Lu Jianceng

Life

His great-grandfather was 盧世滋 and his grandfather was 盧裕; 盧士漼 is identified both as a great-granduncle and as a collateral great-grandfather. His father, 盧道悅, passed the jinshi examination in 1670. Lu Jianceng was related by marriage to Ji Yun, and his sons included 盧謙, 盧謹, 盧謨, 盧誾, and 盧蔭溥. At fifteen he entered the ranks of doctoral disciples; he became a juren in 1711, and in 1721 passed the Ministry of Rites examination, received the jinshi degree, and was placed twenty-second in the second class.

After the examination, he became magistrate of Hongya in Sichuan, where he eliminated miscellaneous levies and cleared accumulated cases, governing with frugality and diligence. In 1731 he became magistrate of Mengcheng in Bozhou, Jiangnan, while assisting with prefectural affairs, and soon became administrator of Lu'an; in autumn 1735 he became prefect of Jiangning, and academies were built in many of the places where he served. At the beginning of 1736 he was first appointed Salt Distribution Commissioner for the Lianghuai region. In May 1740 he was impeached on seventeen counts, accused of 1,060 taels in allegedly illicit funds, sentenced to frontier exile, and assigned service at a frontier military station; during exile he began studying the Book of Changes. Recalled in 1744, he became governor of Luanzhou, then prefect of Yongping in 1745; he resumed the Lianghuai post in 1754 and retired to his native place in 1763.

In 1768 an investigation into the Lianghuai salt administration implicated Lu because of his long tenure as salt commissioner. The case followed You Baishi's unsuccessful attempt to solicit a bribe and his subsequent exposure of serious deficits; the salt officials Gao Heng and Pufu, among others, were also punished. Lu died in the Suzhou prison on 7 November 1768, the twenty-eighth day of the ninth month of Qianlong 33; his affinal relative Ji Yun was also implicated after privately informing on the case.

Scholarship and writings

Lu gained a reputation for poetry in his youth, later turning to classical learning and regarding the old interpretations of the Han Confucians as the most reliable. Skilled in poetry and prose, he enjoyed printing books and collated the 雅雨堂叢書 and several contemporary collections of poetry and prose. Works and collections associated with him include 公餘漫草, 清福堂遺稿, 雅雨堂集, 雅雨堂詩集, 雅雨堂詩文集, and 出塞集; 雅雨堂叢書 was a work he collated and published. He was described as broad-minded and unconcerned with minor conventions; short and thin, he was nicknamed “Short Lu,” and he was later enshrined among the local worthies.