Bao Shichen (1775 ~ 1853) was a scholar, writer, calligrapher, calligrapher and political theorist in Qing Dynasty (the teacher of Wu Xizai, a famous seal engraver and painter in Qing Dynasty). The word Shenbo, whose name is Chengbo and Shenzhai, and whose name is Tired Weng in the evening, is also a self-appointed official of Baimen Tired Travel Pavilion and Little Tired Travel Pavilion. People from Jingxian County, Anhui Province. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Jingxian County was divided into Anwu, and Bao's former residence was close to it, so scholars called Mr. Anwu and "Bao Anwu". Since childhood, my family was poor, I studied hard, worked hard, had an economic overview, and liked to talk about soldiers. In the 13th year of Jiaqing (188), he was selected as the official of Xinyu County in Jiangxi Province, but he failed to pass the examination for many times. After years, he was impeached and removed from office. Since then, he has been a guest performer for Tao Shu, Yu Qian, Yang Fang and others. He paid attention to the study of statecraft all his life and was diligent in practical investigation, and he could put forward valuable opinions on water transportation, water conservancy, salt affairs, agriculture, folk customs, criminal law, military affairs and so on. Southeast provincial officials often consult him every time they meet with the great policies of soldiers, famine, rivers, waterways and salt, and thus become famous in Jianghuai. In the 19th year of Jiaqing (1814), due to drought and famine in Nanjing, Bao Shichen urged Qin Chengye, a great gentry in Jiangning, to advocate charity relief, and wrote to Bailing, the governor of Liangjiang, urging him to try to save the victims. During the Opium War, he recorded and discussed the imperialist invasion of China and the resistance struggle of the people of China, which was quite insightful.
among the feudal officials in the Qing dynasty, his social status was very low, but he was a well-known figure in the society at that time. Because Bao Shichen was quite familiar with the major social problems at that time, such as agricultural administration, water transportation, salt affairs, river engineering, silver shortage, currency, water conservancy, taxation, official administration, law and military affairs, especially with extensive knowledge of agriculture, etiquette, punishment and military affairs, so Bao Shichen became the attention of many government officials at that time. In the eighteenth year of Daoguang (1838), Lin Zexu was appointed as an imperial envoy to Guangdong to ban smoking. When he passed by Nanchang, Jiangxi in the first month of the following year, he asked him about the plan to ban smoking. In the twenty-first year of Daoguang (1841), he was transferred from Guangdong to Zhejiang. When he arrived in Nanchang in April, he discussed with him the strategy of imperial Britain. Bao Shichen's life works were collected and arranged in his later years as Four Kinds of An Wu.
Bao Shichen has a son and a daughter. The son's name is Bao Zongfu and the daughter's name is Bao Zongfang. Very mediocre, did not achieve his father's achievements.