Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Ch'ên Ch'i-yüan
CH'ÊN Ch'i-yüan 陳啟源 (T. 長發, H. 見桃居士), d. 1689, scholar, was a native of Wu-chiang, Kiangsu, and a close friend of Chu Ho-ling 朱鶴齡 (T. 長孺, H. 愚菴, 1606–1683) of the same locality. A licentiate, he collaborated with the latter in the compilation of a comprehensive study of the Odes, entitled 毛詩通義 Mao-shih t'ung-i, in 12 chüan, which is regarded as inferior to his own critical study of the Odes based on the exposition of pre-T'ang scholars. This latter 毛詩稽古編 Mao-shih chi-ku pien, 30 chüan, was completed in 1687 after 14 years of labor and was first published in 1813 with a preface by Juan Yüan [q. v.]. It was copied into the Imperial Library (see under Chi Yün) and is included in the Huang-Ch'ing ching-chieh (see under Juan Yüan). In it Ch'ên Ch'i-yüan analyzes and corrects the works on the Odes by Chu Hsi (see under Hu Wei), Ou-yang Hsiu (see under Shao Chin-han), Lü Tsu-ch'ien 呂祖謙 (1137-1181), and Yen Ts'an 嚴粲 (13th century), and attacks those of Liu Chin 劉瑾 (Yüan dynasty), and Fu Kuang 輔廣 (Sung dynasty). It is one of the best examples of the beginnings of scientific study of the classics in the early Ch'ing period. A Buddhist believer, he has been charged with religious leanings in some of his interpretations and even with having been influenced indirectly by the Jesuits.
[1/486/16a; 2/68/6b; 3;413/24a; 7/32/15a; 16/12/4a; 17/3/46a; 23/3/25a; 小腆紀傳 Hsiao-t'ien chi-chuan 53/19b; Ssŭ-k'u (see under Chi Yün), 16/6a; Legge, Chinese Classics, IV, I, p. 177, but mistaken in date of publication; year of death in one of the prefaces to Mao-shih chi-ku pien]
Earl Swisher