Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Liang Yü-shêng
LIANG Yü-shêng 梁玉繩 (T. 曜北, H. 諫庵, 清白士, 無心子), Jan. 15, 1745–1819, scholar, was a native of Ch'ien-t'ang (Hangchow). He was a son of Liang Tun-shu (see under Liang Shih-chêng), a grandson of Liang Shih-chêng [q. v.], and an adopted son of Liang T'ung-shu [q. v.]. Having failed eight times in the provincial examinations, he decided at the age of thirty-six (sui) to abandon the examination career and devote himself to what he regarded as more serious studies. After some twenty years of labor he produced in 1783 a critical study of Ssŭ-ma Ch'ien's Shih-chi (Historical Record), entitled 史記志疑 Shih-chi chih-i, in 36 chüan. A preface by Ch'ien Ta-hsin [q. v.], dated 1787, lauds it as one of the most valuable studies that had been made of this history. First printed in 1787, the Shih-chi chih-i was later included in the Kuang-ya ts'ung-shu (see under Chang Chih-tung). Liang Yü-shêng also made a study of a section in the History of the Former Han Dynasty (Ch'ien Han-shu) known as 古今人表 Ku-chin jên-piao (Prominent Men of Ancient and Modern Times) which he brought together in 1786 under the title Jên-piao k'ao (考), in 9 chüan. In the spring of 1788 he and Lu Wên-ch'ao [q. v.] together edited the 呂氏春秋 Lü-shih ch'un-ch'iu for Pi Yüan [q. v.]. Having gathered further notes on that work, he later compiled the 呂子校補 Lü-tzŭ chiao-pu, in 2 chüan. In 1793 he completed a table of Chinese reign titles, 元號考 Yüan-hao k'ao, in 4 chüan, to which seven years later (1800) he appended a list of Japanese reign names. A short work in 2 chüan, entitled 誌銘廣例 Chih-ming kuang-li, "Styles and Patterns of Epigraphy", was completed in 1796. He had also 7 chüan of miscellaneous notes, entitled 瞥記 P'ieh-chi; and 4 chüan of collected literary works, entitled 蛻稿 T'ui-kao.
All these works, with the exception of the Shih-chi chih-i, which was printed separately, were published together in 1811 under the title 清白士集 Ch'ing-po-shih chi. A further collection of Liang Yü-shêng's miscellaneous notes were brought together by his four sons—Liang Hsüeh-ch'ang 梁學昌 (T. 蛾子), Liang Ch'i 梁耆 (T. 萊子), Liang Chung 梁衆 (T. 成子), and Liang T'ien 梁田 (T. 力子)—each compiling one chüan, and appended to the Ch'ing-po-shih chi under the title 庭立紀聞 T'ing-li chi wên. Later Ts'ai Yün 蔡雲 (T. 鐵耕) added further notes to Liang's collected works, which were printed in 1903 in the Chü-hsüeh hsüan ts'ung-shu (see under Liu Jui-fên) under the title Ch'ing-po-shih chi chiao-pu (校補). One of Liang Yü-shêng's younger brothers, Liang Li-shêng 梁履繩 (T. 處素, H. 夬菴, 1748–1793, a chü-jên of 1788), was also an ardent student. The latter's particular interest was the Tso-chuan, and he wrote on this subject the 左通補釋 Tso-t'ung pu-shih, in 32 chüan, which was printed in the Huang-Ch'ing ching-chieh hsü-pien (see under Juan Yüan).
[1/487/23b; 2/68/68a; 3/420/35a; T'ui-kao 3/14a for date of birth.]