Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Ch'ou Chao-ao
CH'OU Chao-ao 仇兆鼇 (T. 滄桂, H. 知幾), 1638–1717, scholar, was a native of Yin-hsien, Chekiang. In his youth he was a pupil of Huang Tsung-hsi [q. v.] and like the latter espoused the philosophy of Liu Tsung-chou [q. v.]. After becoming a chin-shih in 1685 he was appointed to a post in the Imperial College of Inscriptions, but in 1694 asked leave to retire to his native place. Ten years later he was again summoned to the capital for active service, rising in 1710 to a vice-presidency in the Board of Civil Office and chancellorship of the Hanlin Academy, but owing to ill health he retired in the following year. In 1713 he went to Peking to congratulate Emperor Shêng-tsu on his sixtieth birthday. Himself well advanced in years, he was invited by imperial favor to the "feast for the aged" (老人宴). He died at the age of eighty (sui). His best known literary achievement is a commentary on the poetical works of the T'ang poet, Tu Fu 杜甫 (712–770), entitled 杜詩詳注 Tu-shih hsiang-chu, in 25 chüan, with a supplement in 2 chüan. It was presented to the emperor in 1693 and was first printed in that year. This work, copied into the Imperial Manuscript Library (see under Chi Yün), is regarded as a standard work for the study of Tu Fu's poems.
[3/62/5a; Yin-hsien chih (1877) 42/8a; Ssǔ-k'u (see under Chi Yün) 149/6a.]
Tu Lien-chê