Fu Tseng-hsiang (1872-1950), a scholar-official and bibliophile, introduced educational reforms and established schools in Chihli (Hopei) during the last decade of the Ch'ing period. After holding such posts as minister of education (1917-19) he withdrew from public life and became a noted bibliophile.

Little is known of Fu Tseng-hsiang's early years except that he was born in Chiangan, Szechwan, and that in 1872 his family left that province for north China. He became a chü-jen in 1888, and three years later he moved to Paoting, Chihli (Hopei), where he studied under Wu Ju-lun (ECCP, H, 870-72) at the Lien-ch'ih Academy. For the next six years, he served on the staff of Lao Nai-hsuan at the Ch'iu-shih Academy at Hangchow. Fu won the chin-shih degree in 1898.

Fu became an adviser to Yuan Shih-k'ai. In the last years of the Ch'ing period, he was responsible for a number of educational reforms in Chihli and served as commissioner of education. In 1903, together with Ying Lien-chih (q.v.) and Yao Hsi-kuang (b. 1870; T. Shih-ch'tian), he founded one of the first schools for girls in north China. Lu Ching (1856-1948; T. Mien-chih), a chu-jen of 1885 who in 1929 donated both books and money for a library at Nankai University in Tientsin, was also associated with the school. In 1905 Yuan Shih-k'ai directed Fu Tsenghsiang to establish the Peiyang nü-tzu shih-fan hsueh-t'ang [Peiyang girls normal school] at Tientsin; that school was managed by VVu Ting-ch'ang and by the wife of Wang Chihming. In June 1908 Fu was asked to establish another normal school for girls in Peking, the Ching-shih nü-tzu shih-fan hsueh-t'ang. Hu Yü-jen (1866-1920), who later was responsible for the establishment of many modern schools in Shanghai and Wusih, was appointed to direct the Peking school. During his term as commissioner of education in Chihli, Fu made a tour of the province, at the conclusion of which he proposed a plan to establish junior normal schools at Paoting, Tientsin, Luanchou, and Hsingt'ai. However, the outbreak of the revolution of 1911 forced him to abandon the project.

After the revolution, Fu Tseng-hsiang was appointed an adviser to T'ang Shao-yi, who represented Yuan Shih-k'ai in peace negotiations with the provisional government of Sun Yat-sen. In 1917 Fu accepted an invitation to become minister of education at Peking under Wang Shih-chen, the premier, and he held that office until May 1919. In 1922 Fu was assigned to prepare a detailed report on loans, both domestic and international, that had been made to the Peking government. He worked on that task for more than a year and compiled a comprehensive report in five volumes. He then withdrew from official life and devoted his time to bibliographical studies and travel to China.

Fu Tseng-hsiang had inherited from his grandfather a rare Hsing-wen-shu edition of the famous Tzu-chih t'ung-chien [comprehensive mirror for aid in government], prepared in the Sung dynasty by Ssu-ma Kuang (1018-1086). He acquired another complete set of that massive work from the private library of Tuan-fang (ECCP, II, 780-82). Since he possessed two copies of the Tzu-chih t'ung-chien, Fu named his personal library the Shuangchien-lou. In his early years, Fu had made the acquaintance of such prominent bibliophiles as Miao Ch'uan-sun, Tung K'ang (qq.v), and Ts'ao Yuan-chung (d. 1927; T. K'uei-i); after 1911 he met Chang Yuan-chi, Yang Shouching (qq.v.), and other scholars specializing in bibliographical studies. Fu Tseng-hsiang was able to acquire on the open market many works from private collections, notably those of Pao-hsi (b. 1871; T. Jui-ch'en) and Sheng-yü (ECCP, II, 648-50). In 20 years he collected more than 66,000 chüan of rare Chinese books, including 3,600 chüan of Sung, Liao, and Chin editions; 2,500 chüan of Yuan editions; and 30,000 chüan of Ming editions; as well as manuscripts which had been collated by renowned Chinese scholars. In 1918 Fu Tsenghsiang added a new wing, which he called the Ts'ang-yuan, to his private library in Peking, and there he did most of the work of collating bibliographical notes on books in his collection. The most important of these works were the Shuang-chien-lou shan-pen shu-mu [catalogue of rare books in the Shuang-chien-lou], with a supplement issued in 1919, and the Ts'ang-juan chün-shu Vi-chi ch'u-chi [preliminary fisting of books in the Ts'ang-yuan collection], with supplements issued in 1938 and 1943. Fu was consulted by Japanese sinologists and librarians engaged in purchasing Chinese classical books in Tientsin and Peking. He served as an adviser to Hashikawa Tokio in his educational and literary activities for the Japanese occupation authorities. Fu wrote the preface to Hashikawa's Chugoku bunkakai jimbutsu sokan, a biographical dictionary of more than 4,000 Chinese leaders in the fields of education, art, and letters who were alive after 1912. The book was published in Peking in 1940.

Fu Tseng-hsiang compared the books in his possession with other editions and exchanged items with other collectors. Unlike some other collectors, he was willing to publish editions of rare books in his collection. Of his books thus published, one was a portion of the great Ming compendium, the Yung-lo ta-tien [encyclopedia of the Yung-lo period]; Fu published two manuscripts of the original volumes 2,610 and 2,611. He also published such works as the Liu Pin-k^o wen-chi [literary works of Liu Pink'o], the Chou-i cheng-i [annotated text of the Book of Changes], the Fang-yen [dictionary of dialects in north and central China], and the K^un-hsueh chi-wen [book of miscellaneous notes by Wang Ying-lin]. Fu was interested in the Taoist canon and published parts of it from collections that were in his library. When serving as minister of education at Peking, he had made arrangements with the Commercial Press in Shanghai to prepare a photographic reproduction of the complete canon, which was the property of the Pai-yun-kuan [white cloud temple] of Peking. That task was completed between 1924 and 1926, with the assistance of Hsü Shih-ch'ang (q.v.).

Fu Tseng-hsiang also edited and published the Sung-tai Shu-wen chi-yao [collection of Shu Han literature compiled in the Sung dynasty], a compendium of 2,100 literary items by 380 authors. His Ch'ing-tai tien-shih k'ao-lueh [brief account of the system of imperial examinations during the Ch'ing dynasty] appeared in 1933. In 1915 Fu wrote a travel book with Yuan Kuan-Ian (1866-1930; T. Hsi-t'ao), who had served as his deputy when he was commissioner of education for Chihli province. Later works, most of them published in the 1930s, record Fu's journeys to some of the five sacred mountains of China (notably T'ai-shan in Shantung and Heng-shan in Hunan), to Shensi province, and to other historic spots. In 1931 he prepared the Ts'ang-yuan chu-shih liu-shih tzu-shu, an autobiographical memoir to mark his sixtieth year of life; it was photographically reproduced in Fu's calligraphy.

Fu Tseng-hsiang spent his later years in retirement and died in 1950.