Mao Qiling (simplified Chinese: 毛奇龄; traditional Chinese: 毛奇齡; pinyin: Máo Qílíng; Wade–Giles: Mao Ch'i-ling; 1623–1716) was a Chinese scholar and philologist of the early Qing dynasty. A native of Xiaoshan in Zhejiang province, he became a licentiate at the age of fifteen sui.[1] After the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, he refused to serve the Qing. In 1679, however, he took part in and passed a special honorary examination held by the Kangxi Emperor to attract scholars who had not yet announced their allegiance to the new dynasty.[1] He was then appointed to the compilation of the official History of Ming.[1] After retiring from office in 1687, he went to live in Hangzhou (Zhejiang), where he taught many disciples.[1]

A scholar of wide learning, Mao compiled works on the Confucian Classics and on phonetics, music, history, and geography.[2] After Mao's death his writings were collected and published as an eighty-volume work, The Collected Works of Xihe ("Xihe" was a popular pseudonym of Mao's).[3] He was famous for vehemently opposing the orthodox commentaries on the Classics by Song-dynasty Neo-Confucians like Zhu Xi.[4] He also unsuccessfully attacked Yan Ruoju's demonstration that the Old Text chapters of the Book of Documents (one of the Five Classics) were Han-dynasty forgeries.[5]

In the Shang shu guangting fu (Record of a broad understanding of the documents), Mao presented criticism of the earlier association between the early nonary cosmographic schemes and the Luoshu.[6]

Notes

edit
  1. ^ a b c d Tu 1943, p. 563.
  2. ^ Tu 1943, p. 564.
  3. ^ Legge 1893, p. 20.
  4. ^ Wang 2008, p. 107; Elman 2001, p. 89.
  5. ^ Elman 2001, pp. 237–9; Tu 1943, p. 564.
  6. ^ Henderson 1995, p. 224.

Bibliography

edit
  • Elman, Benjamin A. (2001), From Philosophy to Philology: Intellectual and Social Aspects of Change in Late Imperial China, Los Angeles: UCLA Asian Pacific Monograph Series, ISBN 1-883191-05-X.
  • Henderson, John B. (1995), "Chinese Cosmographical Thought: The High Intellectual Tradition", in J. B. Harley; David Woodward (eds.), History of Cartography, Volume Two, Book Two, Cartography in the Traditional East and Southeast Asian Societies, pp. 203–27.
  • Legge, James (1893), "Prolegomena", in James Legge (transl.) (ed.), The Confucian Analects, The Great Learning & The Doctrine of the Mean, Reprint: New York, NY: Cosimo, 2009, ISBN 978-1-60520-644-8.
  • Tu, Lien-chê (1943). "Mao Ch'i-ling" . In Hummel, Arthur W. Sr. (ed.). Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period. United States Government Printing Office. pp. 563–564.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  • Wang, Hui (2008), Translating Chinese Classics in a Colonial Context, Bern: Peter Lang, ISBN 978-3-03911-631-7.