Wan Ching [800] Wan Ching 萬經 (T. 授一 H. 九沙, 小跛), Feb. 4, 1659-1741, Mar. 11, scholar and calligrapher, a, native of Yin-hsien, Chekiang, was the son of Wan Ssŭ-ta. and grandson of Wan T'ai [qq.v.]. He was brought up in Hangchow and later made his home there. Like his father and his paternal uncles, he studied under Huang Tsung-hsi [q.v.]. He was instructed in ethics and philosophy by Ying Hui-ch'ien [q.v.], in calligraphy by Chêng Fu 鄭簠 (d. 1693), and in geography by Yen Jo-chü<>[q.v]. After taking the chin-shih degree in 1703, he was made a Hanlin compiler. When accusations were lodged against him, after his return from a post as provincial director of education in Kweichow in 1714, he was forced to make amends by supervising the construction of the city wall and moat at Tungchow, Chihli. To complete this work he consumed his entire fortune and finally was reduced to selling his calligraphy to make a living. Declining to accept further official posts, he set himself to the completion of his father's unfinished works on the Record of Rites and the Spring and Autumn Annals. In addition, he revised and supplemented certain works of his uncle, Wan Ssŭ-t'ung, and his cousin, Wan Yen [qq.v]. When he was eighty-two (sui) his house in the north city of Hangchow, east of the bridge known as Shih-hu ch'iao 獅虎橋 (or 師姑橋), caught fire and all these manuscripts were burned. Overcome with disappointment, he died the following year. A small work by Wan Ching dealing with calligraphy in the li style (see under Ho Shao-chi), entitled分隸偶存 Fên-li ou-ts'un, 2 chüan, printed in 1744, is said to be the only independent work of his that has survived. A reprint of this work appeared in 1936 in the fourth series of the Ssŭ-ming ts'ung-shu (see under Chang Huang-yen). Wan Ching had a share in the compilation of the well-known dictionary, K'ang-hsi tzŭ-tien (see under Chang Yü-shu), which was completed in 1716, and also of the local history of Ningpo (Ning-po fu chih) in the edition of 1733. [ 2/68/21a; 3/123/15a; 29;'3j6b; Yin-hsien-chih (1877) 42/19b; Huang Shih-hsün 黃士珣 Pei-yü<> chang-lu (北隅掌錄) hsia/9a; Ssž-k'u 86/10a.] TU LIEN-CHÊ |