Bao Shichen 包世臣

Pao Shih-ch'ên 包世臣 (T. 慎伯 H. 倦翁, 安吳先生), 1775–1855, scholar, was born in a country village in the Ching district, Anhwei. His father eked out a meagre living by teaching village boys. In his youth Pao Shih-ch'ên lived at Nanking for several years and studied military tactics and administrative methods. In 1792, owing to his father's illness, he was obliged to return to his native village where he raised and marketed vegetables while his mother and two sisters did needle-work. In 1797, three years after the death of his father, he was invited by Chu Kuei [q.v.], governor of Anhwei, to his office in Anking, where he studied the Classics. During the succeeding two years he served in local offices in Hupeh and Szechwan as an unofficial adviser in military matters. In 1801 he went to Kiangsu and Chekiang in search of a position, and finally settled in Yangchow. In the following year he was called to Shanghai to organize a force for the suppression of pirates, and there he remained for about half a year. For a time he lived at the home of Li Chao-lo [q.v.] in Changchow, where he had an opportunity to study. He competed many times in the provincial examination but he did not become a chü-jên until 1808. He tried a dozen times in the metropolitan examinations but was unable to obtain a higher degree. In 1811 he was invited by Pai-ling (see under Lin Po-t'ung), governor-general of Kiangnan and Kiangsi, to be his unofficial adviser. Thereafter, as an adviser, sometimes in matters of grain transport, and sometimes in matters relating to the canal, he traveled through the provinces along the Grand Canal for about twenty years. In 1826 he obtained temporary employment in the Hoppo's office in Canton. Finally, in 1839, he was made magistrate of Hsin-yü, Kiangsi, a position he held for about a year. His declining years he spent in Nanking as a critic of statecraft, under the patronage of various officials. He died in 1855 while seeking safety from the riots of the Taiping Rebellion.

In 1824, when a section of the Grand Canal was destroyed and the transport of grain was badly disabled, Pao Shih-ch'ên brought together his previously-written essays on this subject and published them, early in 1826, under the title 中衢一勺 Chung-ch'ü i-shao, in 3 chüan. He advocated the transport of grain by sea-giving full details of ways and means. His work won such public approval that it went through several editions. In 1844 he collected his writings and published them, two years later, under the title 安吳四種 An-wu ssŭ-chung, of which a revised edition appeared in 1851. It consists of four parts: Chung-chü i-shao, with 4 chüan of supplements; 藝舟雙楫 I-chou shuang-chi 9 chüan, a prose collection; 管情三義 Kuan-ch'ing san-i, 8 chüan, a collection of his verse; and 齊民四術 Ch'i-min ssŭ-shu, 12 chüan. The last is a collection of his essays about agricultural, educational, judicial and military matters, based on his personal experiences. The original wood blocks of this work were destroyed in the Taiping Rebellion, but his descendants republished it with notes in 1872 and in 1538. We know from his studies that Pao Shih-ch'ên was a serious student of practical politics. Unlike contemporary scholars who pursued traditional learning for its own sake, he studied with the practical object of reforming a corrupt administration, his special interest being agrarian problems.

Pao Shih-ch'ên was a skilled calligrapher, particularly in the hsing 行 and ts'ao 草 styles. Specimens of his handwriting were brought together under the title 倦游閣帖 Ch'üan-yu ko t'ieh. He was, however, more renowned as a critic of calligraphy. His studies of ancient calligraphy, based on inscriptions on stone, were gathered in the I-chou shuang-chi. Those dealing with calligraphy in general were published in the Chih-chin chai ts'ung-shu (see under Yao Wen-t'ien), under the title An-wu lun-shu (論書). To develop further Pao's theories of calligraphy, K'ang Yu-wei (see under T'an Ssŭ-t'ung) completed in 1889 his Kuang (廣) I-chou shuang-chi, 6 chüan.

A cousin, Pao Shih-jung 包世榮 (T. 季懷 1784–1826), a chü-jên of 1821, was a classical scholar of the Han school (see under Ku Yen-wu). He wrote the 毛詩禮徵 Mao-shih li-chêng, 10 chüan, published in 1827, and other works Pao Shih-ch'ên's work on political economy, entitled 說儲上 Shuo-ch'u shang, was reprinted in 1936 in facsimile from the original manuscripts by the Kuo-hsüeh Library of Nanking.

[ 2/73/20a;5/79/1a;6/41/la; 29/8/llb; 江寧府志 Chiang-ning fu-chih (1881) 14/9 shang/3b; An-wu ssŭ-chung; Hu Yün-yü 胡韞玉, 包慎伯先生年譜 Pao Shên-po hsien-shêng nien-p'u (not consulted).]

HIROMU MOMOSE

《清史稿》卷486

包世臣，字慎伯，涇縣人。少工詞章，有經濟大略，喜言兵。嘉慶十三年舉人，大挑以知縣發江西。一權新喻，被劾去。復隨明亮征川、楚，發奇謀不見用，遂歸，卜居金陵。世臣精悍有口辯，以布衣遨遊公卿間。東南大吏，每遇兵、荒、河、漕、鹽諸鉅政。無不屈節諮詢，世臣亦慷慨言之。

初，海盜蔡牽犯上海，鎮道迎世臣閱沿海島嶼。見黃浦停泊商船千艘，遂建海運可救漕弊之議。游袁浦，值河事亟，箸策河四略。是時鹽法以兩淮為大，私梟充斥，議者爭言緝私。世臣擬多裁鹽官，惟留運司主錢糧，場大使督灶戶，不分畛域，仿現行鐵硝之例，聽商販領本地官印照，赴場繳課買鹽。州縣具詳，運司存核，則場官不能乾沒正課；而轉輸迅速，則鹽價必銳減；私鹽皆輸官課，課入必倍。以之津貼辦公，并增翰、詹、科、道廉俸，為計甚便。

其論西北水利曰：「今國家南漕四百萬石，中歲腴田二百萬畝所產也。有田四百萬畝，歲入與佃半之，遂當全漕。先減運十之一，糶其穀及運資置官屯，遞減至十年，則漕可罷，賦可寬。以其盈餘量加賦餉，而官可廉，兵可練。不然，漕東南以贍西北，浮收勒折，日增一日，竭民力，積眾怒。東南大患，終必在此。」

世臣能為大言。其論書法尤精，行草隸書，皆為世所珍貴。著有小倦遊閣文集，別編為安吳四種。