A Chinese Biographical Dictionary/Fang Kuan-ch'êng
554 Fang Kuan-ch'êng 方觀承 (T. 宜田. H. 問亭). A.D. 1698-1768. His father being banished to the Amoor, Fang was brought up in a temple. In 1733 he served in a campaign against the Sungans and rose by 1749 to be Viceroy of Chihli, which post he held until his death. He devoted himself to improving the condition of the people by establishing granaries, conserving waterways, and reforming the grain-transport. In spite of Imperial progresses, and of troops for Burmah and the west passing through his province, the people were never oppressed. Many famous men of the day owed their promotion to his keen insight. And his early travels having given him a wide knowledge of the wants of the empire, he was always loth to yield to the theoretical views of the Peking Boards. Canonised as 格敏.