Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period/Tu Yüeh
TU Yüeh 杜越 (T. 君異, H. 紫峯, 文定先生), Dec. 12, 1596–1682, Jan. 4, scholar and calligrapher, was born in the village of Tung-chiang, a district of Ting-hsing, Hopei. His father, Tu Chien 杜鑑 (T. 衡宇), was a military chü-jên of 1609. Tu Yüeh studied under his townsman, Lu Shan-chi (see under Sun Ch'i-fêng). As a student he was distinguished for his genius and was given by his teacher the appellation Chün-i 君異, "exceptional person." During the imprisonment of Wei Ta-chung, Tso Kuang-tou (for both see under Yang Lien) and Chou Shun-ch'ang 周順昌 (T. 景文, H. 蓼洲, 1584–1626)—who were held on false charges by Wei Chung-hsien [q. v.]—Tu and his life-long friend, Sun Ch'i-fêng, collected money among friends in order to save their lives. At the risk of his own life he hid Wei Ta-chung's son, Wei Hsüeh-i 魏學伊 (T. 子敬), and Chou Shun-ch'ang's close friend, Chu Tsu-wên 朱祖文 (T. 完夫, H. 三復居士), in his home, until the danger was past. This act of courage brought him nation-wide fame. After the change of dynasty, he lived in seclusion and taught in the neighboring district of Hsin-an. He was recommended to take the po-hsüeh hung-tz'ŭ examination of 1679, but on his way to Peking he met Fu Shan [q. v.] and like the latter declined to participate in the examination, giving as his reason excessive age. He was permitted to return home with the honorary title of Secretary of the Grand Secretariat. His collected works, entitled 紫峯集 Tzŭ-fêng chi, in 14 chüan, containing his poems and essays, were compiled by his student, Yang Chan 楊湛.
[Ting-hsing hsien-chih (1799) 8/33b, (1890) 11/21a; 2/66/4a; 3/125/5a; 7/48/5b; 10/10/10a; 15/8/15b; 17/1/4a; 30/3/6b; 32/4/7b.]
J. C. Yang