Annual Report of the Kuo-hsüeh Library, Nanking p. 25–29; Ch'üan Tsu-wang [q. v.], Chi-ch'i t'ing chi, wai-pien 22/18a; Goodrich, L. C., Literary Inquisition of Ch'ien-lung p. 77–79; Liu Hsien-t'ing [q. v.], Kuang-yang tsa-chi 1/48b; Mao, Lucien, "Tai Ming-shih", T'ien Hsia Monthly, vol. 5, no. 4, p. 382–399.]
Fang Chao-ying
TAI-shan. See under Daišan.
TAI Tun-yüan 戴敦元 (T. 士旋, H. 金溪), 1768–1834, Dec. 18, official, was a native of K'ai-hua, Chekiang. Precocious as a child, he obtained the chü-jên degree when he was only fifteen sui. Many stories are told of his genius. Becoming a chin-shih in 1793, he was three years later appointed a second class secretary in the Board of Ceremonies. In 1797 he was appointed to the Board of Punishments where he rose to be a department director (1809), serving concurrently as assistant provincial examiner in Shansi (1798) and in Shun-t'ien (1804), and as an assistant examiner of the metropolitan examination (1801). Later he served as intendant of the Kao-Lien Circuit, Kwangtung (1820–21), provincial judge of Kiangsi (1821–22), and financial commissioner of Shansi (1822) and Hunan (1822–23). In 1823 he was recalled to the capital and was appointed senior vice-president of the Board of Punishments. This post he held for nine years, and in 1832 was made president of the same Board. In 1834 he died and was canonized as Chien-k'o 簡恪. He was a man of great discretion and reserve, he kept himself aloof from the world, and was known as an incessant worker. It is said that during his term as provincial judge in Kiangsi he cleared up, within a few months, some four thousand accumulated cases. As vice-president and president of the Board of Punishments he effected, directly or indirectly, many reforms and alterations in criminal law and procedure, and in the treatment of criminals.
Though a great lover of books, especially in the fields of astronomy and mathematics, Tai Tun-yüan never produced a systematic treatise on those subjects. He left some scattered verses, collected after his death and printed in 1844 under the title, Tai Chien-k'o kung i-chi (公遺集), 8 chüan. He was a disciple of Wang Ch'ang [q. v.].
[1/380/3b; 3/108/34a; 5/8/23a; 7/21/16a; 13/4/9a; 20/3/00 with portrait.]
Li Man-kuei
TAI Tung-yüan. See under Tai Chên.
T'AI-ch'ang. Reign title of Chu Ch'ang-lo.
T'AI-tsu. Temple name of Nurhaci [q. v.].
T'AI-tsung. Temple name of Abahai [q. v.].
T'AN Ssŭ-t'ung 譚嗣同 (T. 復生, H. 壯飛), Mar. 10, 1865–1898, Sept. 28, philosopher, and martyr in the 1898 reform movement, was a native of Liu-yang, Hunan. In boyhood he was an assiduous and comprehensive reader, and showed considerable promise as an essayist. At the same time he developed a fondness for swordsmanship and displayed an unrestricted outlook on life. His father, T'an Chi-hsün 譚繼洵 (T. 敬甫, chin-shih of 1860 and governor of Hupeh, 1890–98), was a conservative and cautious official who did not understand the vagaries of his son. When T'an Ssŭ-t'ung was in his twelfth year his mother died and later he was allegedly maltreated by his stepmother. Owing to his unhappy family life, he devoted himself intensively to study—motivated by a desire to discover something new everyday. His interests, however, caused him to disregard many of the accepted proprieties. In his young manhood he spent several years in Sinkiang as a minor military officer under the provincial governor, Liu Chin-t'ang (see under Tso Tsung-t'ang). Later he learned much in some ten years of travel in many provinces. Wherever he went he studied the local administration, visited the tombs of heroes and places of historical interest—places often alluded to in his poems. At the same time he made many congenial friends.
The repeated national humiliations which China suffered after 1842, and her defeat by Japan in 1894–95, caused many intellectuals to contemplate a revolution under the leadership of Sun Yat-sen (original name Sun Wên 孫文, T. I-hsien 逸仙 H. 中山, Nov. 12, 1866–1925, Mar. 12), or a reform movement aiming at constitutional monarchy as advocated by K'ang Yu-wei 康有為 (original ming 祖貽 T. 廣厦, H. 長素, chin-shih of 1895, Mar. 19, 1858–1927. Mar. 31). K'ang had, by several new lines of approach, evoked much public comment: by his critical study of the authenticity of the Classics, involving many revolutionary concepts, which he published under the title, 新學偽經考 Hsin-hsüeh wei-ching k'ao, 14 chüan, (1891); by his efforts to picture Confucius as a political reformer, the author of the authentic Classics and the founder of the Confucian religion—theory, which he incorporated in a book, entitled 孔子改制考 K'ung-tzŭ kai-chih k'ao, 21 chüan (1897);
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