Chen Bin

Also known as Mei Chuan · Shi Qingduan

Chen Bin, known as Meichuan, came from Haikang on the Leizhou peninsula in Guangdong and gained his jinshi in 1694. As magistrate of Gutian in Fujian he evened out the tax burden, and as magistrate in Taiwan for five years he built schools. Later he was recommended by Zhang Boxing as intendant for Taiwan and Xiamen, where he refused even the allowances due to him. Promoted over many heads to governor of Hunan, he proposed ten reforms including a ban on surcharges and harsh punishments, and he told the emperor that an official who took a single coin improperly was no better than one who took a fortune, so that Kangxi called him an ascetic old monk. As governor of Fujian, acting also as governor-general, he patrolled the coast carrying his own rations and set up joint naval patrols between Taiwan and Xiamen. He died in office, leaving more than thirteen thousand taels of public savings to the western campaign, and was named Qingduan.