Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Sung Wan
SUNG Wan 宋琬 (T. 玉叔, H. 荔裳, 漫山人), 1614–1673, man of letters and calligrapher, was a native of Lai-yang, Shantung. His father, Sung Ying-heng 宋應亨 (T. 嘉甫, H. 長元, chin-shih of 1625, d. 1643), was for a time district magistrate of Ch'ing-fêng, Chihli, where he earned the reputation of being a good administrator. One of his brothers, Sung Huang 宋璜 (T. 玉仲, H. 答昊), became a chin-shih in 1640. He himself obtained this degree in 1647 and was appointed to the post of an assistant secretary in the Board of Revenue. In 1650 he became inspector of customs at Wuhu, Anhwei, and in 1653 intendant of the Lung-hsi circuit in Kansu. In 1657 he was transferred to the intendancy of the circuit of Tungchow and Yung-p'ing, Chihli. While thus occupied, he compiled the local history of Yung-p'ing, entitled Yung-p'ing fu-chih, 24 chüan, printed in 1658. In 1660 he was assigned to a similar post in the circuit of Ningpo, Shaohsing, and T'ai-chou in Chekiang. In the following year he was made provincial judge of the same province.
About this time a man by the name of Yü Ch'i 于七 instigated a rebellion in Têng-chou, Shantung, Sung Wan's native prefecture (see under Yang Chieh). A fellow-clansman of Sung maliciously reported to the authorities that Sung was connected with it. In consequence of this accusation, he and his family were arrested and put into prison. He did not regain his freedom until three years later (1664) when he was cleared of the charge. He was recalled to office and appointed in 1672 to the post of provincial judge of Szechwan. In the following year he was summoned to the capital for an audience with the Emperor. During his stay in Peking the rebellion of Wu San-kuei [q. v.] broke out and Chengtu, the capital of Szechwan, where his family was then residing, fell into the rebels' hands. He died in Peking, owing, it is said, to worry over this situation.
Sung Wan was looked upon in his day as one of the great literary men of North China as Shih Jun-chang [q. v.] was in South China—hence the saying, first attributed to Wang Shih-chên [q. v.], "Shih of the South and Sung of the North" (南施北宋). His collected literary works, entitled 安雅堂集 An-ya t'ang chi, containing his poems, essays, a drama, and letters, were printed in the 1660's and 1670's and reprinted in 1699. A supplement, entitled An-ya t'ang chi wei-k'an kao (未刊稿), 8 chüan, was printed in 1766.
[1/489/8b; 3/152/22a; 4/78/3b; 26/1/39a; Lai-yang hsien-chih (1688) 8/7a; Ssŭ-k'u 74/7b, 181/12b.]