Sun Xingyan

Life

He grew up in poverty and could not afford books. At nineteen he married 王采薇; she died of illness in 1776, after which he joined 畢沅’s household as a private aide. His father was 孫勳 and his younger brother 孫星衡; his children included 孫廷鐻 and 孫廞, his daughter was 孫漪蕙, and 孫籛 was recorded as an adopted heir.

In youth he was skilled at poetic composition and was ranked with his fellow townsmen 洪亮吉 and 黃仲則; he later devoted himself to the classics, histories, philology, and the Hundred Schools, seeking to penetrate their meaning. His circle included 郝懿行, 洪亮吉, and 畢沅; he studied under 錢大昕 and 畢沅 and was a fellow student of 阮元.

His examination record included the grades 鄉貢舉人 and 附貢生. In 1787 he placed second in the first class of the palace examination, the rank known as 榜眼, was appointed a Hanlin compiler, and served as a collator at the 三通館. At the 1789 散館 examination, he used an allusion from the *Records of the Historian* in his essay; He Shen suspected a wrongly written character, ranked him third class, and sent him into departmental service. He then served as a 主事 in the Ministry of Justice, where his lenient application of the law won the regard of Agui and Hu Jitang; he was subsequently promoted to langzhong.

In 1795 he was appointed to the 兗沂曹濟道 in Shandong. In July 1796, when floodwaters breached the Cao-nan embankment at Shan County, he and the judicial commissioner Kang Jitian led the defense for five days and nights, averting a major disaster; he soon became acting 按察使. In 1799, during mourning for his mother, he returned home. Governor Ruan Yuan appointed him chief lecturer at the 詁經精舍; after completing the mourning period, he went to the capital and was again sent to Shandong.

In 1805 he resumed the post of Shandong grain transport commissioner and undertook extensive textual research and collation of ancient books while in the province. In 1807 he served as acting provincial administration commissioner; in 1811 he retired on grounds of illness. In July 1814, at the invitation of the Yangzhou salt administration commissioner Agui, he went to Yangzhou to help collate *全唐文*; in 1815 he completed *尚書今古文注疏*. In his later years he headed Zhongshan Academy. He died in 1818.

Scholarship and works

His scholarship ranged across the classics, histories, philology and phonology, the Hundred Schools, evidential research, epigraphy, and geography; he also cultivated poetry, ci, and calligraphy. He compiled and published *平津館叢書* and *岱南閣叢書*; his works included *尚書今古文注疏*, *芳茂山人集*, and *芳茂山人詩錄*. Other associated titles in the bibliography include *寰宇訪碑錄*, *魏三體石經遺字考*, *晏子春秋音義*, and *問字堂集*.