45
Major scholarly activities
Ruan Yuan provided opportunities for the scholars to work on literary projects or in academic institutions, and often published their own works as well. Since he organized and controlled the projects, from conceptualization to approval of the final draft, as well as finding the funding of the projects, his name was listed as author, compiler or editor of these publications, although Ruan Yuan was always careful to give due credit to others.
The 75 titles I have located encompass works in several major areas of learning. In-depth discussion of these works belongs to another study. At the present, however, attention can be called superficially to a few works in several categories.
13
Classics: as director of studies in Zhejiang 1795-98, Ruan Yuan organized more than 40 scholars in Hangzhou to compile Jing ji zuan gu (106 + 10 juan), a dictionary to the Classics, printed in 1800. A thesaurus of classical terms and phrases, Jing fu, planned to comprise more than 100 juan, was compiled around 1810 but was never printed. In 1816, shortly before his transfer to Canton, Ruan Yuan reprinted from rare Sung editions the thirteen Classics, Song ben Shi san jing zhu shu, 243 juan, in Jiangxi. Affixed to this work were collation notes on the Classics Ruan Yuan had gathered earlier. The most monumental work on the Classics compiled under Ruan Yuan's aegis was the Huang-Qing jing jie, 1,400 juan, printed in 1826 in Canton, embodying more than 180 treatises written on the Classics during the Qing era. Discourses by scholars at the academies he founded, the Gu jing jing she (Gu jing jing she wen ji) in Hangzhou and the Xue hai tang (Xue hai tang ji) in Canton, were also published.
Archaeology: A large number of buried ancient bronzes were being excavated at that time. Contemporary scholars were not interested in the vessels so much as objects of art as they were in the inscriptions (ming wen) on them as a reference to authenticate classical texts. For the same reasons, inscriptions on stone were scrutinized. Ruan Yuan's Ji gu zhai chong ding yi chi kuan shi, 10 juan, preface dated 1804, is still used as a standard reference work today for identification of bronze vessels and inscriptions. His study on stone inscriptions include Shan zuo jin shi zhi, 24 juan, 1795-1797, stone inscriptions of Shandong, Liang Zhe jin shi zhi, 18 juan, 1824, of Zhejiang, and Yueh dong jin
45
Major scholarly activities
Ruan Yuan provided opportunities for the scholars to work on literary projects or in academic institutions, and often published their own works as well. Since he organized and controlled the projects, from conceptualization to approval of the final draft, as well as finding the funding of the projects, his name was listed as author, compiler or editor of these publications, although Ruan Yuan was always careful to give due credit to others.
The 75 titles I have located encompass works in several major areas of learning. In-depth discussion of these works belongs to another study. At the present, however, attention can be called superficially to a few works in several categories.
13
Classics: as director of studies in Zhejiang 1795-98, Ruan Yuan organized more than 40 scholars in Hangzhou to compile Jing ji zuan gu (106 + 10 juan), a dictionary to the Classics, printed in 1800. A thesarus of classical terms and phrases, Jing fu, planned to comprise more than 100 juan, was compiled around 1810 but was never printed. In 1816, shortly before his transfer to Canton, Ruan Yuan reprinted from rare Sung editions the thirteen Classics, Song ben Shi san jing zhu shu, 243 juan, in Jiangxi, Affixed to this work were collation notes on the Classics Ruan Yuan had gathered earlier. The most monumental work on the Classics compiled under Ruan Yuan's aegis was the Huang-Qing jing jie, 1,400 juan, printed in 1826 in Canton, embodying more than 180 treatises written on the Classics during the Qing era. Discourses by scholars at the academies he founded, the Gu jing jing she (Gu jing jing she wen ji) in Hangzhou and the Xue hai tang (Xue hai tang ji) in Canton, were also published.
Archaeology: A large number of buried ancient bronzes were being excavated at that time. Contemporary scholars were not interested in the vessels so much as objects of art as they were in the inscriptions (ming wen ✯✯) on them as a reference to authenticate classical texts. For the same reasons, inscriptions on stone were scrutinized. Ruan Yuan's Ji gu zhai chong ding yi chi kuan shi, 10 juan, preface dated 1804, is still used as a standard reference work today for identification of bronze vessels and inscriptions. His study on stone inscriptions include Shan zuo jin shi zhi, 24 juan, 1795-1797, stone inscriptions of Shandong, Liang Zhe jin shi zhi, 18 juan, 1824, of Zhejiang, and Yueh dong jin
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