Duan Yucai 段玉裁

Tuan Yü-ts'ai 段玉裁 (T. 若膺 H. 茂堂, 硯北居士, 長塘湖居士, 僑吳老人), 1735-1815, scholar, etymologist and phonetician, was a native of Chin-t'an, Kiangsu. His father, Tuan Shih-hsü 段世續 (T. 得莘, 1710-1803), made his living by teaching. For several years, beginning in 1745, Tuan Yü-ts'ai studied under his father in Wu-chin, Kiangsu, where the latter had a teaching position. After becoming a chü-jên (1760) he went to Peking. There he read for the first time the Yin-Hsüeh wu-shu by Ku Yen-wu [q.v.] and began to take an interest in the study of phonetics. Failing to pass the metropolitan examination in the following year (1761), he accepted a position as teacher in the government school for children of the three highest Banners, located in the Wan Shan Tien 萬善殿 at Ching-shan 景山 in the Forbidden City. He remained at this post until 1767. When the eminent scholar, Tai Chên [q.v.], came to Peking in 1763 Tuan and a group of several other scholars met with Tai to discuss matters of current intellectual interest. Thus Tuan Yü-ts'ai became, and remained throughout his life, a devoted disciple of that master. Upon relinquishing his teaching post in 1767 he and his younger brother, Tuan Yü-ch'êng 段玉成 (T. 器之 b. 1737, chü-jên of 1786), went home where the two worked together on the Classic of Poetry. As a result of this study Tuan Yü-ts'ai produced two short phonetical studies, entitled 詩經韻譜 Shih-ching yün-p'u and Ch'ün 羣 ching yün-p'u, which served as the basis of his later work on ancient phonology known as 六書音均表 Liu-shu yin-yün piao (see below). He returned to Peking in the spring of 1769 to compete in the metropolitan examination. Being unsuccessful, he accompanied Tai Chên to Shansi where Chu Kuei [q.v.] was officiating as financial commissioner. While Tai was compiling the gazetteer of Fenchow, Shansi (1769), Tuan lectured at the Shou-yang 壽陽 Academy, some three hundred li northeast of Fenchow.

In 1770 Tuan Yü-ts'ai became magistrate of Yü-p'ing, Kweichow. Dismissed two years later for some error in administration, he went in the autumn of 1772 to Szechwan as an expectant magistrate. There he served twice as acting magistrate of Fu-shun (1772-74 and 1775-76), as well as at Nan-chi (1774) and at Wu-shan (1778). In 1775 he completed the above-mentioned Liu-shu yin-yün piao which classifies the ancient sounds into seventeen groups. In the same year he compiled the local history of Fushun, 富順縣志 Fu-shun hsien-chih, his postscript to the work being dated 1777. In 1780 he retired from official life on the plea of ill health. On his way home in 1781 he visited Ch'ien Ta-hsin [q.v.] at the Chung-shan Shu-yüan in Nanking. In 1791 he completed a work on the Classic of History, entitled 古文尚書撰異 Ku-wên Shang-shu chuan-i, in 32 chüan, in which he analyzes the form and meaning of difficult characters in the so-called ancient text of the Classic of History -- a forged document of antiquity which had suffered by frequent re-editing, sometimes at the hands of incompetent scholars (see under Yen Jo-chü). At this juncture he was compelled, on account of a law-suit over his family's ancestral tombs, to transfer his residence, in 1792, from Chin-t'an to Soochow. About this time, too, he re-edited and expanded to 12 chüan the literary works of his teacher, Tai Chên. That collection, entitled Tai Tung-yûan Hsien-shêng ch'üan-chi (see Tai), was printed in 1793.

The chief contribution of Tuan Yü-ts'ai to classical and etymological studies was his analysis of the characters in the ancient dictionary, 說文解字 Shuo-wên chieh-tzû (commonly referred to as Shuo-wên) by Hsü Shên 許慎 (T. 叔重), which was completed in 100 A.D. and presented to the throne by his son, Hsü Ch'ung 許沖, in 121 A.D. It is the earliest extant dictionary on the origin and formation of Chinese characters, and scholars of the Ch'ing period found it helpful in the understanding of difficult texts. In the Sung period the brothers, Hsü Ch'ieh (see under Fêng Kuei-fên) and Hsü Hsüan (see under Yen K'o-chün), each made an improved edition of the Shuo-wên chieh-tzû, but Tuan Yü-ts'ai was the first scholar of modern times to make a thorough study of all the works relating to it. He began by collating Mao I's [q.v.] reprint of Hsü Hsüan's edition, which was the only one then in wide circulation, comparing it with the Sung and Ming editions, mostly rare manuscripts in the possession of Chou Hsi-tsan and Yüan T'ing-t'ao (for both see under Ku Kuang-ch'i). His notes on this collation he embodied in the work 汲古閣說文訂 Chi-ku ko Shuo-wên ting, 1 chüan, printed in 1771, revised and reprinted in 1772. It was later criticized by Yen K'o-chün [q.v.] under the title, Shuo-wên ting-ting. In 1807 he completed his annotations to the Shuo-wên and printed them in 1813-15 under the title Shuo-wên chieh-tzû chu (註), 30 chüan. The entire dictionary was thus annotated, giving corrections, emendations, and additions. The importance of his work, and the amount of interest it aroused, is certified by the large number of supplementary studies prepared by other scholars. The more ambitious of this type are the 說文段注訂補 Shuo-wên Tuan-chu ting-pu, 14 chüan (1888), by Wang Shao-lan 王紹蘭 (T. 畹馨 H. 南陔, 1760-1835); the Shuo-wên Tuan-chu k'ao-chêng (see under Fêng Kuei-fên); and the Tuan-shih Shuo-wên chiao-ting, by Niu Shu-yü [q.v.]. Minor supplements in the same field are the Shuo-wên Tuan-chu ch'ao-an (抄按), by Kuei Fu (see under Chou Yung-nien); the Shuo-wên Tuan-chu cha-chi (札記), by Hsü Sung [q.v.], and another with the same title by Kung Tzû-chên [q.v.], Tuan's grandson.

Among other etymologists who commented on Tuan's work, the following may be mentioned: Wang Nien-sun [q.v.], whose Tuan-shih Shuo-wên ch'ien-chi (簽記), was reproduced from a manuscript and included in the collectanea, 稷香館叢書 Chi-hsiang kuan ts'ung-shu (1935); Chu Chün-shêng 朱駿聲 (T. 豐艹巳 H. 允倩, 石隱, 1788-1858), whose Shuo-wên Tuan-chu nien-wu (拈誤), was reproduced in the same collectanea; Hsü Ch'êng-ch'ing 徐承慶 (T. 謝山), whose Shuo-wên Tuan-chu k'uang-miu (匡謬), 8 chüan, was printed in the Chih-chin chai ts'ung-shu (see under Yao Wên-tien); Hsü Hao 徐灝 (T. 子遠 H. 靈洲 1810-1879), whose Shuo-wên Tuan-chu chien (箋), was printed in 1894 and reprinted in 1914; and Tsou Po-ch'i (see under Li Shan-Ian). The above-mentioned Kuei Fu, a native of Ch'u-fu, Shantung, was less arbitrary than Tuan in his approach to the study of the Shuo-wên at doubtful points he left more for the reader to decide. His Shuo-wên chieh-tzû i-chêng (義證), 50 chüan, was printed in 1851. He influenced two other natives of Shantung working in the same field, namely Hsü Han 許瀚 (T. 印林, chü-jên of 1835) and Wang Yün 王筠 (T. 貫山 H. 菉友, 1784-1854).

Tuan Yü-ts'ai printed his own works from time to time, under the collective title, 經韻樓叢書 Ching-yün lou ts'ung-shu. This ts'ung-shu contains, among other items, a collection of his essays, Ching-yün lou chi (集), in 12 chüan. Also included are two works by his teacher, the afore-mentioned Tai Chên, and a chronological biography of Tai, entitled Tai Tung-yüan h sien-shêng nien-p'u, which Tuan compiled.

Tuan Yü-ts'ai had two sons and one daughter. The daughter, Tuan Hsün 段馴 (T. 淑齋), author of a collection of verse, entitled 綠窗吟榭詩草 Lü-ch'uang yin-hsieh shih-Ts'ao, was the wife of Kung Li-chêng (see under Kung Tzû-chên).

[ 1/487/21a; 2/68/53a; 6/39/2b; 20/3/00 (portrait); Chin-t'an hsien-chih (1885) 9/15a; Liu P'an-sui, Tuan Yü-ts'ai Hsien-shêng nien-p'u in Tsing hua hsüeh-pao, vol. 7, no. 2; Edkins, J., Introduction to the Study of Chinese Characters (1876) pp. 170-71.]

TU LIEN-CHÊ

《清史稿》卷488

段玉裁 ，字若膺，金壇人。生而穎異，讀書有兼人之資。乾隆二十五年舉人，至京師見休寧戴震，好其學，遂師事之。以教習得貴州玉屏縣知縣，旋調四川，署富順及南溪縣事，又辦理化林坪站務。時大兵征金川，輓輸絡繹，玉裁處分畢，輒篝鐙著述不輟。著六書音均表五卷。古韻自顧炎武析為十部，後江永復析為十三部，玉裁謂支、佳一部也，脂、微、齊皆、灰一部也，之、咍一部也，漢人猶未嘗淆借通用。晉、宋而後，乃少有出入。迄乎唐之功令，支注「脂、之同用」，佳注「皆同用」，灰注「咍同用」，於是古之截然為三者，罕有知之。又謂真、臻、先、與諄、文、殷、魂、痕為二，尤、幽與侯為二，得十七部。其書始名詩經韻譜，羣經韻譜。嘉定錢大昕見之，以為鑿破混沌，後易其體例，增以新加，十七部蓋如舊也。震偉其所學之精，云自唐以來講韻學者所未發。尋任巫山縣，年四十六，以父老引疾歸，鍵戶不問世事者三十餘年。玉裁於周、秦、兩漢書，無所不讀，諸家小學，皆別擇其是非。於是積數十年精力，專說說文，著說文解字注三十卷，謂：「爾雅以下，義書也；聲類以下，音書也；說文，形書也。凡篆一字，先訓其義，次釋其形，次釋其音，合三者以完一篆，故曰形書。」又謂：「許以形為主，因形以說音、說義。其所說義，與他書絕不同者，他書多假借，則字多非本義，許惟就字說其本義。知何者為本義，乃知何者為假借，則本義乃假借之權衡也。說文、爾雅相為表裡，治說文而後爾雅及傳注明。」又謂：「自倉頡造字時至唐、虞、三代、秦、漢以及許叔重造說文，曰『某聲』、曰『讀若某』者，皆條理合一不紊。故既用徐鉉切音，又某字志之曰古音第幾部，後附六書音均表，俾形、聲相為表裡。始為長編，名說文解字讀，凡五百四十卷。既乃隱括之成此注。」玉裁又以：「說文者，說字之書，故有『讀如』、無『讀為』，說經、傳之書，必兼是二者。漢人作注，於字發疑正讀，其例有三：『讀如』、『讀若』者，擬其音也，比方之詞；『讀為』『讀曰』者，易其字也，變化之詞；『當為』者，定為字之誤、聲之誤，而改其字也，救正之詞：三者分，而漢注可讀，而經可讀。」述漢讀考，先成周禮六卷，又撰禮經漢讀考一卷，其他十六卷未成。儀徵阮元謂玉裁書有功於天下後世者三：言古音一也，言說文二也，漢讀考三也。其他說經之書，以漢志毛詩經、毛詩古訓傳本各自為書，因釐次傳文，還其舊著，重訂毛詩古訓傳三十卷。以諸經惟尚書離厄最甚，古文幾亡，賈逵分別古今，劉陶是正文字，其書皆不存。乃廣蒐補闕，正晉、唐之妄改，存周、漢之駮文，著古文尚書撰異三十二卷。又錄左氏經文，取鄭注禮、周禮，存古文、今文故書之例，附見公羊、穀梁經文之異，著春秋左氏古經十二卷，而以左氏傳五十凡附後。外有毛詩小學三十卷，汲古閣說文訂六卷，經韻樓集十二卷。嘉慶二十年，卒，年八十一。 初，玉裁與念孫俱師震，故戴氏有段、王兩家之學，玉裁少震四歲，謙，專執弟子禮，雖耄，或稱震，必垂手拱立，朔望必莊誦震手札一通。卒後，王念孫謂其弟子長洲陳奐曰：「若膺死，天下遂無讀書人矣！」玉裁弟子，長洲徐頲、嘉興沈濤及女夫仁和龔麗正俱知名，而奐尤得其傳，奐自有傳。