Li Zongwan 勵宗萬

LI Tsung-wan 勵宗萬 (T. 滋大, H. 衣園), 1705–1759, official, painter and calligrapher, was a native of Ching-hai, Chihli. He was a son of Li T'ing-i [q.v.], a grandson of Li Tu-no [q.v.] and a son-in-law of Huang Shu-lin [q.v.]. A precocious youth, he was made a chü-jên in 1720 and a chin-shih the following year at the early age of seventeen (sui). Like his father and grandfather, he entered the Hanlin Academy and after 1724 he served in the Imperial Study. After a term (1727–29) as director of education in Shansi, he was promoted in 1729 to the post of censor of that province. Denounced by the governor of Shansi for alleged misuse of the postal service and for allowing his servants to take bribes, he was dismissed from office.

In the summer of 1732 Li Tsung-wan was recalled, and by 1735 rose to the vice-presidency of the Board of Punishments. Denounced in 1736 for carelessness in recommending to office his personal friends, he was dismissed, but was ordered to serve on literary projects. After several promotions he became vice-president of the Censorate (1744) and a year later was again made a vice-president of the Board of Punishments. In 1746 he was concerned in a bribery case involving the secretary of one of his brothers, and was discharged. In 1748, when his youngest brother, Li Tsung-i 勵宗奕, was accused of using force to collect rent on land to which he had no clear title, Li Tsung-wan was sentenced to flogging for failure to restrain his brother. But the emperor allowed him to redeem himself by repairing, at his own expense, the city walls of Ku-an, Chihli.

Li Tsung-wan was recalled in 1751 as an expositor of the Hanlin Academy. After further vicissitudes as a government official, he died in 1759 at his post as director of the Court of Imperial Entertainment. A contemporary, Ch'ên Chao-lun [q.v.], who wrote his epitaph, accounted for his political misfortunes on the ground that he was obstinate, harsh in his criticism of others, and careless of social proprieties. As an artist, Li Tsung-wan achieved prominence at Court, and five items of his painting and calligraphy are reported as in the Palace Museum in Peiping.

[1/272/3b; 3/60/11a; 19/丙上/5a; 26/1/43b; Ching-hai hsien chih (1873) 6/9b; L.T.C.L.H.M., p. 438, lists of works of art by him.]

Tu Lien-chê

康熙辛丑科進士 翰林院編修 南書房行走 歷任刑部右侍郎

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子宗萬，字滋大。康熙六十年進士，改庶吉士，授編修。雍正二年，命直南書房，充日講起居注官，督山西學政。六年，遷國子監司業，按試潞安。臨晉民解進朝詐稱御前總管，私書請託，宗萬疏發之，諭嘉獎，遷侍讀，命巡察山西。八年，巡撫石麟劾宗萬擾驛遞，並縱僕受賕，坐奪官。十年，起鴻臚寺少卿，仍直南書房。四遷至禮部侍郎，調刑部。乾隆元年，吏部劾宗萬保舉河員受請託，坐奪官。尋命直武英殿。七年，再起侍講學士，累遷通政使。直懋勤殿，纂秘殿珠林，遷左副都御史。擢工部侍郎，調刑部。十年，坐縱門客生事，復奪官，手詔詰責，命還里閉戶讀書。督撫那蘇圖劾宗萬縱弟占官地，命承修固安城工，免其罪。十六年，復起侍講學士，累遷光祿寺卿。二十四年，卒。