Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Shên Ch'in-han
SHÊN Ch'in-han 沈欽韓 (T. 文起, H. 小宛), July 5, 1775–1832, Jan. 22, scholar and poet, was a native of Mu-tu 木瀆, in the district of Wu-hsien (Soochow), Kiangsu. He was descended from a line of literati, but during his youth his family was poor. Being himself very studious, he borrowed books from others and copied from them material that interested him. In this way he became proficient in various literary forms and developed in particular a skill in the annotation and exegesis of the classics and histories. His essays in the style required in the examinations, though scholarly, were time and again rejected by the examiners. Hence he did not pass the district examination until after he was thirty sui. He became a chü-jên in 1807 but in the following ten years he failed in the examinations for the chin-shih degree. In 1817 he applied for appointment to a minor position. Graded in the second class, he qualified for the post of a prefectural sub-director of schools. After waiting five years for an opening, he was named in 1822 to such a post in the prefecture of Ning-kuo-fu, Anhwei. In this capacity he served for eight years, resigning in the autumn of 1830 when his mother died. He, too, died after being at home a little more than a year. The eldest of his three sons died one month after him.
According to Pao Shih-ch'ên [q. v.], his friend and biographer, Shên Ch'in-han was by nature extravagant, and to increase his income sometimes lent his services to persons of questionable repute. At any rate it is clear that he did not accumulate much during his eight years in office, for after his death his family was too poor to bury him properly. The burial finally took place in 1840 with the financial help of the bibliophile, Yü Sung-nien (see under Lu Hsin-yüan), to whom were entrusted all or most of his unpublished manuscripts in the hope that they might be printed.
The most important works of Shên Ch'in-han are those containing his critical comments on the official histories of the two Han Dynasties, namely 漢書疏證 Han-shu shu-chêng, 36 chüan, and Hou (後) Han-shu shu-chêng, 30 chüan, both printed in 1900 by the provincial press of Chekiang, and often referred to collectively as the Ch'ien (前), Hou Han-shu shu-chêng or Liang (兩) Han-shu shu-chêng. On these two works, which contain about two million words, Shen labored for twenty years. As to his other works, the following were printed in the Kung-shun t'ang ts'ung-shu of 1884 (see under P'an Tsu-yin): 左傳補注 Tso-chuan pu-chu, 12 chüan, his comments on the T'so-chuan; 左傳地名補注 Tso-chuan ti-ming pu-chu, 12 chüan, his notes on geographical names in the Tso-chuan; and 石湖詩注 Shih-hu shih chu, 3 chüan, his annotations on the poems of Fan Ch'êng-ta 范成大 (T. 至能 H. 石湖, 1126–1193). In the collectanea, Hsin-chü chai ts'ung-shu of 1885 (see under Yen K'o-chün), can be found his corrections and additions to Cha Shên-hsing's [q. v.] annotations to the poems of Su Shih (see under Sung Lao), entitled 蘇詩查注補正 Su-shih Cha-chu pu-chêng, 4 chüan. In 1927 two of Shên's works were printed in the Chia-yeh t'ang ts'ung-shu (see under Cha Chi-tso), namely: 王荊公詩集補注 Wang Ching-kung shih-chi pu-chu, 4 chüan, being corrections and additions to notes of others on the poems of Wang An-shih (see under Fang Pao); and Wang Ching-kung wên-chi chien-chu (文集箋注), 8 chüan, being annotations to the prose writings of that statesman. Two other works appear in the Kuang-ya ts'ung-shu (see under Chang Chih-tung), namely: 韓昌黎集補注 Han Ch'ang-li chi pu-chu, 1 chüan, being additional notes to the collected works of Han Yü (see under Mao Chin); and the 幼學堂文稿 Yu-hsüeh t'ang wên-kao, 1 chüan, comprising several of Shên's essays on the Classics. These essays, which are also entitled Yu-hsüeh t'ang wên-kao, 8 chüan, and his collected verse, entitled Yu-hsüeh t'ang shih (詩) kao, 17 chüan, were printed in part in 1813 and were later amplified with the help of funds supplied by his friend and benefactor, T'u Cho 屠倬 (T. 孟昭, H. 琴隖, 1781–1828), a chin-shih of 1808. Other manuscripts of Shên Ch'in-han, including one of the Shui-ching chu (see under Chao I-ch'ing), were not printed and seem to have been lost. For most of his writings he first made annotations on the margins of the pages of the original works. When no room was left he wrote out his first draft, revised it, and made a second draft—always making three or four drafts before publication. Altogether he wrote some four or five million words. He was humble and was handicapped by a difficulty in speech and by a very ungainly appearance—all of which may account for the fact that he was not honored in his lifetime. But his mind was very penetrating and his annotations are thoroughly critical, consistent and dependable.
[2/69/33a; 3/259/47a; 5/76/15b; T'u Cho, 是程堂集 Shih-ch'êng t'ang chi; Sun Tien-ch'i 孫殿起, 販書偶記 Fan-shu ou-chi, 16/20b; Chêng Tê-k'un 鄭德坤, 水經注引得 Shui-ching chu yin-tê, p. XVII.]
Homer H. Dubs