Sun Xingyan

Sun Xingyan (1753-1818) [zi: Yuanhe ??, Baiyuan ??, hao: Jiqiu ??, Weiyin ??], was a book collector, cataloguer, epigraphist, and great scholar of Chinese classics. He was a native of Yanghu ?? (current Changzhou ??) in Jiangsu province. His great-great-grandfather, Sun Shenxing ??? (1565-1636) was noted during the last years of the Ming dynasty for his incorruptibility as an official. His father, Sun Xun ??, a juren of 1756, lived to old age and survived his son. Early in 1772 Sun Xingyan married Wang Caiwei ??? (1753-1776), the scholarly fourth daughter of Wang Guangxie ??? (1711-1779) who was a Jinshi of 1737. In addition to being a poetess, she had a wide literary interest which extended even to works on Daoism. Unfortunately she died at the age of twenty four, and Sun was so overcome by grief that he resolved to remain unmarried the rest of his life. His devotion won him much respect, despite the fact that at the age of forty, he was compelled by his grandfather, who could not contemplate the lack of an heir, to take a second wife.

In 1774 Sun entered the Zhongshan ?? Academy in Nanjing where he associated with such contemporaties as Hong Liangji???(1746-1809) and Yang Fangcan ??? (1754-1816) and with such older scholars as Lu Wenchao ???(1717-1796), Qian Daxin ??? (1728-1804) and Yuan Mei??, who praised Sun as "a genius of the world." Having failed to qualify in a special examination given by Emperor Gaozong on the latter's fifth Southern tour in 1780, he remained in Nanjing and studied in a Buddhist temple, Waguansi ??? where he had the opportunity to examine the Tripitaka. From this study, he attempted to reconstruct the ancient Chinese lexicon Cangjie pian ???. Soon he was engaged as a secretary by Bi Yuan ?? (1740-1797) who was then observing the period of mourning for the death of his mother. Later, when Bi Yuan was recalled to the governorship of Shaanxi, Sun was invited to accompany him. Hence, from 1781 to 1785, Sun resided at Xian where he enjoyed the company of other scholars. During the period he participated in the compilation of several local histories of Shaanxi. When Bi Yuan was transferred to the governorship of Henan in 1785, Sun accompanied him to Kaifeng. In 1786 Sun passed the Jiangnan provincial examination and became a Juren, along with Ruan Yuan ?? (1764-1849) and Zhang Huiyan ??? (1761-1802). In the following year he became a Jinshi, with second highest honors, and then worked at the Board of Punishment, becoming director in 1794. In the following year Sun was made intendant of the several Circuits in Shandong. At this time Ruan Yuan was director of education of Shandong, and with Ruan were such scholars as Wu Yi ?? (1745-1799) and Gui Fu?? (1736-18050. During his stay in Shandong, he engaged in research on sites of historical interest, attempting to identify the tombs of various disciples of Confucius, and of several emperors of antiquity who are now regarded as legendry. In 1798 his mother died and he went to Nanjing to observe the mourning period. In the meantime Ruan Yuan, having become governor of Zhejiang, invited him to Hangzhou and appointed him director of the Jishan ?? Academy in Shaoxing ??. But soon thereafter the charge was brought that during his term as intendant in Shandong he and his successor had done inadequate work in river conservancy. The burden of making restitution fell wholly on Sun who ordered to pay to the treasury 90,000 taels by installments. In order to make there payments he reported at ht capital in 1803 for another post and in the following year was made grain intendant of Shandong, and office he held until 1811 when he retired to Nanjing on the ground of ill health. There he became director of the Zhongshan Academy, a post which he held until two years before his death.
As a scholar, Sun Xingyan took special interest in editing and establishing more satisfactory texts for ancient works whose intelligibility had suffered after centuries of misprinting. His own works, and the texts which he reprinted, are embodied chiefly in two great collectanea: Pingjinguan Congshu?????, comprising 43 items, and Dainange Congshu ????? comprising 19 items. He was also intensively interested in visiting steles, making and collecting rubbings of them. The amount of his collections stored in his library, "Pingjin Guan ???" was massive, and accordingly he was renowned for collation. Sun studied various calligraphy styles on steles, and he excelled in seal-carving in seal, and clerical scripts. Among many of his publications, the most ambitious work on steles is Huanyu Fangbei Lu?????(Records of Visiting Steles around the World). He had a learned daughter, Sun Yihui ???, who left a collection of poems, entitled Shiweishicao ????.
< Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, 1644-1912. (Library of Congress, Orientalia Division), "Sun Hsing-yen," pp. 675-677>