Pan Lei

Pan Lei ( _zh. 潘 耒) (1646-1708) was a Qing dynasty scholar. 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 in 1700, Pan wrote about the beauty, natural resources, and unique history of East Guangdong.cite journal | author=Chen, Yong| title=The Internal Origins of Chinese Emigration to California Reconsidered| journal=The Western Historical Quarterly| year=1997| volume=28| issue=4| url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-3810%28199724%2928%3A4%3C520%3ATIOOCE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W| pages=520–546| doi=10.2307/969884] Pan was also involved in the study of mathematics. In the preface to Mei Wending's "Fangchenglun", a treatise on linear algebra 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 thesurvey of the Earth; it is impossible to regulate taxes and to manage finances; it is impossibleto raise armies and dispose troops; it is impossible to administer civil engineering.cite journal | author=Jun Yong Hoon| title=Mathematics in Context: A Case in Early Nineteenth-Century Korea| journal=Science in Context| year=2006| volume=19| issue=4| url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=637472| pages=475–512| doi=10.1017/S0269889706001049]

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.cite journal | author=Wing-Chung Ho, Clara| title=The Cultivation of Female Talent: Views on Women's Education in China during the Early and High Qing Periods| journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient| year=1995| volume=38| issue=2| url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-4995%281995%2938%3A2%3C191%3ATCOFTV%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J| pages=191–223]

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