Jī Zēngyún 嵇曾筠
Zì Sōngyǒu 松友, hào Lǐzhāi 禮齋; posthumous title Wénmǐn 文敏. Native of Wúxī 無錫 (modern Jiāngsū). Jìnshì of Kāngxī 45 (1706).
Career arc: Hanlin shùjíshì 庶吉士 → biānxiū 編修 → xuézhèng 學政 of Shānxī → Left Associate Censor-in-chief of the Censorate (Dūcháyuàn zuǒ qiān dū yùshǐ 都察院左僉都御史, 1723) → Director-general of Yellow River conservancy for Hénán and Shāndōng (Hénán Shāndōng hédào zǒngdū 河南山東河道總督, 1729) → Wénhuádiàn dàxuéshì 文華殿大學士 兼 Lìbù shàngshū 吏部尚書 (1733). In Qiánlóng 1 (1736) appointed Superintendent of the Zhèjiāng Sea-walls (Zǒnglǐ Zhèjiāng hǎitáng gōngchéng 總理浙江海塘工程) and concurrent governor-general of the two Zhè 總督. Granted the honorific Tàizǐ tàifù 太子太傅; posthumously Shàobǎo 少保.
The principal hydraulic engineer of the Yōngzhèng era. The “Jī dam” method (Jī bà 嵇壩) on the Yellow River bears his name; he oversaw more than 7,400 zhàng of fish-scale stone sea-wall (魚鱗石塘) at the Hǎiníng Jiānshān 海寧尖山 breach on the Qiántáng 錢塘 coast — a defining achievement of YōngzhèngQiánlóng hydraulic governance in Zhèjiāng.
Editorial supervision: Hénán tōngzhì 河南通志 in 80 juan; Zhèjiāng tōngzhì 浙江通志 (KR2k0044, 280 juan, submitted 1736, supervised jiānxiū 監修), the latter undertaken in parallel with his sea-wall duties. Lifedates: 1671–1739 by Western reckoning; Chinese sources sometimes give 1670–1738 by lunar-calendar count.