his property in Ningpo, including a collection of books. Later, however, when Ch'üan Tsu-wang's grandfather, Ch'üan Wu-ch'i 全吾騏 (T. 聿青, 北空, 1629-1696), re-established the family in Ningpo he assembled another library, mostly by transcription. Ch'üan Tsu-wang's father, Ch'üan Shu 全書 (T. 吟園, 1663–1739), added to the collection by the same method. In his childhood Ch'üan Tsu-wang learned much from his father about the history of the late Ming period and about the sufferings and the heroism of the Ming loyalists—a subject that engrossed him throughout his life.
In 1720, when he was only sixteen sui, Ch'üan Tsu-wang went to Hangchow to compete in the provincial examination. Though he failed he attracted notice as a writer of prose, chiefly owing to the praise of Cha Shên-hsing [q. v.]. In 1722 he again went to Hangchow where he met Li Ê, Hang Shih-chün, Ch'ên Chao-lun [qq. v.], and Chao Yü (see under Chao I-ch'ing), all of whom became his life-long friends. In 1729 he became a senior licentiate, and a year later went to Peking to study in the Imperial Academy. On his way north he stopped at Yangchow and there met the opulent patron of scholars, Ma Yüeh-kuan [q. v.]. In Peking he made the acquaintance of an older contemporary, Fang Pao [q. v.]. He left Peking in 1731 for Tsinan, Shantung, to assist in the office of the provincial commissioner of education, but later in the same year went to Ningpo to visit his parents. In 1732 he returned to Peking and then became a chü-jên. His reputation as a scholar now became wide-spread, especially through the influence of Li Fu [q. v.] who was his host in Peking for three years (1733–36). Ch'üan and Li had many interests in common, in particular the teachings of the Sung philosopher, Lu Chiu-yüan (see under Li Fu). Furthermore they both sensed the importance of the manuscript encyclopedia, Yung-lo ta-tien, as a reservoir of rare and 'lost' books (see under Chi Yün, Chu Yün, and Hsü Sung). In the meantime Ch'üan was recommended as qualified to compete in the second special examination known as po-hsüeh hung-tz'ŭ (see under Ch'ên Chao-lun and Liu Lun), which took place in 1736. Before the examination he interviewed the candidates and recorded their names and biographical data in a work, entitled 公車徵士錄 Kung-chü chêng-shih lu. It was printed some twenty years ago in the collectanea, Yen-hua tung-t'ang hsiao-p'in (see under Ho Ch'iu-t'ao).
In the spring of 1736, before the po-hsüeh hung-tz'ŭ examination took place, Ch'üan passed the regular examinations for the chin-shih degree and was selected a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. About the same time, however, a new ruling was made which rendered it impossible for members of the Hanlin Academy to take the po-hsüeh hung-tz'ŭ examination. The ruling was suggested to the emperor by the powerful Grand Secretary, Chang T'ing-yü [q. v.], to whom Ch'üan is said not to have paid full respect as a teacher. At the same time Ch'üan's close friendship with Li Fu and with Fang Pao did not enhance his popularity with high officials who were provoked at the outspokenness of those two scholars. At any rate, he was effectively barred from the examination, and in the following year (1737) when the Hanlin bachelors were graded for posts he was disqualified for a place in the Academy and was recommended for one as magistrate. Thus disgraced, he left Peking and officialdom in November 1737, never to return.
On his way home in 1737 Ch'üan again stopped at the residence of Ma Yüeh-kuan in Yangchow, and returned there at least six times in subsequent years. It had become a practice for rich salt merchants at Yangchow to befriend needy scholars. The Ma family was especially famous for its hospitality and had among its guests many learned men and poets. Ch'üan was one of them, for from 1737 to 1748 he was unemployed and had to depend on writing and on patronage for a living. Almost annually he paid visits to the homes of his wealthy friends, perhaps to write articles for them, but mainly to solicit help. In 1748 he was for a few months engaged as head of the Academy known as Chi-shan Shu-yüan 蕺山書院 at Shaohsing, Chekiang—a school which derived its name from the hao of Liu Tsung-chou [q. v.]. Although Ch'üan was loved and respected by the students, he did not ​continue long in the Academy because of a minor irregularity on the part of a high official, presumably Governor Fang Kuan-ch'êng [q. v.]. In 1752 he and Hang Shih-chün went together to Kwangtung where they were each invited to become heads of Academies: Ch'üan of the T'ien-chang 天章 Academy and Hang of the Yüeh-hsiu 粵秀 Academy. But in the following year (1753) Ch'üan became seriously ill and was compelled to leave. After 1747 he had suffered much from insomnia and this and other complications undermined his health. In 1754 he made his last tour of Hangchow and Yangchow, returning to Ningpo late in that year. The next spring his only son died at the age of thirteen (sui). Ch'üan himself took ill and died, though not before he had edited most of his own writings and had entrusted them to a disciple, Tung Ping-ch'un 董秉純 (T. 小鈍, 抑標, 1724–1794). This disciple arranged for the burial by pawning his master's manuscripts with the Ma family for 100 taels, and by selling his collection of books to a wealthy Lu 盧 family of Ningpo—the family of Lu Chih 盧址 (T. 青厓) whose library, Pao-ching lou 抱經樓, was as famous in Ningpo as the Pao-ching t'ang 堂 of Lu Wên-ch'ao [q. v.] was famous in Hangchow. Ch'üan was survived for a year by his second wife, the daughter of a Manchu named Ch'un-t'ai 春臺 (T. 錫祺, H. 顧齋, chin-shih of 1713). She gave birth to his only son who is referred to above. Thus in the course of two years Ch'üan Tsu-wang's family came to an end. And though, shortly before his death, he adopted the son of a distant cousin, the father of that youth squandered what remained of Ch'üan's possessions.
Some thirty works are attributed to Ch'üan Tsu-wang, but of these only a few minor items were printed during his lifetime, among them the Kung-chü chêng-shih-lu (mentioned above) and the 度嶺集 Tu-Ling chi, a small collection of poems written during his sojourn in Kwangtung and printed there in 1753. Before he died he edited a collection of his short works in prose, under the title 鮚埼亭集 Chi-ch'i t'ing chi, 60 chüan, the manuscript of which was first kept by the Ma family of Yangchow and later by Hang Shih-chum. The disciple, Tung, to whom Ch'üan entrusted his other manuscripts, reports that he tried in vain to obtain from Hang the manuscript of the Chi-ch'i t'ing chi. Tung himself did not print any of his master's works except one on the Classics and histories, in dialogue form, entitled 經史答問 Ching-shih ta-wên, 10 chüan (1765). Nevertheless he edited (1776) a number of Ch'üan's short works in prose to which he gave the title Chi-ch'i t'ing chi wai-pien (外編), 50 chüan, which was re-edited by another disciple named Chiang Hsüeh-yung 蔣學鏞 (T. 聲始, H. 樗庵, chü-jên of 1773). In the years 1795-98, when Juan Yüan [q. v.] was commissioner of education in Chekiang, he gave high praise (see preface to the Ching-shih ta-wên) to the solidity of Ch'üan's writings, which Ch'üan had achieved only by hard work. This praise evoked a new interest in Ch'uan's writings. In 1803 Shih Mêng-chiao 史夢蛟 of Yu-yao obtained the original manuscript of the Chi-ch'i t'ing chi, comprising only 38 of the 50 chüan, which he printed in 1804, together with a reprint of the Ching-shih ta-wên and a nien-p'u of Ch'üan's life by Tung. Soon after 1804 a scholar published anonymously the Chi-ch'i t'ing-chi wai-pien from Tung and Chiang's manuscripts. These several collections were reprinted together in the first series of the 四部叢刊 Ssŭ-pu ts'ung-k'an under the collective title, Chi-ch'i t'ing chi, 38 + 10 + 50 chüan. To them were appended the collected poems of Ch'üan, entitled Chi-ch'i t'ing shih (詩) chi, 10 chüan, reproduced from a manuscript copy once in the possession of the Lu family of Ningpo. Another collection of Ch'üan's poems is the 句餘土音 Chü-yü t'u-yin, 3 chüan, printed in 1814, of which an annotated edition, entitled Chü-yü t'u-yin pu-chu 補注, 6 chüan, appeared in 1922.
The Chi-ch'i t'ing-chi embodies much information about the resistance of the Ming loyalists after 1645, especially about the part played by the natives of Ch'üan's home district, Ningpo. Ch'üan's interest in preserving the history of the resistance to the Manchus in South China was prompted by the fact that his own ancestors had taken part in it. And that interest was doubtless enhanced by the tragic experiences of Cha Ssŭ-t'ing and Lü Liu-liang [qq. v.] whose alleged seditious writings became the subject of much controversy, during Ch'üan's most impressionable years. If his own writings had come to public attention during his lifetime, or even half a century later, he would doubtless have been the victim of similar persecution and his works would have been vigorously suppressed. The information he gives us of an important period of Chinese history we perhaps owe to the fact that his writings lay for so long a time in manuscript. The dangers incident to publication probably account for Hang Shih-chün's refusal to part with the manuscripts, and also perhaps for the loss of some of them. That there are ​now in Ch'üan's writings almost no remarks that can be interpreted as prejudicial to the Manchus is due, no doubt, to their having been edited and re-edited by men who were fully aware of the retribution that lay in store for fearless writers. Though his works were thus re-edited, there is enough left of objective history to satisfy the needs of the historian. In particular, we are indebted to him for many biographies, life sketches, and epitaphs of famous men of the early Ch'ing period, such as Huang Tsung-hsi, Ku Yen-wu, Li Yung, Liu Hsien-t'ing, Fang Pao, Wan Ching, Li Fu [qq. v.]—to mention only a few. In the late Ch'ing and early Republican periods when anti-Manchu feeling ran high this new historical data was eagerly sought by the reformers. Ch'uan's interest in Huang Tsung-hsi led him in the years 1746-54 to assist descendants of the Huang family to edit and supplement the famous Sung Yüan hsüeh-an (see under Huang Tsung-hsi).
Among other writings of Ch'üan Tsu-wang may be mentioned the 漢書地理志稽疑 Han-shu ti-li chih chi-i, 6 chüan, printed about 1804; 讀易別錄 Tu-i pieh-lu, 3 chüan, a bibliography of apocryphal works on the Classic of Changes, printed about 1805 by Pao T'ing-po [q. v.]; and 甬上族望表 Yung-shang tsu-wang piao, a list of famous families of Ningpo, printed in 1814.
The most important works compiled by Ch'uan Tsu-wang are: 續甬上耆舊詩 Hsü Yung-shang ch'i-chiu shih, 121 chüan, a continuation of an earlier anthology of poets of Ningpo printed in 1918 and 錢忠介公集 Ch'ien Chung-chieh kung chi, 20 + 7 chüan, the collected works of Ch'ien Su-yüeh (see under Huang Tsung-hsi), to which Ch'üan appended a nien-p'u of the author. Ch'üan also produced the third edition of Wang Ying-lin's (see under Ch'ien Ta-hsin) miscellaneous notes known as K'un-hsüeh chi-wên (see under Ho Ch'o)—the first two editions having been edited by Yen Jo-chü [q. v.] and Ho Ch'o. Ch'üan's notes to the work appear in the K'un-hsüeh chi-wên san-ch'ien (三箋), printed in 1825 by Wêng Yüan-ch'i 翁元圻 (T. 載青, 1750–1825).
A work to which Ch'üan Tsu-wang devoted many years of his life is the Classic of Waterways, or Shui-ching chu, of Li Tao-yüan (see under Chao I-ch'ing). Ch'üan collated the work seven times, comparing the texts and notes of at least 29 different scholars of the Ming and Ch'ing periods—particularly the notes of Shên Ping-hsün 沈炳巽 (T. 繹旃, H. 權齋, younger brother of Shên Ping-chên, q. v.), and the notes of Chao I-ch'ing [q. v.]. In consequence we have the 七校水經注 Ch'i-chiao Shui-ching chu, 40 chüan, which was not quite finished when he died. It was printed from old manuscripts by Hsüeh Fu-ch'êng [q. v.] early in 1888, with supplementary (補遺 pu-i) material in 1 chüan and a history of the work (坿錄 fu-lu) in 2 chüan. Of the three chief editions of the Shui-ching chu—those by Ch'üan, by Chao I-ch'ing, and by Tai Chên—C'h'üan's is the earliest to be written, but the last to be printed. Ch'üan's chief contribution to the study of this work was his discovery that, owing to centuries of faulty transcription, certain passages of Li's commentaries were mixed with the original text of the Shui-ching. He informed Chao I-ch'ing of his discovery and the two together proceeded to isolate the comments from the original text, thus clarifying many problems concerning the Shui-ching chu. Ch'üan often exchanged notes with Chao, and shortly before he died wrote a preface to Chao's works—thus making it clear why there are passages in both works which are similar. Later Tai Chên made use of Chao's notes without giving him due credit and thus indirectly relied also on the labors of Ch'üan (see under Chao I-ch'ing).
Ch'üan Tsu-wang's studio, known as Shuang-chiu shan-fang 雙韭山房, contained the books he had collected, which after his death were pinchased by the Lu family of Ningpo for the sum of 200 taels silver.
[Chiang T'ien-shu 蔣天樞, 全謝山先生年譜 Ch'üan Hsieh-shan Hsien-shêng nien-p'u (1932); 全謝山著述考 in Bulletin of the National Library of Peiping, vol. III, nos. 1, 2; 2/68/34a; 3/126/17a; 16/14/22a; 17/5/82a; 31/2/7b; Chi-ch'i t'ing-chi.]
Fang Chao-ying