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A Chinese Biographical Dictionary/Chang Yü-shu

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1758386A Chinese Biographical Dictionary — Chang Yü-shuHerbert A. Giles

132 Chang Yü-shu 張玉書 (T. 素存). A.D. 1642-1711. A native of Kiangnan , who graduated as chin shih in 1661, and was soon employed as Tutor in the Palace. In 1685 he was President of the Board of Punishments; in 1688 was sent on a mission to the Yellow River; and in 1690 became a Grand Secretary. In 1691 he accompanied the Emperor K'ang Hsi on his visit to inspect the Yellow River, and in 1696 on his expedition against the Oelots. In 1699, while in mourning, he was ordered to place in the ancestral temple of the first Emperor of the Ming dynasty a tablet on which K'ang Hsi had inscribed, "Good government surpassing that of the T'aug and Sung (dynasties)," while the Emperor himself poured a libation at the dead monarch's tomb. He died while attending K'ang Hsi to Jehol. He is said to have been a learned and dignified man, a vegetarian and a misogynist, who slept in his clothes so as to be ready to rise at the first streak of dawn. Canonised as 文貞, and included by Yung Chêng in the Temple of Worthies.