Pan Lei () (1646 – 1708) was a

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

. He wrote the prefaces for a number of works that appeared in his time. In the preface to writer Qu Dajun's book ''Guangdong Xinyu'', widely regarded as a valuable source on the economic and social conditions of

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

in 1700, Pan wrote about the beauty, natural resources, and unique history of East Guangdong. Pan was also involved in the study of mathematics. In the preface to Mei Wending's ''Fangchenglun'', a treatise on

linear algebra Linear algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning linear equations such as: :a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n=b, linear maps such as: :(x_1, \ldots, x_n) \mapsto a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n, and their representations in vector spaces and through matrices. ...

written in 1690, he wrote:

Although mathematics is the last of the Six Arts (liui ), it has wide applications. Without mathematics, it is impossible to understand the measurement of Heaven and the survey of the Earth; it is impossible to regulate taxes and to manage finances; it is impossible to raise armies and dispose troops; it is impossible to administer civil engineering.

Pan Lei's collected works also included the opinions of women who believed that poetry writing was considered unnecessary for women, which led to their works being kept secret.

References

** 1646 births 1708 deaths Qing dynasty poets Qing dynasty politicians from Jiangsu Politicians from Suzhou Writers from Suzhou Poets from Jiangsu {{China-poet-stub