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Chen Xiean was a Chinese scholar who resided in [[Nagasaki]] in the 1720s-1730s and played a role in the interpretation of Chinese legal texts for the shogunate. He has been described by historian [[Oba Osamu|Ôba Osamu]] as perhaps the finest such Chinese scholar in the city.
Chen first arrived in Nagasaki in [[1727]], and from then until [[1731]] was permitted to live outside of the [[Tojin yashiki|Chinese compound]], a privilege extended to very few. While there, he worked with shogunate officials and other scholars in service to the shogunate to interpret and re-copy a number of texts, including a [[Tang Dynasty]] document provided to the shogunate by the [[Konoe family]]; when a copy was sent back to China, the [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] government found it rare and precious enough to warrant making further copies.
When Chen departed Japan in 1731, the shogunate provided him with a gift of an amount of [[silver]], and with special shipping permits allowing him to return. This he did in [[1736]], accompanied by his grandson.
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==References==
*[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 70-71.
[[Category:Foreigners]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Scholars and Philosophers]]