Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Lin Chi
LIN Chi 林佶 (T. 吉人, H. 鹿原), b. 1660, calligrapher and bibliophile, was a native of Hou-kuan (Foochow). A chü-jên of 1699, he was appointed in 1706 to serve as a copyist in the Wu-ying-tien 武英殿. In 1712 he was made a chin-shih and became a secretary in the Grand Secretariat. As a student of literature he had three celebrated teachers—Wang Shih-chên and Ch'ên T'ing-ching [qq. v.] in poetry, and Wang Wan [q. v.] in prose. An expert calligrapher, particularly in the regular or k'ai-shu 楷書 style, he copied the literary works of these masters with his own hand and had them printed in facsimile. These works are: Wang Shih-chên’s Yü-yang ching-hua lu, published in Yangchow in 1700; Ch'ên T'ing-ching's Wu-t'ing wên-pien, printed in 1708; and Wang Wan's Yao-fêng wên-ch'ao, printed in 1693. Such reproductions of original transcripts are known in Chinese typography as hsieh-k'o t'i 寫刻體, or "printing in the calligraphic style"—a rather common practice of the early Ch'ing period. As a bibliophile Lin Chi possessed a good library known as P'u-hsüeh chai 樸學齋 which was of service to Hsü Ch'ien-hsüeh [q. v.] in compiling the T'ung-chih-t'ang ching-chieh, and to Chu I-tsun [q. v.] when he made his anthology of Ming poetry, Ming-shih tsung. Lin Chi's collected poems in 10 chüan, entitled P'u-hsüeh chai shih-chi (詩集), were copied into the Imperial Manuscript Library and received descriptive notice in the Catalogue (see under Chi Yün). This collection of his verses and a collection of his works in prose, P'u-hsüeh chai wên-kao (文稿), were reprinted in 1825, along with two other items, under the collective title, P'u-hsüeh chai ch'üan-chi (全集).
Lin Chi's elder brother, Lin T'ung 林侗 (T. 同人, H. 來齋, 于野, 1627–1714), was a student of epigraphy. When their father served as a magistrate in Shensi (1660–65), Lin T'ung took the opportunity to collect rubbings of ancient inscriptions on stone, a collection he enlarged as a result of his travels to other parts of the country. In 1679 he described and annotated these inscriptions in a work entitled 來齋金石刻考略 Lai-chai chin-shih k'o k'ao-lüeh, 3 chüan, printed in 1816 by Fêng Chin 馮縉, and in 1841 at Shanghai by Hsü Wei-jên 徐渭仁 (T. 紫珊, a descendant of Hsü Kuang-ch'i, q. v.) in the latter's collectanea, 春暉堂叢書 Ch'un-hui t'ang ts'ung-shu. Lin T'ung also described the inscriptions on stone at the mausoleum of Emperor T'ai-ts'ung of the Tsang Dynasty, under the title, 唐昭陵石跡考略 T'ang Chao-ling shih-chi k'ao-lüeh, 5 chüan. One edition of this work was printed in 1853 by Wu Ch'ung-yüeh [q. v.].
[2/70/35b; 26/1/57a; Hou-kuan-hsien hsiang-t'u chih (鄉土志) 3/43a; Ssŭ-k'u, 86/96, 116/52, 184/4b; Yeh Ch'ang-ch'ih (see under P'an Tsu-yin), Ts'ang-shu chi-shih shih (1910) 4/52b; Shu-lin ch'ing-hua (seo bibl. under Chi Chên-i) 9/15a; Fukien t'ung-chih (1922), 文苑 7/23a.]