Record of Daily Knowledge and Collected Poems and Essays: Selections

1. The book in French is that by Jean-François Vergnaud, La pensée de Gu Yanwu (1613–1682): Essai de synthèse (Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient, 1990). The four dissertations in English are, in chronological order, Ku Wei-ying, “The Political Theories of Ku Yen-wu and the Manchu Conquest” (PhD diss., University of British Columbia, 1983); Thomas C. Bartlett, “Ku Yen-wu’s Response to the ‘Demise of Human Society’ ” (PhD diss., Princeton University, 1985); Ian Johnston, “Ku Yen-wu’s Record of Daily Knowledge” (PhD diss., University of Sydney, 1992); John Patrick Delury, “Despotism Above and Below: Gu Yanwu’s Record of Daily Learning on Power, Money and Mores” (PhD diss., Yale University, 2007). An example of an article on Gu Yanwu is Lung-chang Young, “Ku Yen-wu’s Views on the Ming Examination System,” Ming Studies 23 (spring 1987): 48–63. Two general books that give consideration to Gu Yanwu are Liang Ch’i-ch’ao [Qichao], Intellectual Trends in the Ch’ing Period, trans. Immanuel C. Y. Hsü (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1959), and Benjamin A. Elman, From Philosophy to Philology: Intellectual and Social Aspects of Change in Late Imperial China (Cambridge, Mass.: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1984).

2. The most detailed account in English of Gu Yanwu’s life is Willard J. Peterson, “The Life of Ku Yen-wu (1613–1682),” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 28 (1968): 114–56, 29 (1969): 201–47.

6. For a detailed account of these events, see ibid., 227–33.

7. Chen Zuwu, “Rizhi Lu Bajuanben Mo Yi,” Dushu, January 1982, 136–37.

9. Ku Wei-ying, “Political Theories,” 29–31.

10. Delury, “Despotism,” 9.

11. See “Notes on the Translations” in this introduction.

12. The precise number varies from 1,013 to 1,022 according to the edition.

14. Thomas C. Bartlett, “Gu Yanwu,” in ECP, 275–76.

15. Delury, “Despotism,” 3.

16. Tinglin Shiwenji, 3.41.

18. Mencius, VIIB.3.

19. The numbering and translations of the essays and letters from the SWJ follow the Xinyi Gu Tinglin Wenji (Taipei: Sanmin Shuju, 2000).

20. Peterson, “Life of Ku Yen-wu,” 134–35.

21. See, e.g., Bartlett, “Gu Yanwu,” 273, where these men, proponents of shixue, are likened to Gu in their approach to learning.

22. Ku Wei-ying, “Political Theories,” 279. The Chinese text is reprinted on page 1445 of Zhang Jinghua’s recent edition of the Rizhi Lu.

23. Dai Zhen Wenji, 146, quoted in Elman, From Philosophy to Philology, 29.

24. Yü Ying-shih, “Some Preliminary Observations on the Rise of Ch’ing Confucian Intellectualism,” Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies 11 (1975): 126.

25. Ku Wei-ying, “Political Theories,” 283.

26. Paul A. Cohen, Between Tradition and Modernity: Wang T’ao and Reform in Late Ch’ing China (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1974), 274.

27. Elman, From Philosophy to Philology, 176.

28. Ku Wei-ying, “Political Theories,” 291–92.

1. Bao Xi Shi 包羲氏, better known as Fu Xi 伏羲, was the first of the Five Emperors of the legendary period at the start of the second millennium B.C.E. He is said to have been responsible for the construction of the eight diagrams, deriving them from the markings on the shell of a tortoise.

2. Changes, Xi Ci (pt. 2), SSJZS, 1.173. The middle period of antiquity extended from the rise of the Zhou dynasty to the Confucian era.

3. Ibid., 1.175. The Yin dynasty was superseded by the Zhou dynasty in 1112 B.C.E. Zhou, the last tyrannical ruler of the Yin dynasty, died in the flames of his own palace when finally overthrown by King Wu, the son of King Wen; see James Legge, The I Ching (New York: Dover, 1963), 5.

4. Mozi 31.6–8; Ian Johnston, The Mozi: A Complete Translation (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 284–87.

5. A form of divination using plant stalks or bamboo. See Zuo Zhuan V, 15; LCC, 5.164.

6. Zuo Zhuan V, 15; LCC, 5.164, 167—“That fox in Ku must be the Marquis of Chin” (Legge’s trans.).

7. Zuo Zhuan VIII, 16; LCC, 5.391.

8. Fei Zhi 費直 was the earliest of the Han commentators and initiator of the tradition continued by Ma Rong 馬融 (79–166) and Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (127–200)—see the Gu Zhou Yi reference in SB 12 and Han Shu 88, 11.3602. Zheng Xuan was a noted commentator on the Changes and other classics and a pupil of Ma Rong’s. Wang Bi 王弼 (226–249) was noted for his commentaries on the Changes and Daodejing. The former appears in both the SBCK and SSJZS versions of the Changes.

9. The Yichuan Yizhuan 伊川易傳 of Cheng Yi 程頤 was published in 1099 and covered “the whole of the classic and those appendixes scattered over it in the modern text, but not the five appendixes that follow it” (SB, 3–4).

10. Chao Yuezhi 晁說之 (1059–1129) compiled the Lu Gu Yi 錄古易 in eight chapters (see SB, 12).

11. Lü Zuqian 呂祖謙 (1137–1181) was a scholar and official of the Song period and also a contemporary of Zhu Xi’s—see the entry on the Gu Zhou Yi in SB, 12–13.

12. Zhou Yi Benyi, i.

13. See SB, 11: “In spite of Zhu Xi’s intentions, his explanations are attached to Cheng Yi’s in the Wujing Daquan [Great Collection of Commentaries on the Five Classics], which served as the standard for the civil service examinations for several hundred years.”

14. Zhou Yi Benyi, 2, following the first section headed “Tuan Yue.”

15. Yi Jing under qian 乾—SSJZS, 1.10.

16. Zhou Yi Benyi, 2, following the first section headed “Xiang Yue.”

17. Yi Jing under qian 乾—SSJZS, 1.11.

18. Yi Jing, SSJZS, 1.12.

19. See Zhu Wengong Wenji 66, 2.1154ff. The remainder of the paragraph is taken largely from this work.

20. Cao Mao 曹髦 (221–260) was the grandson of Cao Pi 曹丕and was made Gaogui Xianggong 高貴鄉公 at the age of four. In 254 he succeeded Cao Fang as the fourth Wei emperor.

21. This sentence is in the Sanguo Zhi but not in Gu Yanwu.

22. For this dialogue, see the Sanguo Zhi 4, 1.136.

23. Han Shu 88, 11.3602.

24. Zhu Wengong Wenji 66, “Zazhu.”

25. Yi Jing, SSJZS, 1.83. See also Zhu Xi’s Zhou Yi Benyi, 29, for a discussion of the use of yi 亦. The meaning of this is somewhat obscure. See also Legge, I Ching, 123, 305, and Richard Wilhelm, trans., The I Ching; or, Book of Changes (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950), 124, 545.

26. Hu Anguo 胡安國 (1074–1138) prepared his commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals at the direction of Emperor Gao Zong. In this commentary he relates current events to those reported in the Spring and Autumn Annals in an attempt to learn from the lessons of history and thereby improve the administration of the day. See the article by Ueda Sanae in SB, 40, which also gives details of the editions of Hu’s commentary.

27. Shefu was a literary and word game in which a third word, relating to each member of a given pair of words, is sought.

28. Dan Zhu 啖助 and Zhao Kuang 趙匡 were Tang commentators on the Spring and Autumn Annals. Their writings can be found in the Chunqiu Jijie 春秋集解 compiled by Lü Benzhong 呂本中 in the Song period. See SB, 40.

29. See Han Shu 30, 6.1705–6, and Han Shu 88 for Fu Sheng 伏勝 (伏生). See also LCC, 3, prolegomena, 15ff., for a detailed discussion of the views of Kong Anguo 孔安國 (second century B.C.E.) and others on the old text–new text issue.

30. For an account of the extraordinary events of 92–90 B.C.E., see Michael Loewe, Crisis and Conflict in Han China (London: Allen and Unwin, 1974), 37ff.

31. Han Shu 30, 6.1706. See also LCC, 3, 23–25.

32. For this sequence, see Han Shu 88, 11.3607. Kong Anguo was a descendant of Confucius’s who was involved in analysis of the text of the Documents found in the walls of the Master’s house, as described in this essay. Detailed consideration of the nature and fate of his commentary is given by Legge in the prolegomena to his translation of the classic (see note 29). Liu Xin 劉歆 was a noted scholar and son of Liu Hsiang, who rose to prominence during Wang Mang’s interregnum. He was in large part responsible for the establishment of the “old learning,” or old text, school, being described by Fung Yu-lan with reference to the old learning as “its most illustrious protagonist” (HCP, 2.133–36); see also CHC, 1.760ff., and Han Shu 36, 1967ff.

33. Han Shu 88, 11.3607. Legge gives a brief mention of Zhang Ba 張霸 on page 30 of his prolegomena to the Shu Jing; see also 30n11.

34. Hou Han Shu 79a, 9.2560. LCC, Shu Jing, 3(prolegomena).30, states, “In the next reign, and extending on to a.d. 124, we meet with a K’ung He [K’ung Hsi 孔僖], then chief of the K’ung family, in which it is said, ‘the ancient text had been handed down from Gan-kwo [Kong Anguo], from father to son, without break.’ ”

35. Hou Han Shu 79a, 9.2566—see Legge’s prolegomena for consideration of Du Lin’s 杜林 text and the commentaries on this.

36. Ibid., 79a, 9.2546.

38. There is a textual error here as the “Yiwen Zhi” is, in fact, in the Xin Tang Shu—see 57, 5.1427 for the listing referred to. Ma Rong and Zheng Xuan referred to here and elsewhere were both outstanding scholars of the Later Han period, the latter being the pupil of the former—see CHC, 1.813ff.

39. Lu Deming, Jingdian Shiwen 經典釋文, 1.

40. This is a partial quote from the Sui Shu 32, 2.915. Mei Ze 梅賾 (fl. 317–322) presented a text titled Kong Anguo Shang Shu to the new Imperial Library established by the Jin in the early fourth century—see ECT, 383.

41. I am grateful to Thomas Bartlett for drawing my attention to a passage in the Sui Shu, “Jingjizhi,” which states that Yao Fangxing 姚方興 purchased the book at a floating market in Nanjing—hence the reference to “large boat.”

42. Liu Xuan 劉炫 (d. 613) was a Sui scholar of the period of the north-south division. For biographical details and his work on the classic, see Sui Shu 75, 3.1719ff.

43. Mencius VIIB.3(1); LCC, 2.479. See also Legge’s note on the same page.

44. Mencius VA.4(1); LCC, 2.351, and Documents, LCC, 3.40.

45. The references given to the Zuo Zhuan (LCC, vol. 5) are as follows: III(8), 81; V(24), 190; V(27), 200; VI(7), 247; IX(5), 426; IX(21), 487; IX(23), 500; IX(26), 521; XII(6), 808; XII(18), 851.

46. Guoyu, “Zhouyu” (shang), SBCK 14(Guoyu).10.

47. These are the first words of The Counsels of the Great Yu; see Documents, LCC, 3.52. Gu takes this as further evidence to support his view that this book was a retrospective compilation and should be included in the Books of Xia.

48. Documents, LCC, 3.76. See also Legge’s note on the same page.

49. Documents V, XXII(29) and V.XXIII(1); LCC, 3.560 and 562.

50. See Legge, Odes, prolegomena II; LCC, 4.38.

51. Shiji 24, 4.1235.

52. The five poems are as follows: Mao 48 (LCC, 4.78), Mao 95 (LCC, 4.148), Mao 77 (LCC, 4.127), Mao 91 (LCC, 4.145), and Mao 117 (LCC, 4.179). Duan 段 was the brother of Zhuang Gong 莊公.

53. Odes, Mao 76; LCC, 4.125.

54. Odes, Mao 82; LCC, 4.134.

55. Odes, Mao 93; LCC, 4.146.

56. Odes, Mao 138; LCC, 4.207.

57. See Jiu Tang Shu 86, 9.2828.

58. A collection of essays and poems by the Song scholar Zhen Dexiu 真德秀 (1178–1235).

59. The Gushi Shijiushou 古詩十九首 is an early verse collection of disputed origin—see ICCL, 489–91. For an English translation with the Chinese text, see Ian Johnston, Waiting for the Owl: Poems and Songs from Ancient China (Lauderdale, Tas., Aus.: Pardalote Press, 2009), 14–29.

60. Nineteen Old Poems, 13.

61. Odes, Mao 115; LCC, 4.176.

62. Nineteen Old Poems, 16.

63. Odes, Mao 33; LCC, 4.51.

64. Nineteen Old Poems, 7, and Odes, Mao 203.

65. Nineteen Old Poems, 8, and Odes, Mao 218.

66. Xiao Tong 蕭統 (501–531) was Crown Prince Zhaoming 昭明 of the Liang period and compiler of the Wen Xuan.

67. Xu Qin 徐擒 and Yu Xin 庾信 were writers from the Six Dynasties period whose names are often linked.

68. Odes, Mao 212; LCC, 4.381.

69. Odes, Mao 154; LCC, 4.230.

70. For this phrase, see Zuo Zhuan I(8); LCC, 5.25.

71. Odes, Mao 162; LCC, 4.247, and Mao 40; LCC, 4.66. Note there is a textual difference here.

72. Lunyu XV.25; LCC, 1.301. The term shi 史, which Legge translates as “historiographer,” is rendered by Charles Hucker as “scribe” and is said to refer to a “lowly or unranked post identifiable only by a prefixed agency name” (A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China [Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985], p. 421, no. 5199). Legge, in his note on page 302, amplifies the point of the statement: “A historiographer, on any point about which he was not sure, would leave a blank, so careful were they to tell the truth.”

73. Spring and Autumn Annals II(17); LCC, 5.67. See also the note on page 67, paragraph 8, where Legge points out that this eclipse took place on October 3, 694 B.C.E., on the seventh day of the cycle and, further, that “the day of the cycle is not given in the text, because, according to Tso-she, the officers had lost it.”

74. Zuo Zhuan II(17); LCC, 5.67.

75. Spring and Autumn Annals V(15); LCC, 5.163.

76. Zuo Zhuan for the same year (Legge, 164). In his note on page 167 (para. 5), Legge remarks that “there was no eclipse in all this year visible in Lu. There was, indeed, an eclipse of the sun on January 28th, B.C. 644; but it could not have been seen there.”

77. Mencius IVB.26(3); LCC, 2.332.

78. There are five references to the burial of Duke Hui 惠公 in the Spring and Autumn Annals, as follows: I.1(4), LCC, 5.1; VII.10(10), LCC, 5.306; XI.4(6), LCC, 5.749; XII.4(3), LCC, 5.803; XII.10(10), LCC, 5.820.

79. The references here are to the Spring and Autumn Annals, as follows: III.26(3), LCC, 5.110; VIII.15(9), LCC, 5.386; VI.8(8), LCC, 5.250.

80. The references here are to the Spring and Autumn Annals, as follows: IX.7(10), LCC, 5.429; X.19(11), LCC, 5.568; XII.10(3), LCC, 5.819.

81. The final words of the Spring and Autumn Annals are “In the spring of the 14th year some hunters in the west captured a lin” (XII.14[1]; LCC, 5.833). Zuo Shi continued on from there to year twenty-eight of Duke Ai as well as the fourth year of Duke Tao—see also Legge’s note on page 834.

82. Lunyu II.18(2); LCC, 1.151.

83. See Legge’s note on the Lunyu (LCC, 1.151). Zizhang, one of the Confucian disciples, was studying “with a view to official emolument.”

84. Zuo Zhuan IX, 24; LCC, 5.505.

85. Duke Hui was the father and predecessor of Duke Yin 隱公. See the Spring and Autumn Annals I, 1(4); LCC, 5.1, and also Legge’s note on page 3.

86. Spring and Autumn Annals I.1(4); LCC, 5.1, and Legge’s note on pages 6–7.

87. Spring and Autumn Annals I.3(2); LCC, 5.10. Legge has the following: “In the third month, on the day keng-hsu, the king by heaven’s grace died. In the Tso Chuan however it is stated that the King P’ing actually died on the day jen-hsu i.e.12 days earlier but that the official communication gave the wrong date, which was therefore recorded.”

88. Spring and Autumn Annals II.5(1); LCC, 5.45, and the Zuo Zhuan for the same date.

89. For these concepts of medicine, reference is made to the treatise Bencao Gangmu 本草綱目 by the renowned Ming pharmacologist and physician Li Shizhen 李時珍 (1518–1593).

90. Zhou Li 5, “Shi yi,” SSJZS, 3.72.

91. Chunyu Yi 淳于意 was a native of Linzi in Han times and a student of medicine—see Shiji 105, 9.2817.

92. Changes, SSJZS, 1(Zhou Yi).58, and Wilhelm, I Ching, 77.

93. Zhang Ziwen 張子文 (Zhang Qian—d. 5 B.C.E.) served under Emperor Wu Di of the Former Han—see Han Shu 81, 10.3349–52.

94. Li Linfu 李林甫 (d. 752) was a major statesman during the reign of Xuan Zong of the Tang—see CHC, 3(i).409–47.

95. Xu Yunzong 許允宗 was a native of Yixing in Tang times and was skilled in medicine.

96. The quotation is a combination from the Old Tang History and New Tang History but predominantly the former—see Jiu Tang Shu 191, 16.5091, and Xin Tang Shu 204, 18.5800.

97. Hua Tuo 華陀 was a famous physician and surgeon of the Later Han period who attended Cao Cao—see Hou Han Shu 82, 10.2736.

98. See the Changes for the seventh diagram (shi), SSJZS, 1(Zhou Yi).35–36, and Wilhelm, I Ching, 31–35, 420–25.

99. Documents 47, “Establishing Government”; LCC, 3.513.

100. Odes, Mao 250, “Duke Lin,” verse 4; LCC, 4.487.

101. The Daxue (texts 2 and 4); LCC, 1.356–58. See also Legge’s note to paragraph 2, page 356, and Laozi 44.

102. The Daxue (commentary), III(2); LCC, 1.362, and Odes, Mao 235; LCC, 4.427: “[How] profound was King Wen. In continuity and brightness did his reverence rest” (trans. after Legge, 429).

103. Zhongyong, XXVII(3); LCC, 1.422.

104. Odes, Mao 260; LCC, 4.541.

105. Mencius IVB.19(2); LCC, 2.325.

106. Documents, LCC, 3.320. This was with regard to how the government of the empire should be conducted. He was informed of the “Great Plan” with nine divisions that Yu received from Heaven. See Legge, Documents, note to chapter 1, LCC, 3.321–22.

107. Ji Zi 箕子 was one of the nobles under Zhou Xin, the last emperor of the Yin dynasty, and putative author of the Great Plan; Documents V, IV; LCC, 3.320. See Legge’s note on page 320 and Shiji 3, 1.91ff.

108. Zengzi 曾子 is Zeng San 曾參, and Zi You 子游 is Yan Yan 言偃. Both were among Confucius’s leading disciples. For their dialogues with the Master, see, e.g., Lunyu I.4; LCC, 1.139, and II.7; LCC, 1.148.

109. Mencius VIIA.4; LCC, 2.450.

110. Changes (jia ren 家人), SSJZS, 1.89.

111. Li Ji, “Ai Gong Wen,” SSJZS, 5.851.

112. Lunyu XVII.9(7); LCC, 1.323.

113. Mencius VIIA.46(1); LCC, 2.476.

114. Lunyu XII.13; LCC, 1.257, and the Daxue (commentary) 4; LCC, 1.364.

115. A very similar idea is expressed in Zhongyong, XV; LCC, 1.396. This is immediately followed by observations on ghosts and spirits.

116. See also Zhongyong, XIX; LCC, 1.404.

117. Xiao Jing 18, “Sang Qin,” SSJZS, 8(Xiao Jing).55–56.

118. For this phrase, see Zhongyong, XIII.4; LCC, 1.394.

119. Mencius IVA.2(1); LCC, 2.292.

120. Zhongyong, XII.4; LCC, 1.393.

121. Li Ji 47, “Jiyi,” SSJZS, 5.807.

122. Xiao Jing 18, “Sang Qin,” SSJZS, 8(Xiao Jing).55–56.

123. Zhongyong, XVI.3; LCC, 1.397–98.

124. Li Ji 20, “Wen Wang Shizi,” SSJZS, 5.391.

125. Li Ji 47, “Jiyi,” SSJZS, 5.808–9; translation (in part) after James Legge, Li Chi: Book of Rites (New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1967), 2:212–13. The quote from the Odes is from Mao 196; LCC, 4.333.

126. Li Ji 47, “Jiyi,” SSJZS, 5.807–18.

127. Lunyu XI.11; LCC, 1.240—see in particular Legge’s note on pages 240–41.

128. These comments by Cheng Zi and Zhang Zai are to be found in reference to Zhongyong, XVI.1; LCC, 1.397: “The Master said, How abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that belong to them.” The comments of the two Song neo-Confucians are given in Zhu Xi’s Zhongyong Zhangju (Zhongyong, 11).

129. Changes, “Shuo Gua,” SSJZS (Zhou Yi), 1.184.

130. Changes (qian), SSJZS, 1.17.

131. Lunyu VII.24; LCC, 1.202. Legge, in his note on pages 202–3, quotes the definitions of these terms in the Sishu Beizhi as follows: wen 文—“letters”; xing 行—“what is daily used in the relations of sages”; zhong 忠—“not a single thought not exhausted”; xin 信—“not a single thought without its reality.” Zhu Xi, in his Sishi Jizhu, quotes Cheng Zi on this matter.

132. Lunyu V.12; LCC, 1.178. Zhu Xi remarks that “when it comes to nature and the way of Heaven, this was something that the Master seldom spoke of and his students could not hear” (Sishu Jizhu, 28).

133. Lunyu VII.23; LCC, 1.202.

134. Lunyu V.12; LCC, 1.177.

135. Lunyu XVII.19 (2 and 3); LCC, 1.326.

136. Mencius IIA.2(22); LCC, 2.194.

137. See Lunyu X.1; LCC, 1.227. “The Master in his village was simple and unassuming as if he were not able to speak. In the ancestral temple or the court he was cautious and precise, but his words were exhaustive. When at court and speaking to the officers of a lower rank, he was direct and to the point. While with the officers of a higher rank he was reserved and formal.”

138. Mencius VIIB.33(2); LCC, 2.495.

139. Mencius VIIB.33(1): “Mencius said, Yao and Shun were what they were by nature. Tang and Wu returned to this.”

140. Lunyu XIV.16; LCC, 1.281. Zhu Xi, in his note (Sishu Jizhu, 97) states, “The two dukes…gave an oath to punish the barbarians as a means of venerating the Zhou house.”

141. Mencius IIIB.9(11); LCC, 2.283: “Confucius completed the Spring and Autumn Annals, and rebellious ministers and villainous sons were struck with terror.”

142. For details of Hu Anguo’s commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, see SB, 39–40.

143. Lunyu XVII.19(2); LCC, 1.376.

144. A commentary on the Yi Jing attributed to either King Wen or Confucius.

145. The references to the Changes in the SBCK are as follows: 1(Yi Jing).45; 1(Yi Jing).49; 1(Yi Jing).49; 1(Yi Jing).51.

146. Changes, “Xici,” SBCK 1(Yi Jing).52, and Wilhelm, I Ching, 349.

147. The three references to the Lunyu are as follows: XIII.19, LCC, 1.271; XII.2(2), LCC, 1.251; XII.1(1), LCC, 1.250.

148. Two of Confucius’s leading disciples (two of the “Four Associates of the Master”). Yan Hui (Ziyuan, 514–483 B.C.E.) is said to have been the favorite disciple (see, e.g., Lunyu XII; LCC, 1.250). Zeng San (Ziyou, 505–437 B.C.E.) was esteemed especially for his filial piety and is said to have been involved in the composition of the Highest Learning and the Classic of Filial Piety (see, e.g., Lunyu I.4; LCC, 1.139, and note thereto, as well as Lunyu XIX.16–18; LCC, 1.344–45).

149. The three quotes from Zhu Xi are as follows: Hui’an Ji 38 (“Reply to Lin Qianzhi”); Yulei 19; Hui’an Ji 35 (“Reply to Liu Zideng”).

150. The references to the Lunyu are as follows: V.12, LCC, 1.177; I.1(1), LCC, 1.137; IV.15(31), LCC, 1.169; XV.2(3), LCC, 1.295.

151. The references to the Mencius are as follows: IA.1(3–6), LCC, 2.126–27; IA.3(11), LCC, 2.129.

152. The terms here are used for two schools of thought. Lian refers to Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤, the Song neo-Confucian, and Luo to Luoyang, indicating the Cheng brothers.

153. A work by the Song scholar Huang Zhen 黃震. The full title is Cixi Huangshi Richao 慈溪黃氏日鈔—see SB, 232; for this statement, see Huangshi Richao 28.

154. The initial four branches of study were morality (dexing 德行), speaking (yanyu 言語), administration (zhengshi 政事), and literature (wenxue 文學)—see Lunyu XI.2(2); LCC, 1.237.

155. Five non-Han barbarian tribes from the north of China that caused considerable trouble during the Jin period. There is a textual discrepancy here. The Huang Rucheng edition has Liu [and] Shi, referring to Liu Yuan 劉淵 (d. 310), a Turkic chieftain, and Shi Le 石勒 (273–332), also of Turkic descent; both were involved in active rebellion at the end of the Han period. I have followed the Yuanchaoben edition. “Pure talk” (qing tan 清談) is described in HCP as “the art of conversing about philosophy and abstract topics only, and avoiding all mundane matters. This type of conversation was very popular among the neo-Taoists of the period” (2.206n1).

156. See note 150 and Lunyu XVII.19(1 and 2); LCC, 1.326.

157. Wang Yan 王衍 (256–311) was a scholar of the Jin dynasty and cousin of Wang Rong. He was renowned as a talker, particularly on Daoism, and during conversation was said to have waved a yak’s tail set in jade. Subsequently, as a military leader under the Prince of Chengdu, he was defeated and put to death by Shi Le. For the basis of the comparison, see Jin Shu 43, 4.1236. Zigong 子貢 was Duanmu Zi, one of the foremost of Confucius’s disciples. According to Legge (Lunyu I.10[2], note on page 142), he was conspicuous “for his readiness and smartness in reply, and displayed on several occasions practical and political ability” Shi Le was a successful military commander who seized the throne in 318 on the death of Liu Zong.

158. Jin Shu 43, 4.1238.

159. There is an original note as follows: Huang Shi, in his Richao, “Du Wang Zhi,” says, “In a society based on agriculture, all salaries, of necessity, come from agriculture, and in the case of those above the highest agricultural, this is without plowing” (Huangshi Richao 16).

160. Mencius VIA.11(4); LCC, 2.414.

161. Lunyu XV.30; LCC, 1.302.

162. Mencius IVB.28(1); LCC, 2.333.

163. Mencius VIA.9(3); LCC, 2.410.

164. Du You 杜佑 (735–812) was a noted scholar of the Tang period whose work (Tong Dian 通典) referred to here was a substantial treatise, published ca. 800, in eight sections on administrative and political matters—see CHC, 3(i).605, and ICCL, 528. The person whose memorial is mentioned is He Xun 賀循 (d. 310), a scholar and statesman who served in various roles under the first Jin emperor. The memorial quoted here does not appear in his biography in Jin Shu 6.1824.

165. Tong Dian 53.

166. Xun Song 荀崧 was a scholar of the Eastern Jin period. His biography appears in Jin Shu 75, 7.1975ff. The memorial here incompletely quoted can be found on pages 1977–78.

167. Wang Dun 王敦 (d. 324) was responsible for large-scale military activity during the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Eastern Jin; for details, see Jin Shu 98, 8.2553–65, and Song Shu 14.

168. The following statement by Li Yuancui 李元璀, titled “Qingjin Gongjuren Xizhouli Dengjingshu” 清今貢舉人習周禮等經疏, can be found in Quan Tang Wen 304, 4.3095.

169. For details of this examination, see Gu’s essay RZL 16.l.

170. Yang Yang 禓瑒 was a Tang official. Biographical details are given in Jiu Tang Shu 185, 15.4819, and Xin Tang Shu 130, 14.4494. The substance of the memorial and the response to it can be found in Jiu Tang Shu 15.4820.

171. Song Shi 155, 11.3618.

172. Zhu Wengong Wenji 14, 1.150.

173. Ibid., 76, 2.1336. Here this is quoted incompletely and somewhat inaccurately. Xie Chuozhong 謝綽中 is Xie Yu 謝譽 (1098–1143)—Songren Zhuanzhi Ziliao Suolin, 4113.

1. Han Shu 3, 19.742.

3. Guan Zhong 管仲 (d. 645 B.C.E.) became minister of state under Duke Huan of Qi and is the putative author of the Guanzi. Wei Ao 蒍敖 was a Chu statesman from the Spring and Autumn period—see Zuo Zhuan, twelfth year of Duke Huan. Zi Chan 子產 was a Zheng ruler from the same period—see Lunyu V.15; LCC, 1.178.

4. Zhou Li, SSJZS, 3.182ff. A summary of Charles Hucker’s (A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China [Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985]) entries on each of the titles follows:

5. The memorial is recorded in Wei Shu 110, 8.2855.

6. See Wei Shu 33, 4.1179ff., for biographical details.

7. See ibid., 79 (xia), 53 and 110; Bei Shi 100.

8. Su Chuo 蘇綽 (498–546) prepared his “Six Articles” in 544 at Yuwen Tai’s 宇文泰 behest. It has been described by Arthur Wright as “a kind of epitome of statecraft and administration.” See CHC, 3(i).70, and Zhou Shu 22, 2.382.

9. Zhou Shu 23, 2.388.

10. See, in the present work, Liu Zongyuan’s “On the Feudal System,” appendix 4.

11. Hou Han Shu 48, 6.1618.

12. Han Shu 89, 11.3637.

13. Ming Shilu (Tai Zu Shilu 232), 8.3396.

14. Quan Tang Shi 149, 5.1541.

15. Ming Shilu (Xuan Zong Shilu 4).

16. Han Shu 1, 1.34; see also Burton Watson, trans., Records of the Grand Historian of China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), 1:96.

17. Han Shu 63, 9.2744, and 2745n2.

18. Heir apparent to Han Wu Di.

19. Li An 李安—for biographical details, see Ming Shi 145, 13.4090.

20. See Ming Shilu 78, 20.1818. I can find no other information on Zhang Zheng 張政.

21. Ming Shi 132, 13.3861–62.

22. Lunyu VI.1; LCC, 1.184.

23. Documents V, XIX, 13 and 14; LCC, 3.517.

24. Shiji 6, 1.258. See also 259n4.

25. Shiji 122, 10.3131.

26. From “Shugu” (poem 2), by Du Fu. See Dushi Yinzhi, juan 21, p. 1818.

27. From “Xiehuai” (poem 2), by Du Fu. See Dushi Xiangzhi, vol. 4, juan 8.

28. Han Shu 4, 1.124.

29. Zhuge Liang 諸葛亮 (181–234). While leading a simple life of withdrawal from public affairs, his assistance was twice sought by Liu Bei 劉備, whom he had helped to take the throne of Shu and whose fortunes prospered under the guidance of his revered minister.

30. Cao Cao 曹操 (155–220) ruled in Wei during the time of Zhuge Liang’s prominence in Shu and Sun Quan’s 孫權 (181–252) rule in Wu.

31. Shu Xiang 叔向 was Yang Shexi 羊舌肸 of Qin in the Spring and Autumn period. Zi Chan was Gongsun Qiao 公孫僑 of Zheng 鄭 (581–521 B.C.E.). For the exchange referred to, see Zuo Zhuan X, 6; LCC, 5.607.

32. Du Yuankai 杜元凱 (Du Yu 杜預, 222–284) was a noted commentator on the Zuo Zhuan. His comments here are with reference to the twelfth year of Duke Xuan. See Zuo Zhuan, SSJZS, 6.329.

33. Han Shu 56, 8.2518.

34. Ye Shi 葉適 (1150–1223) was a noted scholar of the Song period who defended Zhu Xi on his impeachment by Lin Piao 林票. See also SB, 426–27. For biographical details, see Song Shi 434, 37.13889–94. The first quote is from his “Shilun” (2), and the second and third quotes are from his “Shimou.” For both these essays, see Shuixin Xiansheng Wenji 4, SBCK.

35. Chen Liang 陳亮 (1143–1194) was a noted Song scholar and contemporary of Ye Shi. His collected works, Longchuan Wenji, can be found in the SBBY. See also SB, 426, and, for biographical details, Song Shi 436, 37.12929–43. For the memorial here quoted (Shang Xiao Zong Huang Di Sanhu), see Chen Liang Ji (shang), juan 1, p. 13.

36. Ming Shilu 85, 4.1510–11.

37. Ye Shi: this idea is expressed in “Zouyi Jigang” 2 of his Shuixin Xiansheng Wenji, SBCK 59.59–60. The quote is not exact.

38. Chen Tang 陳湯 was a Han official noted for his love of literature from an early age—see Han Shu 70, 9.3007ff.

39. Mei Cheng 枚乘 (d. 140 B.C.E.) was a Former Han scholar. His writings can be found in QSGW 20, vol. 1 (Han). See also Han Shu 51, 8.2359ff. Sima Xiangru 司馬相如 (d. 117 B.C.E.) was a noted poet and scholar-official of the Former Han period—see Han Shu 57, 8.2529ff.

40. For Guan Zhong, see note 3. Sun Wu 孫吳 (sixth century B.C.E.) was from Qi; he was the author of a treatise on warfare, The Art of War (Bingfa 兵法).

41. See Zuo Zhuan XII(15); LCC, 5.842.

42. Mozi 9.5; Ian Johnston, The Mozi: A Complete Translation (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010), 68–69.

43. See Lü Shi Chunqiu, John Knoblock and Jeffrey Riegel, The Annals of Lü Buwei: A Complete Translation and Study (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2000), 13/6 (“Wuben”), 296.

44. Liu Fen 劉蕡 was a Tang scholar—see Jiu Tang Shu 190 (xia) and Xin Tang Shu 178, 17.5303.

45. Yang Pu 楊溥 (1372–1446) was a renowned statesman and scholar who was recalled to the court after a somewhat checkered early career and became a major adviser to Ren Zong—see DMB, 2.1525–28, and CHC, 7(i).277–84.

46. Ming Shilu (Xuan Zong Shilu) 69, 19.1623. The quote from Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 is to be found in Han Shu 56, 8.2512.

47. See Zhou Li, SSJZS, 3.160.

48. Huiyao 83, “Zushui Shang,” and Jiu Tang Shu 9, 1.218.

49. A form of taxation introduced during the economically difficult period after the An Lushan Rebellion in the Tang era—see Xin Tang Shu 51, 5.1348, and D. C. Twitchett, Financial Administration under the T’ang Dynasty (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970), 20ff.

50. Lu Zhi 陸贄 (754–805) was a Tang scholar and official who became a close adviser to De Zong. For a detailed account of his life and views, together with reference to his original writings, see D. C. Twitchett, “Lu Chih (754–805): Imperial Advisor and Court Official,” in Confucian Personalities, ed. Arthur F. Wright and Denis Twitchett, 84–122 (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1962).

51. Lu Xuangong Zouyi 6.

52. Jiu Tang Shu 49; Huiyao 83.

53. Quan Tang Shi 343, 10.3850.

54. An encyclopedic work compiled by Ma Duanlin 馬端臨 completed around 1308—see SB, 74–75.

55. On the Three Offices (san si 三司), see Hucker, Dictionary of Official Titles, pp. 401–2, no. 4912).

56. This is, in part, referred to in Jiu Wu Dai Shi 146, 6.1947.

57. Odes, Mao 113; LCC, 4.172.

58. Xie Junzhi 謝君直 (Xie Fangde 謝枋得, 1226–1289). For biographical details, see Song Shi 425, 36.12687–89. I have been unable to find the quote given here.

59. Odes, Mao 113; LCC, 4.172.

60. Yu Qian 虞謙 was a Ming official; for biographical details, see Ming Shi 150, 24.4167ff.

61. Han Shu 5, 1.148. During Xiao Jing’s reign the method of numbering the years underwent a transition (see CHC, 1.687). For details of the changes in the monetary system at this time and the penalties attendant upon debasing or counterfeiting, see CHC, 1.585–90.

62. Shiji 30, 4.1439. See also Watson, Records, 2:101–2. For Ru Chun’s note, see Shiji 4.1440.

63. Song Shi 2, 1.33.

64. Jiu Tang Shu 17(i), 2.531–32.

65. On these two offices, Hucker has, for the first, shuiheng duwei, “from 115 B.C. a major official of the central government…in general supervisory control of the Imperial Forest Park and many revenue-producing and manufacturing activities associated with it; his subordinate directors (ling) controlled such disparate things as coinage, granaries, stables, and steel manufacturing” (Dictionary of Official Titles, p. 438, no. 5497). For the second, zhijin, he has “responsible for administering laws relating to precious metals and for handling fines levied in gold or other precious objects” (ibid., p. 157, no. 962).

66. Mencius VIIB.12(3); LCC, 2.483.

67. Taizu Shilu 131.

68. Xin Tang Shu 100.

69. Taizu Shilu 145.

70. Xin Tang Shu 134, 15.4557–68 (particularly 4567). The subjects are Yuwen Rong 宇文融, Wei Jian 韋堅, Yang Shenqin 楊慎矜, Wang Hong 王鋐, and Yang Guozhong 楊國忠. The quote from Mencius is from IA.1(4); LCC, 2.126. Consideration of the schemes of Yuwen Rong and the others can be found in CHC, 3(i).382ff and 420ff.

71. Guoyu, “Zhouyu” (shang), SBCK 14(Guoyu).5.

72. Mencius IA.1(4); LCC, 2.126.

1. The final sentence in the Spring and Autumn Annals, XII(14), i.e., the fourteenth year of Duke Ai of Lu. For consideration of the lin, see LCC, 5.834.

2. Zuo Zhuan XII(27). Regarding Duke Ai, the Shiji states, “The people of the kingdom welcomed his return, and he died in [the house of] You Shan Shi” (33, 5.1545). According to the note, Duke Ai reigned from 497 to 471 B.C.E., although this does not tally with the chronology given in the Ci Hai. You Shan Shi 有山氏 was an official in Lu.

3. Also known by the posthumous titles Wen Hou 文侯, Lie Hou 烈侯, and Jing Hou 景侯.

4. Tian He 田和 was a descendant of the ruling house of Qi—see Legge’s note in the Zuo Zhuan XII(14); LCC, 5.840.

5. Su Qin 蘇秦 was a native of Luoyang whose initial attempts to gain official employment in Qin were unsuccessful. He later conceived the idea of federating the six states in an alliance against the rapidly growing power of Qin in the west. He achieved great power but after the breakdown of the alliance was disgraced and later assassinated.

6. There is an original note referring to a passage in Shiji 5 (1.203) on these events.

7. King Wen of Zhou, named Chang 昌, and his son King Wu, named Fa 發, who overthrew the Shang to assume control of the empire.

8. See QSGW 39, 1.11, and Han Shu 22.

9. Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 was a renowned Confucian scholar of the Former Han period—see HCP, 2.32–46.

10. The first three emperors of the Later Han, ruling from 25 to 57, 58 to 75, and 76 to 88, respectively. See also Lunyu VI.22; LCC, 1.192.

11. For the opening two paragraphs, see Qinshi Huang’s biography in Shiji 6, 1.233ff. The three quotations can be found on pages 243, 252, and 262, respectively.

12. Gou Jian 勾踐 was a prince of the Yue state. For biographical details, see Shiji 41. He came to the throne of Yue in 496 B.C.E. and was involved in a long-running struggle with the state of Wu, and in particular Fu Chai, who came to the Wu throne in 495 B.C.E.

13. Guoyu, “Yueyu” (shang), SBCK 14(Guoyu).146. This also appears in Wu Yue Chunqiu 10, SBCK 15.68.

14. Zixu 子胥 (Wu Yuan 俉員) was a native of Chu who served Prince Liao of Wu and was involved in the war with Yue. See Taiping Yulan 47 and Shiji 66, 7.2171ff.

15. Wang Mang 王莽 (33 B.C.E.–23 C.E.) was a nephew of the consort of the Emperor Yuan. During the declining years of the Former Han dynasty he gained increasing political power, finally assuming the regency in 9 c.e., after the death of Emperor Ping. In his endeavors he was greatly encouraged by sycophants and flatterers.

16. In the later part of the Eastern Han, particularly under the reign of Huan Di (147–167), the power of the eunuchs greatly increased. This trend was somewhat restrained by the actions of upright officials such as Li Ying 李膺, but fortunes were later reversed and the faction was proscribed—see Hou Han Shu 67, 8.2183.

17. Odes, Mao 90; LCC, 4.143. See also Legge’s note on page 143 on the different views as to the significance of this verse. Gu Yanwu obviously subscribes to the view that it represents “a longing for superior men to arise and settle the disturbed state of Ch’ing [i.e., Cheng], men who would do their duties as the cocks in the darkest and stormiest night.”

18. Fan Ye 范嘩 (398–446) was a Song (north-south division) scholar and author of the Hou Han Shu—see 79, 9.2589.

19. Hou Han Shu 61, 7.2043.

20. Mengde 孟德 (Cao Cao 曹操, 155–220). Jizhou 冀州 was one of the nine divisions of ancient China, but from Han times on it was the name of a region—see Han Shu 28, 6.1541, and the map of the Han empire at 140 in CHC, 1.252–53 (map 12).

21. Dong Zhao 董昭 was a Wei official who served under the second Wei emperor (Ming Di). This quote is part of a memorial sent up in the fourth year of the Taihe reign period (230)—see Sanguo Zhi 14, 2.436–42 for Dong Zhao’s biography and page 442 for the memorial.

22. The first three emperors of the Later Han: Guang Wu Di (25–57), Ming Di (58–75), and Zhang Di (76–88).

23. Deng Yu 鄧禹 (1–58) was an official and general of the early part of the Later Han period who served Emperor Guang Wu. For his biography, which includes the subsequent sentence, see Hou Han Shu 16, 3.599–607.

24. Fan Zhong 樊重 was the maternal grandfather of Guang Wu Di and father of Fan Hong 樊宏—see Hou Han Shu 62, 4.1119ff, and CHC, 1.573 and 624.

25. Cai Yong 蔡邕 (133–192) was an important scholar of the Later Han period and one of those primarily concerned with the preparation of the Han Stone Classics. According to B. J. Mansvelt Beck, he was one of the “great scholars” who were “intimidated into joining his [i.e., Dong Zhuo’s] government” (CHC, 1.346). See Hou Han Shu 60, 7.1979ff. In relation to the episode described, Herbert Giles writes, “He had just been ennobled as Marquis when Tung Cho himself fell, and for words of regret which he thoughtlessly uttered he was once more thrown into prison where he died in spite of great efforts to obtain his release” (A Chinese Biographical Dictionary [London: Quaritch, 1898], 754).

26. Dong Zhuo 董卓was a general of the Later Han period who briefly gained what was in effect supreme power during the reigns of Shao Di and Xian Di from 189, when he entered the capital, to his death in 192. He coerced Cai Yong among others into serving him (see n. 25)—see Hou Han Shu 72, 8.2319ff, and CHC, 1.341–50.

27. Bojie 伯喈: Cai Yong 蔡邕—see note 25.

28. Wei Ming Di ruled from 227 to 239 (see Sanguo Zhi 3). On his death, Shao Di assumed the throne (see Sanguo Zhi 4). He ruled from 240 to 253. The Zhengshi reign period extended from 240 to 248. Sima Yi 司馬懿, who initially served under Cao Cao, was subsequently in command of the army under three successive emperors. Cao Shuang 曹爽, a close associate of Ming Di’s, later gave himself over to a life of debauchery and was put to death in 249 for conspiracy. See Sanguo Zhi 4, 1.123.

29. Jin Shu 36, 4.1067. Wang Dun 王敦 (d. 324) was a son-in-law of Jin Wu Di’s and rose to high office under Yuan Di. Wei Jie 衛玠, renowned for his beauty, was the son of Wei Huan, a high official under Jin Hui Di.

30. For biographical details of Zhi Dun 支遁 and some account of his writings, see HCP, 2.249–52.

31. Song Shu 54, 5.1536. Tai Zu was the Song emperor Wen Di, who reigned from 424 to 453. Yang Xuanbao 羊玄保 was a high official of that period. “The bamboo grove” refers to the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove.

32. This indicates the Daoist concept of dwelling in quiescence and nonactivity. See Song Shu 62, 6.1669.

33. Nan Qi Shu 33, 2.600.

34. Nan Shi 30, 3.782.

35. Jin Shu 91, 8.2346.

36. Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (127–200) was a pupil of Ma Rong’s and one of the most celebrated commentators on the classics. Wang Su 王肅 (d. 256) was another noted Confucian scholar and commentator on the classics. He was also the editor or putative author of the Kongzi Jiayu.

37. Wang Bi 王弼 (226–245) was a scholar noted for his commentaries on the Changes and the Daodejing. He Yan 何晏 was a scholar noted particularly for his work on the Changes. He was also known as a keen student of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zhou and, with Xiahou Xuan 夏侯玄 and others of the Wei period, indulged in “pure talk.”

38. Mencius IIIB.9; LCC, 2.283.

39. Mencius IIIB.9; LCC, 2.282.

40. Ji Shao 稽紹 (253–304) rose to be imperial librarian under Emperor Wu Di of the Jin dynasty. He fell in battle bravely defending Emperor Hui Di, whose robes were spattered with Shao’s blood. It is said that the emperor refused to allow the blood to be washed off the garments. See Jin Shu 89, 8.2298–2301. Ji Kang 稽康 (223–262) was one of the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove, described by Fung Yu-lan as “a group of Taoistically minded men who used to meet in a bamboo grove for convivial and often bibulous conversation” (HCP, 2.205n2). He was denounced to Emperor Wen Di and condemned to death.

41. Shan Tao 山濤 (205–283) was an official who rose to high office under Wu Di of Jin (i.e., Sima Yan). He was one of the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove—see Jin Shu 43, 4.1223–28 and Shishuo Xinyu III.8.

42. Dangyin 蕩陰 was situated in what is now Henan province and was the place of Ji Shao’s death defending Emperor Hui.

43. Wang Pou 王裒 of the Jin period was one of the twenty-four examples of filial piety. He, like Ji Shao, had a father put to death, but unlike Shao, he thenceforth lived in retirement and refused to serve the Jin house—see Jin Shu 88, 7.2279–80.

44. Liu Cong 劉聰 and Shi Le 石勒 combined on behalf of Liu Yuan 劉淵, who, in 308, had proclaimed himself the first emperor of the new Han dynasty and attacked the imperial armies, gaining control over a large area of land. Subsequently both men sought, and relatively briefly attained, great power.

45. See Li Ji, “Wang Zhi,” SSJZS, 5.256; James Legge, Li Chi: Book of Rites (New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1967), 1:232; Documents, “Bi Ming,” V.XXIV.7; LCC, 3.574.

47. Song Shu 3, 1.52.

48. There is an original note here stating that proclamations from Qi, Liang, and Chen all say xi chu first in the notes. At that time xiang lun and qing yi were items recorded in the notes.

49. Jin Shu 82, 7.2137–38, Shishuo Xinyu; Liu I-ch’ing [Liu Yiqing], comp., Shih-shuo Hsin-yü: A New Account of the World, trans. Richard B. Mather, 2nd ed. (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 2002), 538.

50. See Shishuo Xinyu, 33; Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin-yü, 511.

51. Shishuo Xinyu 23, SBCK 24(Shishuo Xinyu).118–19.

52. Song Shu 53, 5.1524, Nan Shi 19, 2.537.

53. Liang Shu 33, 2.474–79, Nan Shi 31.

54. See Liang Shu 33 and Nan Shi 31.

55. The description of this pavilion in the Zhongwen Da Cidian is taken from the Rizhi Lu.

56. Taizu Shilu 147.

58. Shiji 129, 10.3271. See also Burton Watson, trans., Records of the Grand Historian of China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), 2:491–92.

59. Yiwen Leiju 21; Quan Jin Wen 86.

60. Nan Shi 74, 6.1851.

61. Li Ling 李陵 was a grandson of the renowned general of the Former Han period Li Kuang 李廣, the family being from Chengji in Longxi province. The chronicle of the family is given in both Shiji 109 and Han Shu 54. For Li Ling’s surrender to the Xiongnu, see Shiji 109, 9.2877–78. Burton Watson has a translation in Records, 2:153–54—see in particular 154n4 for the relationship of Li Ling’s surrender to Sima Qian’s castration. For Duan Ganmu 段干木, see Shiji 44, 6.1839 and the note on the same page for details.

62. This statement is from Mencius VIIA.26: “The philosopher Mo loves all equally. If by rubbing smooth his whole body from the crown to the heel he could have benefited the kingdom, he would have done so” (trans. after Legge).

63. Huang Xian 黃憲 was a man of the later Han period known for his virtue. His style was Shudu 叔度—see Hou Han Shu 53. Qin Jia 秦嘉 was a man of the Later Han period from Longxi who retired because of the illness of his wife, Xu Shu 徐淑.

64. The quote is from the memorial by Xie Qianguang 薛謙光, a Tang official. His biography is found in Jiu Tang Shu 101, 10.3136–41. The memorial is on pages 3137–39.

65. Fan Wenzheng 范文正 is Fan Zhongyan 范仲淹 (989–1052), a renowned scholar and administrator of the Song period—see Song Shi 314, 29.10267–76. Yan Yuanxian 晏元獻 is Yan Shu 晏殊 (984–1046), a poet and official of the Song period—see Song Shi 311, 29.10195–98. Yao and Shun were the last emperors of the legendary period and renowned for their good works. Jie is Jie Gui 桀癸 (d. 1763 B.C.E.). He was the last emperor of the Xia dynasty. Zhou is Zhou Xin 紂辛 (d. 1122 B.C.E.). He was the last emperor of the Yin dynasty. Both are renowned for their cruelty, lust, and extravagance, which brought their respective dynasties to an end. For the Eight Good Ones and the Four Wicked Ones, see Zuo Zhuan VI.18; LCC, 5.280, and Legge’s translation on pages 282–83. They were, in brief, descendants of early emperors who manifested good and bad characteristics, respectively.

66. Gongsun Hong 公孫弘 (d. 121 B.C.E.) “is remembered in the annals of Chinese history as the classic case of a man who rose from the humblest circumstances of a keeper of pigs to the office of chancellor, highest in the land, which he held from 124–118 BC” (CHC, 1.109—see also pages 769–70, and Han shu 58, 8.2613–24). For the reference to his being recommended for office for the second time, see Shiji 112, 9.2949. Sunshu Ao 孫叔敖 was a man of Chu who, according to Giles, “thrice became prime minister without feeling joy and thrice suffered dismissal without feeling resentment” (Chinese Biographical Dictionary, 694). See also Zuo Zhuan VII.12; LCC, 5.311ff, and Shiji 119, 10.3099. For reference to the matter alluded to here, see Shiji 126, 10.3201.

67. The two place-names, Fufeng 扶風 and Zhuojun 涿郡, represent two Han officials, Yin Wenggui 尹翁歸 and Han Fu 韓福, respectively. See Han Shu 76, 10.3206–10 and 72, 10.3083ff. Details of these allusions can be found on pages 3209 and 3083, respectively.

68. Han Shu 58, 9.2624.

69. These three men, Xu Mao 徐貌, Hu Zhi 胡質, and Tian Yu 田豫, were of the Wei period. For their biographies see Sanguo Zhi 27, 3.739–41, 741–43, and 26.726–29, respectively. The proclamation is referred to in part on page 729 and in detail on page 740, although the wording differs somewhat from that in Gu’s text.

70. Li Mi 李謐 was a scholar of the Northern Wei period so devoted to study that he eschewed all official appointments. For his biography, see Wei Shu 90, 6.1932–39. The proclamation quoted can be found on pages 1938–39. It is not clear who Hui 惠 and Kang 康 were. The former may refer to Hui Shi, a philosopher of the School of Names and a friend of Zhuang Zhou’s, while the latter may refer to Ji Kang, one of the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove. Xuanyan Xiansheng was the soubriquet of the Jin scholar Huangfu Mi (215–282), whose biography can be found in Jin Shu 51, 5.1409ff.

71. The Tang Liudian 唐六典 was a work compiled by Emperor Xuan Zong—see Liudian 14, “Taichang Boshi.”

72. These were Ming officials—see Ming Shi as follows: Qi Biaojia 祁彪佳 275, 23.7051–55; Gui Zimu 歸子慕 87, 24.7383.

73. See Xin Tang Shu 174, 17.5229. Niu Sengru 牛僧孺 was an important statesman of the Tang era. Detailed consideration of his significance can be found in CHC, 3(i).639ff.

74. Hu Ying (1375–1463) was a particularly long-serving Ming official whose family home was in Wujin—see Ming Shi 169, 15.4534–37, and DMB, 1.643.

75. Feng Dao 馮道 served as a high official under several of the Five Dynasties emperors—see Xin Wu Dai Shi 54, 2.612–15, and Jiu Wu Dai Shi 126, 5.1655–66.

76. Guanzi 1, SBCK 18(Guanzi).4.

77. Xin Wu Dai Shi 54, 2.611.

78. Lunyu XIII.20; LCC, 1.271.

79. Mencius VIIA.6; LCC, 2.451.

80. Mencius VIIA.7; LCC 2.451–52.

81. The sources of these three quotations are as follows: Lunyu IX.27, LCC, 1.225; Odes, Mao 90, LCC, 4.143; and Chu Ci 楚辭, “Yufu” (Qufu Xinbian 屈賦新編, 2.535).

82. Yan Zhitui 顏之推 was a scholar and official who served under several emperors of the north-south division and finally of the Sui period. See Bei Qi Shu 45, 2.617–26. The Xianbei 鮮卑 was a barbarian tribe from southeastern Mongolia. For the quote, see Yanshi Jiaxun, SBCK 22 (Yanshi Jiaxun), 4.

83. Odes, Mao 196; LCC, 4.333ff. In his notes to this poem, Legge writes, “Some officer in a time of disorder and misgovernment urges on his brothers the duty of maintaining their own virtue and of observing the greatest caution.”

84. Mencius VIIB.37(9); LCC, 2.500.

85. Luo Congyan 羅從彥 (Zhongsu 仲素, 1079–1135) was a prominent neo-Confucian thinker and follower of Yang Shi 楊時—see Song Shi 428, 36.12743–45. For the quote, see Yuzhang Wenji 豫章文集 17.

86. The Wuzi 吳子 was a work on the art of war in one chapter compiled by Wu Qi 吳起 in the Zhou period. For the quoted passage, see Wuzi, “Tuguo” 1, CSJC (new ser.) 32.

87. The Weiliaozi 尉繚子 was also a work on warfare, compiled by Wei Liao, probably of the Wei state in the period of the Warring States. The quote is from 1(4), “Zhanwei Pian,” CSJC (new ser.) 32.

88. This is a summary of Duke Tai’s statement that can be found in Liu Tao 六韜 3; see SBCK 18 (Liu Tao) 12.

89. Odes, Mao 7; LCC, 4.13ff.

90. Zhang Huan 張奐 was a general of the Later Han period. His biography is in Hou Han Shu 65, 8.2138–45. The reference is to page 2138—see also CHC, 1.428ff.

91. Liaodong 遼東 was established as a jun in Qin times corresponding to part of what is now Liaoning province.

92. Lianpo 廉頗 was a renowned general of the Zhao state in the Warring States period. He was said to have been overtly jealous of Lin Xiangru, a minister of that time who was ranked above him. He was, however, made to feel shame by Lin’s courteous and deferential attitude toward him. It is presumably this shame that is referred to here. See Dushi Yinde 1.74.

93. Wang Bi 王佖 was a Tang official. For this quotation, see Jiu Tang Shu 123, 11.3686.

94. The phrase ying shu yan shuo 郢書燕說 is a reference to Han Feizi 11, SBCK 18(Han Feizi).56. According to this story, Ying, while writing to Yan, called upon his attendant to raise the light higher. Unthinkingly, Ying incorporated the instruction in his writing. This was interpreted by Yan as a guide to conduct with beneficial effect.

95. Lü Dalin 呂大臨 (1044–1093) was a noted scholar of the Song period and a student of Cheng Yi’s. His biography can be found in Song Shi 340, 31.10848–49; this exchange with Fu Bi is quoted there. Fu Bi 富弼 was also a noted Song scholar who gained renown for his dealings with the Tartars. He was unable to reconcile himself with the doctrines of Wang Anshi and resigned on the grounds of old age in 1068.

96. According to Charles Hucker, san gong was “from antiquity a collective reference to dignitaries who were officially considered the three paramount aides to the ruler and held the highest possible ranks in officialdom” (A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China [Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985], p. 399, no. 4871).

97. Mencius VB.1(2); LCC, 2.370.

98. Doctrine of the Mean XXV.3; LCC, 1.418.

99. For this exchange, see Sima Guang’s Zizhi Tongjian for 718, summer, fourth month (Tongjian 212).

100. Mencius IIIA.4(13); LCC, 2. 254.

101. Huang Zhen 黃震 (1213–1280) was a scholar of the Southern Song and author of the Cixi Huangshi Richao 慈溪黃氏日鈔 (Huang Zhen’s diary), a work in ninety-seven chapters—see SB, 232–33.

102. There is a note here referring to Song Shi 105 (“Li Zhi”).

103. This can be seen in Lunyu II.18 and XII.6; LCC, 1.151 and 253, respectively. Legge comments first that “it would appear that inferior motives sometimes ruled” (151) and subsequently that “he was always seeking to be wise about things lofty and distant and therefore Confucius brings him back to things near at hand, which it was more necessary for him to attend to” (253).

104. Lu Xiangshan 陸象山 was the literary name of Lu Jiuyuan 陸九淵 (1139–1193), the Song philosopher described by Fung Yu-lan as “the real founder of the rival idealistic (xinxue 心學) school [of neo-Confucianism]” (HCP, 2.572)—see Fung (ibid.) for Lu’s response to You Ruo and subsequently (572–92) for a discussion of his thought.

105. Huangshi Richao 3, “Reading Mencius.”

106. In Lunyu 1, You Ruo is thrice referred to as You Zi (Philosopher You; 1.2, 1.12, and 1.13), while Zeng Can 曾參 is mentioned once in like manner (1.9). As Legge observes (LCC, 1.138, note to 1.2) (You) and Zeng Can are the only two of Confucius’s disciples who are mentioned in this style in the Lunyu.

107. Shiji 47, 6.1945.

108. Li Ji (“Tan Gong,” xia), SSJZS, 5.166.

109. A final note says, “Mencius did not say You Ruo was like Confucius; he said You Ruo was like a sage. The Shiji says that You Ruo looked like Confucius. This is an important mistake.”

110. Suo Lin 索綝 was a Jin scholar and official, the son of Suo Jing 索靖. His biography can be found in Jin Shu 60, 6.1650–52. Baling 霸陵 and Duling 杜陵 were established for Han emperors Wen Di and Xuan Di, respectively. Biographical details can be found in Han Shu, Dili Zhi. For some discussion of the practice of the Han emperors of filling their tombs with treasure, see CHC, 1.209–10. “The Red Eyebrows” was a peasant-based movement involved in the overthrow of the usurper Wang Mang and the restoration of the Han dynasty—for details see CHC, 1.243–54 The quotation is from Jin Shu 60, 1651.

111. Shiji 10, 2.433.

112. Liu Xiang 劉向 (80–9 B.C.E.), a descendant of the Han founder, Liu Bang, was a noted scholar of the Former Han period who held office under a succession of emperors—for the memorial, see Han Shu 36, 7.1950ff.

113. Han Shu 59, 9.2643.

114. Zuo Zhuan VIII.2; LCC, 5.341 (trans. after Legge).

115. For the phrase zhong bi 重閉 (doubly enclosing), see Zuo Zhuan VIII.8; LCC, 5.366, and the “Yueling” chapter of the Li Ji (SSJZS, 5.345).

116. Shiji 126, 10.3200, and note 2 on the same page.

117. The quotation is from the Lü Shi Chunqiu—see SBCK 22(Lü Shi Chunqiu).57–58, and John Knoblock and Jeffrey Riegel, The Annals of Lü Buwei: A Complete Translation and Study (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2000), 10/2.1–4, 227–30.

118. The quotation is from the Lü Shi Chunqiu—see SBCK 22(Lü Shi Chunqiu).58–59, and Knoblock and Riegel, Annals, 10/3.1–5, 230–33.

1. Details of the meaning and significance of these categories can be found in Xin Tang Shu 4.1159–81. Charles O. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985), has entries for the following terms: xiucai (cultivated talent—p. 248, no. 2633); mingjing (classicist—p. 333, no. 4007); jinshi (presented scholar or metropolitan graduate—p. 167, no. 1148); mingfa (law graduate—p. 333, no. 4009), and daoju (Daoist recruit—p. 489, no. 6311). The first three terms are the subjects of essays 1, 2, and 4 of the present section.

2. Amplification of the subcategories of mingjing is also to be found in Xin Tang Shu 4.1159–81. See also Hucker’s entry for mingjing (Dictionary of Official Titles, p. 333, no. 4007).

3. This term, used from Tang to Qing times and rendered by Hucker as “special recruitment,” was “a designation for civil service recruitment examinations given by decree irregularly in search of extraordinarily talented men from within or without the service” (Dictionary of Official Titles, p. 157, no. 969). See also Xin Tang Shu 4.1169.

4. Yao Chong 姚崇 was a prominent official who rose to high office under Xuan Zong. He is described by Denis Twitchett as “a pragmatic statesman adept at dealing with practical affairs” (CHC, 3[i].337). The phrase is used with reference to Yao in Xin Tang Shu 124, 14.4381. For further discussion of his activities in relation to the examination system, see CHC, 3(i).327, 331–54, and 375.

5. Zhang Jiuling 張九齡 (673–740) was a major political figure during the reign of Tang Ming Huang. For some consideration of his observations and recommendations on the examination system, see CHC, 3(i).352, and 404–5. The phrase “way like Yi and Lü” is seen as applied to his own examination success (Xin Tang Shu 126, 14.4424). Yi is Yi Yin 伊尹, a legendary figure said to have aided the founder of the Shang dynasty, Cheng Tang 成湯. Lü is Tai Gong 太公, or Lü Shang 呂尚, who is said to have been, in his last years, counselor to King Wen and subsequently to King Wu.

6. An original note says that in Kunxue Jiwen 14 it is stated that the names of the Tang system of recommendation numbered as many as eighty-six.

7. On Wang Weizhen 王維楨, see Ming Shi 286, 24.7349.

8. The term keju 科舉, applicable from the Tang to Qing periods, is defined by Hucker (Dictionary of Official Titles, p. 279, no. 3193) as recruitment by examination or regular recruitment as distinct from special recruitment by irregular special examinations.

9. The term zhiju 制舉 is rendered “special recruitment” by Hucker (ibid., p. 157, no. 969) and described as a designation for civil service recruitment examinations given “by decree irregularly in search of extraordinarily talented men from within and without the service; distinguished from regular scheduled examination recruitment.” It is similar to zhike.

10. For this phrase, used here and subsequently, see Shiji 10, 2.422.

11. Xin Tang Shu 44, 4.1169–70.

12. Song Shi 156, “Xuanju.”

13. Dake 大科 was an examination for those with special talents. It was conducted by the emperor himself, and he was also responsible for selecting the examination topics. It was therefore similar in intent to the zhike of the title. The Zhongwen Da Zidian has an extensive quote from this essay in explication of the term (2.1461). There is also an original note with reference to Ye Zuqia’s 葉祖洽 biography in Song Shi 354 and Shaoshi Wenjian Lu, “Qianlu,” 9.

14. Xu Du 徐度 published his Quesao Bian 卻掃編 around 1130—see SB, 105–6. What follows is a long quotation from that work.

15. See Hucker, Dictionary of Official Titles, p. 242, no. 2516, on this recommendation category.

16. For the quotation, see CSJC (new ser.) 84.715–16.

17. Erudite literatus, a category first established in the Tang period. See Hucker, Dictionary of Official Titles, p. 388, no. 4732, and Miyazaki, China’s Examination Hell, 108–10.

18. Tong Jian 238, Yuanhe seventh year, first month.

19. Ibid., 241, Yuanhe fifteenth year, first month.

20. Hou Han Shu 93.

21. Fengsu Tong 4, “Guoyu.”

22. Sanguo Zhi 1 for the ninth month of the sixteenth year of Chuping.

23. Jinshi Cuibian 金石萃編 8.

24. Lishi 隸釋 8. For Liu Min 柳敏, see Zhou Shu 32, 2.560–62.

1. Li Ji 38 (“Yueli”), SSJZS, 5.682.

2. An original note states that the Cefu Yuangui (52) quotes the Tang Huiyao as saying that in the second month of the second year of the Kaicheng reign period (837), Wang Yanwei prepared a work in twelve juan titled Neidian Zilu.

3. Sengzhao 僧肇 (384–414)—see his Zhaolun 肇論.

4. There is a significant textual variation in the later part of this opening paragraph. In the HRC edition there is an original note, a note by the editor, and a long note by Qian Xiaozheng. The text followed in the translation is that given in Chen Yuan’s 2011 edition.

5. The Cixi Huangshi Richao 慈溪黃氏日鈔 is a work compiled by the Song scholar Huang Zhen 黃震—for details, see SB, 232. Xie Shi is Xie Liangzuo 謝良佐 (1059–1103)—for his writings, collected and collated by Zhu Xi, see SB, 221–22.

6. The quote is from Huangshi Richao 2.

7. For Chu Shaosun 褚少孫, see Han Shu 88, 11.3610. The “Huaji Zhuan” of the Shiji is juan 126.

8. See Hou Han Shu 112 shang (preface), and Sanguo Zhi 11, “Wei Zhi.”

9. See Hou Han Shu 58 (shang).

10. This essay begins with a long quotation from Huang Zhen’s (1213–1280) Cixi Huangshi Richao—a work often quoted in the RZL.

11. The four quotes from the Documents are as follows: II.II.2(15), LCC, 3.61; II.II.2(17), LCC, 3.63; II.II.2(16), LCC, 3.62; II.II.2(17), LCC, 3.63. See also Zhu Xi’s preface to the Zhongyong 中庸 in his Sishu Zhangju, included in Ian Johnston and Wang Ping, trans., Daxue and Zhongyong (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2012), 400–405.

12. Cai Jiufeng 蔡九峰 is Cai Shen 蔡沈 (1167–1230), a Song scholar who retired early and devoted himself to a life of scholarship. His commentary on the Documents (Shangshu Jizhuan) is an important text on the ancient work—see SB, 22–23. For the quote in question, see Shangshu Jizhuan, 14.

13. I.e., the Zhuangzi 莊子 and the Liezi 列子.

14. The quote is from Huangshi Richao 5.

15. This is the prefatory statement to the opening section of the Zhongyong—see Johnston and Wang, Daxue and Zhongyong, 406–7.

16. The three quotes from the Lunyu are as follows: II.4(6), LCC, 1.147; VI.5, LCC, 1.186; XVII.22, LCC, 1.329. For the last, Arthur Waley has, “The Master said, those who do nothing all day but cram themselves with food and never use their minds are difficult” (The Analects of Confucius [London: Allen and Unwin, 1938], 215).

17. Mencius VIA.9(4); LCC, 2.409. This statement is attributed to Confucius.

18. Mencius VIA.8(2); LCC, 2.408.

19. Tang Renqing 唐仁卿 (Tang Boyuan 唐伯元) was a Ming scholar and a jinshi in the second year of the Wanli reign period (1574). He had a particular aversion to the works of Wang Shouren. See Ming Shi 282, 24.7257. I am unable to locate the text of this letter.

20. The three references are as follows: Lunyu IV.6(2), LCC, 1.167; Lunyu XII.1, LCC, 1.250; Changes, SSJZS, 1(Yi Jing).9, and Richard Wilhelm, trans., The I Ching; or, Book of Changes (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950), 374.

21. This is a tripartite comparison between Yan Hui, the most favored disciple (Lunyu VI.2; LCC, 1.185, and XI.6; LCC, 1.239), and the other disciples and people in general.

22. See Lunyu XII.1; LCC, 1.250.

23. Mencius (VIIA.25; LCC, 2.464) contrasts the disciple of Shun, diligent in the pursuit of virtue, with the disciple of the robber Zhi, diligent in the pursuit of gain. Legge, in his note, opines that the point here is the distinction between the public mind and the selfish mind and the slightness of the separation between them.

24. Mencius VIA.13(4); LCC, 2.414: “The great end of learning is nothing else but to seek for the lost mind.”

25. Lunyu IV.2; LCC, 1.165.

26. The quote is from Xie Liangzuo 謝良佐 (1050–1103), a disciple of Cheng Hao’s. This statement is part of his comment on the passage given by Zhu Xi, Sishu Zhangju Jizhu, 92.

27. Documents V.1(1); LCC, 3.199.

28. Zhongyong VIII; LCC, 1.389.

29. Han Yu 韓愈 (768–824) was, apart from his political career, one of the most noted of Chinese poets and essayists, having, in the early Tang period, a profound influence on literary thought and style. For a full translation of this long poem and reference to the original, see Stephen Owen, The Poetry of Meng Chiao and Han Yü (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1975), 271–73.

30. Liu Zhi 劉摯 (1014–1081) was a scholar and official from Dongguang—see Song Shi 340, 31.10849–58.

31. Yang Ziyun 揚子雲 is Yang Xiong 揚雄 (52 B.C.E.–18 C.E.). He was a scholar and official who rose to prominence at the end of the Former Han period and subsequently served under Wang Mang. He was a major force in the old-text school of Han Confucians—see HCP, 2.136ff. For the reference, see his Fayan Wenming 法言文明, SBCK 18(Fayan).15.

32. Huang Luzhi 黃魯直 is Huang Tingjian 黃庭堅 (1050–1110), an official who rose to a high position in the Imperial Academy and was a noted poet of the Song period—see Song Shi 444, 37.13109–11. For the reference, see Huang Wengong Quanji, “Bieji” 18, “Letter to Hongsheng Junfu.”

33. The three people referred to are, respectively, Lu Shen 陸深 (1477–1544) (see DMB, 1.999); Liu Jian 劉健 (1433–1526), a somewhat older contemporary of Lu Shen’s from Loyang (see DMB, 1.938, and Ming Shi 181, 16.4810); and Kongtong 空同, or Li Mengyang 李夢陽, a Ming scholar (see Ming Shi 286, 24.7346 ff).

34. Ouyang Yongshu 歐陽永叔 is Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 (1007–1072), a renowned scholar of the Song period who rose to high office. In 1071 he retired in protest against the policies of Wang Anshi—see Song Shi 319, 30.10381.

35. Fan Zongshi 樊宗師 was a Tang scholar from Nanyang particularly opposed to plagiarism. He was well regarded by Han Yu—see Xin Tang Shu 159, 16.4953. The quote can be found in Han Changli Wenji Jiaozhu, 552.

36. Lunyu XV.40; LCC, 1.305.

37. Mencius IIB.10(4); LCC, 2.226.

38. Mencius IVB.33; LCC, 2.340–41.

39. Mencius VA.2(4); LCC, 2.347–48.

40. Liu Qizhi 劉器之 is Liu Anshi 劉安世 (1048–1125), a notably outspoken official who nevertheless rose to high office—see Yuancheng Yulu 元城語錄 (xia).

41. This quote can be found in the “Jin Tang Shubiao” at the end of Xin Tang Shu, 20.6471–72.

42. The Gu Shi 古史 was one of the works of Su Che 蘇轍. It is described in the Sung Bibliography as “a study of antiquity in criticism of Sima Qian” (SB, 400). For the two Shiji quotes, see 71, 7.2307 and 2310.

43. For the phrase li yan 立言 (to establish one’s words or teachings), see Zuo Zhuan, twenty-fourth year of Duke Xiang; LCC, 5.505: “I have heard that the highest meaning of it is when there is established (an example of) virtue; second, when there is established (an example of) successful service; and the third, when there is established (an example of) wise speech” (trans. after Legge, 507).

44. Odes, Mao 301; LCC, 4.633.

45. See Cheng Yi’s 程頤 Yichuan Yizhuan 伊川易傳 in Er Cheng Quanshu 二程全書, SBBY edition, vol. 12, juan 4. The diagram is number 64. See Wilhelm’s comments on the positions of the lines (I Ching, 248, 362, 714).

46. Documents II.I.5(24); LCC, 3.48.

47. Li Ji, “Wang Zhi,” SBCK 1.39.

48. Xunzi 27.92, “Dalue”—see John Knoblock, Xunzi: A Study and Translation of the Complete Works; Volume 3, Books 17–32 (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1994), 3:230.

49. Mencius IVB.21(1); LCC, 2.327.

50. This is part of an exchange between Yang Xiong and an unnamed questioner on the value of the fu of Jing Cha, Tang Le, Song Yu, and Mei Cheng. On the issue of “excess,” Yang Zi says, “The fu of those who wrote shi style verse achieved beauty by means of standards. The fu of those who wrote ci style verse achieved beauty by going to excess.” See Jeffrey S. Bullock, Yang Xiong: Philosophy of the “Fa yan” (Highlands, N.C.: Mountain Mind Press, 2011), p. 46, no. 2.2.

51. Bai Juyi was a noted Tang poet. He formed a friendship with Yuan Weizhi (Yuan Zhen 元稹, 779–831), a child prodigy who subsequently became a poet of renown and originator of the Yuanhe style. The letter can be found in Bai Juyi Ji 45, 3.959ff. Liang Hong 梁鴻 was a scholar of the Later Han who, during his travels, composed the poem “Wuyi” 五噫. This poem was said to have offended the emperor to such a degree that he ordered Liang Hong’s arrest, although this was not effected (see Hou Han Shu 83, 2765). I could find no trace of Deng Fang. Tang Qu is said to have been a man given to easy weeping and to have wept on listening to Bai Juyi’s verse.

52. Zuo Zhuan IX.24; LCC, 5.505.

53. Ge Hong 葛洪 (281–341) was something of a recluse who loved learning and was particularly interested in the supernatural and the pharmacological aspects thereof. He styled himself Baopu Zi 抱朴子—see Jin Shu 72, and, for the quote, Baopuzi Waipian 40, SBCK 27.224.

1. Shang Shu (Documents), SSJZS, 1(Shang Shu).42.

2. Zou Yan 騶衍 (fourth century B.C.E.) was a pre-Qin philosopher of the Five Phases (Elements) school. For details of his doctrines, see HCP, 1.159ff. His geographical observations referred to here can be found on pages 160ff.

3. An original note states that the character 州 zhou was originally 洲 zhou (i.e., “island”).

4. An original note refers to the Li Ji (SSJZS, 5.821), where mention is made of the northern, eastern, southern, and western Seas, as indeed occurs in other works.

5. Erya, SBCK 1(Erya).16.

6. Zhou Li, SSJZS, 3.496.

7. Yi Jing, SSJZS, 1(Zhou Yi).130.

8. Li Ji, SSJZS, 5.1008 and James Legge, Li Chi: Book of Rites (New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1967), 2:443.

9. Documents (Shu Jing), LCC, 3.77.

10. Documents (Shu Jing), LCC, 3.132. See also Legge’s extensive note on pages 133–34.

11. Documents (Shu Jing), LCC, 3.150.

12. Hong Mai 洪邁 (1123–1202) was a noted scholar and writer of the Song period. His comments reported here are to be found in the Rongzhai Suibi Wuji 容齋隨筆五集, in the essay titled “Sihai Yiye,” 3, 1.33.

13. Zhuangzi 1, Guo Qingfan, Zhuangzi Jishi, 4 vols. (Beijing, Zhonghua Shuju, 1978), 1.14.

14. Li Sao, Qufu Xinbian, 1.268.

15. Cheng Dachang 程大昌 (1123–1195) was a Song scholar from Xiuning in Huizhou. For biographical details, see Song Shi 433, 37.12858–61. His work, the Yonglu 雍錄, can be found in Gujin Yishi 古今逸史, vols. 22–26 (see also SB, 152). I have not been able to locate the quotation given. Tiaozhi is the name of an ancient kingdom (Mesopotamia)—see Shiji 123.

16. Ban Chao 班超 (31–101) was the younger brother of Ban Gu, the historian. He traveled widely beyond the confines of the kingdom, achieving major military successes in central Asia. Gan Ying 甘英 was a subordinate of Ban Chao’s who was appointed as envoy to Rome but actually reached Tiaozhi 條支, a country on the shores of the Persian Gulf—see CHC, 1.579.

17. Huo Qubing 霍去病 (d. 117 B.C.E.) was a military man of the Former Han period who rose to the rank of president of the Board of War and gained a number of victories over the Xiongnu. Lang Juxu Mountain was situated in the northwest of Wuyuan district of Suiyuan province on the northern bank of the Yellow River. Han Hai 瀚海 (or “Northern Sea”) refers to the Gobi Desert.

18. Su Wu 蘇武 was an official under Emperor Wu of Han. He was dispatched on a mission of peace to return the Xiongnu envoys who had been detained by the Chinese but was himself imprisoned by the Xiongnu—see Han Shu 54, 8.2459–69. Guo Ji 郭伋 (38 B.C.E.–47 C.E.) was an official who served first under Wang Mang and subsequently under the first emperor of the Later Han dynasty. He was also imprisoned by the Xiongnu—see Hou Han Shu 31, 4.1091–93.

19. The Guligan 骨利榦 were an aboriginal people—see Xin Tang Shu 217a, 19.6112). Gu’s text has Tang Shi.

20. There is a textual variation here between the Huang Rucheng edition, which has hua yi 華裔 (Chinese descendants), and the Yuanchaoben edition, which has di xia 夷夏 (barbarians and Chinese); the latter has been followed.

21. Juyan Hai 居延海 was the name of a lake—see Shiji 110. Qing Hai 青海 was also a lake, in what is now Qinghai province. Dian Hai 滇海 was in the southern part of Kunming district, Yunnan.

22. The Tong Dian 通典 is a work compiled by the Tang scholar Du You 杜佑; it is an extensive treatise on matters of government—see CHC, 3(i).604ff., and SB, 173 and 176.

23. Bei Shi 36, 5.1326.

24. An original note here quotes Cheng Dachang’s Yonglu as saying that the site of the academy was to the right of Daming Palace and within the Yintai gate.

25. Officials of the Tang period. The following references to CHC, 3(i), give some indication of their roles in the Tang administration: Zhang Yue 張說 (348–56, 352–53, 376–91); Lu Jian 陸堅 (386); Zhang Jiuling 張九齡 (352–53, 388–89, 397–409); Zhang Ji 張吉 (449–50).

26. Jiu Tang Shu 43, 6.1853.

27. The Tang Liudian 唐六典 was a compilation initiated by Xuan Zong and completed in 738. According to Denis Twitchett, it provides “much of our detailed knowledge of Tang administrative law” (CHC, 3[i].354 and 415).

28. See Jiu Tang Shu 43, 6.1853.

29. Lu Zhi 陸贄 was a Hanlin academician who became a very influential adviser to De Zong—see CHC, 3(i).584ff. Wu Tongxuan 吳通玄 was a Hanlin academician and official. For details of his disagreement with Lu Zhi, see Jiu Tang Shu 190b, 15.5057–58. On the term dai zhao 待詔, rendered as “expectant official,” see Charles O. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985), p. 475, no. 6127.

30. Brief details of the men listed are as follows: Wu Yun 吳筠 was a Confucian scholar; see Jiu Tang Shu 142, 16.5129–50. Han Ying 韓穎 gave prognostic advice to Xuan Zong; he held a position of attendant at the gate to the heir apparent. Wang Shuwen 王叔文 and Wang Pi 王伾—the former a lowly official, the latter a scribe who was appointed a Hanlin academician in 805—were both closely involved in the clique that, disaffected with De Zong’s administration, gathered around the heir apparent Shun Zong; see CHC, 3(i).601–7, and Bischoff, La forêt des pinceaux, 42, 60–62. With reference to Liu Mi 柳泌 and Datong 大通, see Jiu Tang Shu 131, 11.3642 and Xin Tang Shu 167, 16.5114. I have not been able to track down the following three men: Liu Xuan 劉烜, Wang Yi 王倚, and Sun Zhun 孫準.

31. Li Gan 黎榦 was an expert in star divination and magical calculations—see Jiu Tang Shu 118, 10.3426.

32. Ibid., 14, 2.405.

33. Ibid., 17a, 2.52.

34. Zhao Lin 趙璘 was a Tang scholar who became a jinshi during the Kaicheng reign period. His Yinhua Lu appears in Shuofu 15, but I could find no mention of Wen Zong there.

35. Xian Zong Shilu 49.

36. Details of these events, including part of the text of the memorial in which the three Hanlin compilers took the occasion of the lantern festival to voice a protest against Zhu Jianshen’s preoccupation with pleasure, can be found in Ming Shi 13, 1.164 and 179, 16.4751–55. Details of their punishment, demotion, and subsequent reinstatement are also to be found therein.

37. Shiji 4, 1.142–44; see also 144n1.

38. An original note refers to Yan Shigu’s note to “The List of Ancient and Present-Day People” in the Han Shu, as follows: Gong was the state, bo was the rank—i.e., “earl,” and He was his name.

39. Annals of the Bamboo Books for Li Wang 厲王; see LCC, 3(prolegomena).153–54.

40. Zuo Zhuan X(26); LCC, 5.714.

41. Lü Shi Chunqiu, 21/1.1, “Kai Chun,” John Knoblock and Jeffrey Riegel, The Annals of Lü Buwei: A Complete Translation and Study (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2000), 548.

42. Zhuangzi 28, 4.983 (Guo Qingfan)—see, in particular, notes 1 and 2 on pages 982–84. The translation follows Burton Watson, trans., The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu (New York: Columbia University Press, 1968), 319.

43. See Zuo Zhuan 1.1, SSJZS, 6.36, where the note referred to immediately follows the statement about Tai Shu’s flight.

44. This statement, in fact, is to be found in Shiji 44, “Wei Shi Jia” (6.1862). There is nothing resembling this entry in the “Chun Shen Jun Chuan.”

45. Shiji 46, 6.1903—see particularly 1903nn1, 2, 3.

46. The entry actually reads gong yan hou lu ba shi 共嚴侯旅罷師, Han Shu 16, 2.591.

47. See Jiu Tang Shu 39, 5.1491.

48. Han Shu 35, 7.1904.

49. Hou Han Shu 1a, 1.25.

50. Ibid., 67, 8.2210.

51. Ibid., 10b, 2.445. There is some uncertainty about this statement. Not only have I been unable to identify the people concerned other than in this statement, but also the term fu 父 is not present in the Hou Han Shu passage.

52. Ibid., 79a, 9.2545. In the Hou Han Shu text quoted, the character mao 毛 is omitted.

54. Ibid., 79b, 9.2569.

55. Ibid., 25, 12.3572.

56. Ibid., 8, 2.344.

57. Xunzi 15, “Yi Bing,” SBCK 17(Xunzi).102. I have followed Homer H. Dubs, The Works of Hsuntze (Taipei: Ch’eng-wen, 1973), 160, in the translation. Burton Watson has “it will be smashed, crushed, broken, defeated, and forced to fall back” (Burton Watson, Hsün Tzu: Basic Writings [New York: Columbia University Press, 1963], 58), adding in a note, “This last clause contains seven characters that are quite unintelligible. Commentators generally agree that they must have the meaning given in the translation, though efforts to interpret or amend the individual characters are scarcely convincing.” The note on page 232 of the Xunzi Xinzhu states that the intention is to convey the impression of an army defeated and fleeing in panic.

58. Jiu Tang Shu 61, 10.2366.

59. Bei Shi 59, 7.2114.

60. The term xi di 席地 indicates the use of some sort of cotton or calico mat placed on the ground for sitting or reclining—see, e.g., Nan Qi Shu 22, 2.417.

61. The Daming Huidian 大明會典 was a compilation in 180 chapters prepared by Li Tongyang and others and first completed in 1509.

62. Zhou Li 25, “Tai Zhu,” SSJZS, 3.387. Gu Yanwu’s quote differs somewhat from the original text.

63. Li Ji, SSJZS, 5.488. Translation after Legge—see Legge, Book of Rites, 1:423.

64. Zuo Zhuan V(23); LCC, 5.185. The ode in question is Mao 177 (LCC, 4.281).

65. Zuo Zhuan IX(3); LCC, 5.418.

66. Zuo Zhuan IX(24); LCC, 5.505. Legge’s translation is followed.

67. Zuo Zhuan XII(17); LCC, 5.849.

68. Guoyu, “Chuyu” (shang), SBCK 14(Guoyu).9–11. There are some discrepancies between the two texts.

69. Biographical details for both Li Ling 李陵 and Su Wu 蘇武 can be found in Han Shu 54, 8.2450 and 2459, respectively. Exchanges between them are given on pages 2464ff, although not as quoted.

70. Chen Xiangdao 陳祥道 (1058–1093) was one of the many commentators on the Zhou Li. His work, the Li Shu 禮書, in 150 juan, is included in the SKQS.

71. Documents, LCC, 3.206–7.

72. Documents, LCC, 3.424; see particularly the note on the same page.

73. Although the quote is not exact, this is probably from Yi Li 8, SSJZS, 4.254.

74. Zuo Zhuan VI(7); LCC, 5.246.

75. Zuo Zhuan, twenty-fifth year of Duke Zhao.

76. A short original note follows referring to Li Shu 87, “Baiyi,” shang.

77. Xunzi 27.27; John Knoblock, Xunzi: A Study and Translation of the Complete Works; Volume 3, Books 17–32 (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1994), 3:214; Xunzi Xinzhu 27, 447, and note thereto.

78. Lunyu XI.17(4); LCC, 1.243.

79. Mencius IIIA.4(14); LCC, 2.255.

80. Song Shu 52, 5.1506.

81. Ibid., 51, 5.1482.

82. Shishuo Xinyu 25, Shishuo Xinyu Jianshu 25.792.

83. Shishuo Xinyu 13, Shishuo Xinyu Jianshu 13.595. The general referred to is Wang Dun 王敦 of Jin (d. 324).

84. Shishuo Xinyu 26, Shishuo Xinyu Jianshu 26.848.

85. Bei Shi 29, 4.1047.

86. Bei Qi Shu 35, 2.467.

87. Gongyang Gao 公羊高 was one of the major early commentators on the Spring and Autumn Annals; he was from Qi. The Huainanzi 淮南子 was supposedly compiled by Liu An 劉安 (d. 122 B.C.E.), the son of Liu Bang 劉邦—i.e., Han Gao Di.

88. Liang Shu 48, 3.678.

89. Li Yexing 李業興 was a native of Changzi in the later Wei period who was noted for his learning. He was subsequently enfeoffed as Earl of Changzi. See Bei Shi 81, 9.2721–25.

90. Yan Zhitui 顏之推 (531–595) was a scholar and high official in the Northern Qi and Sui periods. His writings include a treatise on family education (Yanshi Jiaxun)—see Bei Qi Shu 45, 2.617–26.

91. This reference is to the new-text version of the classic. For some considerations on the controversy between old- and new-text schools, see HCP, 2, chapters 2 and 4, and CHC, 1.760ff. For the Jin Shu reference, see 135, 4.2891.

92. The character an 案 is frequently used in the Xunzi (thirty-seven entries in the Harvard-Yenching concordance) for the more usual an 按. Qiang 羌 was a commonly used particle in Chu writings—see, e.g., Qufu Xinbian, 1.223, sec. 15, and the following note.

93. See Liu Hsieh, The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons, trans. Vincent Yu-chung Shih (New York: Columbia University Press, 1959), 356–57, for the original text and English translation. Zhang Hua 張華 (232–300) was a scholar of the Jin period. Shiheng 士衡 is Lu Ji 陸機 (261–303).

94. Odes, Mao 154; LCC, 4.226 (and note on page 227).

95. Odes, Mao 118; LCC, 4.179 (and note on page 180 for the three stars).

96. Odes, Mao 232; LCC, 4.422.

97. Zuo Zhuan, fifth year of Duke Xi; LCC, 5.144.

98. For Fan Shen 樊深, see Ming Shi 207, 18.5481–82. The “Lü Shu” 律書 is juan 25 of the Shiji (4.1239–54). Yang Shiqi 楊士奇 was a noted Ming scholar—see Ming Shi 148, 14.4131; DMB, 2.1535–38; and CHC, 7.277–84, 302ff. The Tianyuan Yuli Xiangyi Fu is a work by Zhu Gaochi 朱高熾, who later became, for one year only, Emperor Ren Zong—see Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959), 475.

99. Er Shi 貳師 is a place-name. In Han times it was a city in Fergana but here indicates Ershi Jiangjun, or Li Guangli 李廣利, a renowned Han general and frequent opponent of the Xiongnu who captured the city in one of his campaigns. Biographical details of Li Guangli are to be found in Han Shu 61, 9.2699ff., and the incident referred to in Han Shu 94a, 11.3781—see also CHC, 1.168–69, and 175ff.

100. The beheading of Ran Min 冉閔 by Murong Jun 慕容寯 at Longcheng is recorded in Jin Shu 110, 9.2833. See also Jin Shu 107.

101. Wei Shu 28, 2.682. The text in Gu Yanwu differs slightly from that in the Wei Shu. I have followed the latter in the use of the Duke of Jianxing, Gu Bi 古弼, whereas Gu Yanwu has You Bi 右弼, which Hucker, Dictionary of Official Titles, renders as “Supporter on the Right” (p. 586, no. 8067) (the SBBY edition of the Rizhi Lu has Gu Bi).

102. Boyou 伯有 is a style and refers to Liang Xiao 良宵 of Zheng 鄭 in the Spring and Autumn period. See, e.g., Spring and Autumn Annals IX(30); LCC, 5.551, which records the death of Liang Xiao. For Boyou as an evil spirit, see Zuo Zhuan X(7); LCC, 5.613, and Legge’s translation on page 618.

103. Shiji 43, 6.1789. Details of Zhao Xiangzi 趙襄子 are given in this chapter.

104. Shuijing Zhu 水經注—see SBCK 16.189. Mei Fu 梅福 was a scholar and official of the Former Han period. He disappeared on the accession of Wang Mang—see Han Shu 67.

105. Shiji 7, 1.321.

106. Ibid., 8, 2.369, 385, and 389. Jinyang 晉 was a xian (district) established during the Qin dynasty, corresponding to what is now Taiyuan district in Shanxi, as Gu points out—see also Han Shu 4, 1.105.

107. Han Shu 10, 2.413.

108. Ibid., 425. Note the discrepancy in the number of years in the two texts, and see also the same entry in Han Shu 4, 1.119, and the note on fu 復, page 120. See also the original note referring to Ru Chun’s 如淳 contention that Jinyang was the first capital, with a subsequent move to Zhongdu.

109. Han Shu 10, 2.423.

110. Ibid., 46, 7.2200.

111. Documents, LCC, 4.159 (trans. after Legge).

112. Zuo Zhuan, twelfth year of Duke Xuan; LCC, 5.315, and translation on page 321.

113. Li Ji, “Quli,” SSJZS, 5.78. See also Legge’s translation in Book of Rites, 1:107.

114. Chu Ci, “Jiu Ge,” “Da Siming,” Qufu Xinbian, 1.325; and Arthur Waley, The Nine Songs: A Study of Shamanism in Ancient China (New York: Grove Press, 1956), 38.

115. Chu Ci, “Jiu Bian,” Qufu Xinbian, 1.139.

116. Zuo Zhuan, second year of Duke Xuan; LCC, 5.288 (trans. after Legge, 289). For details of Hua Yuan, see Legge’s note on page 289.

117. Documents, II, I, 3(8); LCC, 3.36, and see note on page 39.

118. Lunyu IX.23; LCC, 1.224.

119. There is an original note here to the effect that the ancients considered the characters ru 如, ruo 若, and nai 奈 to have the one meaning, although not necessarily the one pronunciation.

120. See Sanguo Zhi 28, 3.766–77, for the text of the letter in which this observation is included.

121. Song Shu 47, 5.1410. Xuan is Huan Xuan 桓玄 (369–404), the son of Huan Wen. After military successes, he established himself as Emperor of Chu in 403, but his reign was short-lived and his end violent.

1. Charles O. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985), p. 2518, no. 993, uses “District Magistrate” for both these terms, taking zhi xian 知縣 to apply to the Song-Qing period and xian ling 縣令 to the Qin-Jin period.

2. See ibid., p. 539, no. 7229, for the range of official positions included in the term dufu sidao 督撫司道. Basically they were overseeing positions.

3. Wu Shi 烏氏 is Luo 裸 of Wu Shi (Wu Shi Luo). He was ennobled by Qinshi Huang Di for his work in animal husbandry—see Shiji 129, 10.3260. Qiao Yao 橋姚 was from the Han era and renowned for the rearing of domestic animals—see Shiji 129, 10.3280, and Rizhi Lu 10.10, “Ma Zheng” 馬政.

4. In the Warring States period Qufu 曲阜 was the capital of Lu; it was also the birthplace of Confucius.

5. This refers to Yang Yinglong 楊應龍, a minority leader who rebelled against the Ming administration—see CHC, 7(i).564ff.

6. Liu Yuan 劉淵 (d. 310) was the descendant of a Turkic chieftain who, in 308, proclaimed himself the first emperor of a new Han dynasty. Shi Le 石勒 (273–332) was a onetime slave noted for his great strength who rose to a high position under Liu Yuan—see CHC, 1.370–71. Wang Xianzhi 王仙芝 was a bandit leader of great notoriety during the reign of Tang Xi Zong (874–888). Huang Chao 黃巢 (d. 884) was a confederate of Wang Xianzhi’s. Initially a member of the official class, he later turned to banditry. For a detailed consideration of the activities of both Wang and Huang, see CHC, 3(i).722–50.

7. Lunyu XX.2; LCC, 1.351.

8. Ye Shi 葉適 (Ye Zhengze 葉正則, 1150–1223) was a scholar and official of the Song period. His collected works, the Shuixin Wenji 水心文集, contain material discussing government, institutions, and politics (see SB, 426–27). For this quote, see Lixu 3.

9. San Fu 三府 is an unofficial reference to the san gong 三公 (Three Dukes), although there are also other meanings—see Hucker, Dictionary of Official Titles, p. 399, no. 4871; CHC, 1.493–502; and Bartlett, “Gu Yanwu,” in ECP, 189–90.

10. Yan Yuan 顏淵 (Yan Hui) was Confucius’s favorite disciple. He died young and presumably did not serve—see Lunyu VI.2; LCC, 1.185. Min Zi (Min Sun 簢損) refused to serve—see Lunyu VI.7; LCC, 1.187. Qidiao Kai 漆雕開 was also a disciple of Confucius’s who considered himself not able for official employment—see Lunyu V.5; LCC, 1.174, and Legge’s note on the same page. Zeng Xi 曾皙 was another of the Confucian disciples, who, however, chose differently from the others when asked how he would conduct himself in office—see Lunyu XI.25(7); LCC, 1.248.

11. Yu 禹 was the founder of the Xia dynasty, traditional date 2206 B.C.E. Tang 湯 was the founder of the Shang dynasty, traditional date 1766 B.C.E.

12. Yang Yan 楊炎 (727–781) was a prominent Tang official. For his introduction of the “two-tax” system, see CHC, 3(i).580–82.

13. See Han Shu 24b, 4.1152.

14. Yang Yuling 楊於陵 was a Tang official—see Jiu Tang Shu 164 and Xin Tang Shu 163.

15. There follows here an extensive original note that is essentially an extract from Jiu Tang Shu 16, 2.480.

16. Xu Zhigao 徐知誥 was the assumed name of Li Bian 李弁, an orphan brought up initially by Yang Xingmi and subsequently by Xu Wen 徐溫, whose name he took. He became emperor of the Southern Tang, with his capital at Nanjing. Song Qiqiu 宋齊丘 was an official in his service—see Jiu Wudai Shi 134, 6.1784–87.

17. There follows here an extensive note comprising quotations from the three Tang writers mentioned. In the first, taken from the second part of Lu Zhi’s Shang Junjie Caifu Liushi, the author rails against the two-tax system (liangshui fa) introduced in 780 (see CHC, 3[i].496ff.). In the second, taken from an essay titled “Shugai Shuifa,” in Li Ao’s Collected Writings, the author argues against the collection of taxes as money, reflecting on the burden this imposes on farmers. In the third, from Bai Juyi’s poem “Zengyou,” the writer makes a similar point. The farmer produces grain but is taxed in cash. Each year the price of money increases and the value of grain diminishes. Bai, as do the other writers quoted, looks back to earlier times when the system was more equitable.

18. The last two emperors of the legendary period, Yao 堯 (r. 2356– 2256 B.C.E.) and Shun 舜 (r. 2255—2205 B.C.E.) (traditional dates). The Sixiong 四凶 (four great criminals of the empire) are considered in Documents, “Canon of Shun,” LCC, 3.39. The criminals were Gong Gong 共工, Huan Tou 驩兜, Gun 鯀, and San Miao 三苗, the last being a place-name. The first three are mentioned in the “Canon of Yao.”

19. Han Shu 1b, 1.54–55. See also 56nn16, 21.

20. Mencius IA.7(16 and 17); LCC, 2.145–46.

21. This refers to Qinshi Huang Di—see Wen Xuan, “Kong Anguo,” 2(4).222.

22. A famous sword of ancient times. See Shiji 69, 7.2251, and 2252n16.

23. See, e.g., Ouyang Xiu’s Ji Jiuben Hanwen Hou in Ouyang Xiu Quanji 1(3).136, for the use of this term, which Bartlett translates as “model essay” (“Gu Yanwu,” 1999).

24. Lunyu II.11; LCC, 1.149. Legge’s translation of the section in full is, “The Master said, ‘If a man keeps cherishing his old knowledge so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a teacher of others.’ ” See also Legge’s note on page 149.

1. The six categories of Chinese characters: self-explanatory, pictographic, pictophonetic, ideographic (associative compounds), mutually explanatory, and phonetic loan.

2. See, respectively, Li Ji 39, SSJZS, 5.663, and Zhou Li 37, SSJZS, 3.565.

3. Shun was one of the exemplary rulers of the legendary period during the third millennium B.C.E. His date of accession is traditionally given as 2255 B.C.E. Gaoyao 皋陶 was his minister—see Documents 2, 4, and 5; LCC, 3.29ff., 68ff., and 76ff., respectively. Ji Zi 箕子 (Viscount Ji—twelfth century B.C.E.) was a leading noble under the reviled Zhou, last emperor of the Yin. He was imprisoned for speaking out against the tyrant, but, when released by King Wu, he retired rather than serve his rescuer because the latter was, strictly speaking, a usurper—see Documents 32; LCC, 3.320ff. The “appendixes of King Wen and the Duke of Zhou” refer to the Changes, tuan and yao, respectively.

4. Zhou Yong 周顒 (fifth century) and Shen Yue 沈約 (441–513) are the two men credited with first devising the system of four tones. The former wrote a work called Sisheng Qieyin, while the latter, himself a noted poet, claimed priority in the matter.

5. Ban Gu (32–92), perhaps most noted as the grand historian of the Later Han, was also an important writer of fu, of which his Liangdu Fu (Fu of Two Capitals) is the most well known. Zhang Heng (78–139) was particularly renowned as a mathematician and astronomer but was also a poet of note, as were the Caos—the father, Cao Cao (155–220), founder of the Wei dynasty, and two of his sons, Cao Pi (188–227) and Cao Zhi (192–232). Liu Zheng (d. 217), who served under Cao Cao, was one of the “Seven Masters of the Jian’an Period.”

6. The Qieyun, a phonetic dictionary arranged under 206 finals (yun), dates from the late sixth century (the date of the preface is 600) and was prepared by Lu Fayan with assistance from Yan Zhitui.

7. Liu Yuan prepared a work titled Libu Yunlue.

8. Huang Gongshao’s work, the Gujin Yunhui, dates from 1292.

9. The full title of this work, completed during the Song period by Chen Pengnian and others and based on the Qieyun, was Da Song Zhongxiu Guangyun.

10. The two references to the Lunyu are IX.5(3) and IX.14, respectively.

11. See Shiji 130, 10.3320 and 3321n14.

1. The Lunyu references are as follows: IX.1, V.12, XIII.20(1), and VII, 19. The reference to the transmission from Yao to Shun is an abbreviated form of what is given in the Documents, The Counsels of Yu—see LCC, 3. 61, and also Zhu Xi’s preface to the Zhongyong 中庸 in his Sishu Zhangju.

2. The references, all from the Lunyu, are, in order, XIV.37(2), IX.10(2), XIX.6, XIX.12(2), and XV.2(1–3). Master Yan is Yan Hui (Yan Yuan), possibly Confucius’s favorite disciple. In Zhongyong 14, Confucius responds to the question from Duke Ai (of Lu) about government (Ian Johnston and Wang Ping, trans., Daxue and Zhongyong [Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 2012], 291ff.). Zengzi is Zeng Shen (505–437 B.C.E.), a first-generation disciple traditionally credited with the writing of the Daxue (Highest Learning). Zixia is Bu Shang (b. 507 B.C.E.), another disciple.

3. Zigong is Duanmu Ci (b. 520 B.C.E.), one of the Master’s foremost disciples. He was noted particularly for his devotion to Confucius and is said to have been present at the Master’s death.

4. Yi Yin (eighteenth century B.C.E.) was, despite his great reluctance, persuaded to serve as minister to Cheng Tang, the first emperor of the Shang dynasty. He is regarded as the epitome of the wise and selfless counselor. For the Mencius reference, see VA.7(2).

5. Bo Yi (twelfth century B.C.E.) was an example of great filial piety. For the comparison of Yi Yin and Bo Yi with Confucius, see Mencius IIA.2(22).

6. This is a somewhat terse and opaque expression of what is recorded in Lunyu V.18.

7. Lunyu VI.25 and XIII.20(1).

8. The two references here are to Lunyu IV.9 and Mencius VA.7(6).

9. Mencius VIIA.4(1 and 2).

1. Both were disciples of Confucius. Zi Gao was noted for his ren and filial piety—see, e.g., Lunyu XI.17(1). Yuan Xian was renowned for his pursuit of truth and disregard of worldly benefits—see, e.g., Lunyu VI.3(3).

3. See SSJZS, 1(Zhou Yi).151.

4. Zhuangzi 6—see Zhuangzi Jishi, 1.284.

5. It is not clear who Chi Bao is; there is no listing of this name in any of the major sources. The term chi bao 赤豹 is found in the Odes, Mao 261; LCC, 4.551, and in the “Nine Songs” (Qufu Xinbian 屈賦新編, 1.340); Arthur Waley, The Nine Songs: A Study of Shamanism in Ancient China [New York: Grove Press, 1956], 53). It is translated variously as “red panther” or “red leopard.”

6. Lunyu V.21; LCC, 1.181.

7. Zheng Kangcheng is Zheng Xuan 鄭玄 (127–200), a noted Confucian scholar of the Later Han period and disciple of Ma Rong 馬融. After the Yellow Turban rebellion, he retired from official life but in 200 was summoned by Yuan Shao 袁紹 (d. 202), who, at about this time, had declared his opposition to Cao Cao 曹操 (155–220). The details of the incidents referred to can be found in Hou Han Shu 35, 5.1211.

8. The Lunyu references are XII.20(4), LCC, 1.259; VII.2, LCC, 1.191: XII.2, LCC, 1.251.

9. This letter appears in part as the last of the immediately preceding twenty-five letters to friends.

10. Rao and She are two zhou, the first in Jiangxi, the second in Anhui.

11. Wuhu was a lake situated in southwestern Wuhu xian in Anhui. This xian, which may be what is being referred to here, was first established in Han times with the name Wuhu. For reference to Gu’s journey to Wuhu, see Willard J. Peterson, “The Life of Ku Yen-wu (1613–1682),” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 28 (1968): 153.

12. Fang Xuanling 房玄齡 (578–648) and Du Ruhui 杜如晦 (d. 630) were officials under Tang Tai Zong and worked in close concert. Howard Wechsler writes, “Tu Ju-hui and Fang Hsuan-ling were complementary characters and worked smoothly together. Between them they staffed and set in operation the whole executive side of government. Unfortunately Tu died of an unspecified illness in 630, at the very peak of his power” (CHC, 3[i].16). Biographical details for both can be found in Jiu Tang Shu 66, 7.2459–69 and the Xin Tang Shu 96, 12.3853–60.

1. Jin Gong 晉公 is Pei Zhongli 裴中立, whose designation was Pei Du 裴度.

2. Shi Hu 石虎 was a descendant of Shi Le 石勒. In the Jin period he became ruler of the Later Zhao.

3. Gao Huan 高歡 (496–547), from Northern Qi, rose to high office in Northern Wei and forced the emperor (Xiao Wu) to flee, establishing himself as leader of the Eastern Wei—see History of the Northern Qi 1.

4. See Xin Tang Shu 140 and Wudai Shi 12.

5. Li Zicheng 李自成 (1606–1645) was the leader of the rebel forces that entered Beijing in 1644. His triumph was short-lived and he was defeated in battle by Wu Sangui 吳三桂, the Ming general who transferred his allegiance to the Manchus on learning of Li Zicheng’s exploits.

6. On Li Jiantai 李建泰, Thomas Bartlett has the following two notes: “(i) See Li’s biography in Chang T’ing-yü et al., Ming-shih 253, ‘Wei Tsau-to chuan: [fu] Li Chien-t’ai.’ The exact date of the emperor’s reception for Li is given in ibid., ch. 24, ‘Chuang-lieh-ti pen-chi 2,’ p. 334. Nineteen days before the emperor died, Li initiated a proposal that Ch’ung-chen remove to Nanking, which was seconded by other officials, but vetoed by the emperor (ibid.). (ii) Ku Yen-wu’s opinion of Li may also have been affected by the knowledge that Li failed to carry out an attempt at honorable suicide after his capture by a subordinate of Li Tzu-ch’eng, and that Li Chien-t’ai went on to hold office as a Grand Secretary under the Ch’ing dynasty, before finally dying in rebellion (“Ku Yen-wu’s Response to the ‘Demise of Human Society’ ” [PhD diss., Princeton University, 1985]).

7. See Gu’s original note on Wang Duo and Zhang Jun.

8. Zhou Li, SSJZS, 3.32.

1. Gao Huang Di was the first Ming emperor. He established the weisuo 衛所 military system. Edward Dreyer writes, “During the wars of dynastic founding, the Ming armies had expanded by enrolling troops of defeated enemies. The 1364 reorganization that created the wei-so system arose from the need to establish regular procedures for processing the large numbers of troops gained this way” (CHC, 7[i].104). I am unable to identify the precise source of the quote attributed to Gao Huang Di in the present essay.

2. For a consideration of the Ming military organization and its relationship to earlier systems, see ibid., 104–6, 244ff. See also Charles O. Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985), 75ff., and the entries for the individual titles (the translation of which follows Hucker in all cases except for baihu suo, which is not listed). See also Ming Shi 89–92, 2175–2278.

3. Both Yong 雍 and Yu 豫 were numbered among the nine ancient zhou; Yong corresponded to parts of Shansi and Gansu, while Yu corresponded to part of Henan.

4. For more on the weisuo system, see CHC, 7(i).104–6, 248ff., and 319ff.

5. The term “military register” (chi ji 尺籍) derives from the foot-long wooden board on which military matters were recorded—see Shiji 102, 9.2759 and 119, 10.3101.

6. In 280 the ruler of Wu was deposed by Sima Yan 司馬炎 (236–290) and the territory annexed to Jin, which had been founded in 265.

7. The three people referred to here are Liu Yuan 劉淵 (d. 310) (see Jin Shu 101); Shi Le 石勒 (273–332) (see Jin Shu 104 and 105, Wei Shu 95); and Li Xiong 李雄 (d. 334) (see Jin Shu 121).

8. The three people referred to here, all militarists and statesmen of the turbulent north-south division period, are Fu Jian 苻堅 (337–384) (see Jin Shu 113 and 114); Yao Chang 姚萇 (330–393) (see Jin Shu 116); and Murong Chui 慕容垂 (326–396) (see Jin Shu 123, Wei Shu 95).

9. For the northern campaign of Wang Xuanmou 王玄謀 (386–467), see Song Shu 5, 1.99ff. Fuli is Tuoba Tao 拓跋燾 (d. 452).

10. Tuoba Tao succeeded his father to become the third emperor of the Northern Wei dynasty. He subsequently annexed Liang, subdued Yan, and gained control of much of central China; see Wolfram Eberhard, A History of China (New York: Cosimo, 2005), 138–49.

11. The several events referred to here are as follows: In the third year of the Taiqing reign period of the Liang dynasty (549), Hou Jing 侯景 (502–552) seized Liang Wudi in the capital and put him under house arrest. In the Chengsheng reign period of the Liang dynasty (552–554), Xiao Cha 蕭察 (538–562), whose claim to the throne had been set aside, gathered a large force while military superintendent of the territory north of the Yangzi and, after the capture of Jiangling by the Western Wei, became emperor of the Minor Liang dynasty. Huainan was a prefecture in what is now Anhui province. Wei’s taking of Shu and Han concerned events involving Yuwen Tai 宇文泰 (506–557), founder of the Western Wei dynasty, while Jiangling was a district in what is now Hubei and was seized by Chen Baxian (see following note) prior to the overthrow of Liang Yuandi by Xiao Cha.

12. Chen Baxian 陳霸先 (503–559) was a general and statesman who initially served the Liang dynasty but subsequently (in 557) compelled the abdication of the last Liang emperor and established the short-lived Chen dynasty. See Chen Shu 1 and 2 and Nan Shi 9.

13. The Southern Tang was one of the ten kingdoms of the Five Dynasties period and had its capital at Nanjing. It existed from 937 to 975—see Xin Wudai Shi 62.

14. The Southern Song was established by Gao Zong in 1127 and extended through twelve emperors to 1278, coexisting in part with the Jin and Yuan dynasties. The description of the emperor’s surrender is taken from Zuo Zhuan V(7); LCC, 5.146.

15. In the Three Kingdoms period the two southern kingdoms of Shu and Wu coexisted, while later, during the Eastern Jin period, Li Xiong 李雄 established a separate kingdom in an area occupying much of Sichuan—see note 7.

16. Wang Jun 王濬 was a Western Jin general—see Jin Shu 42, 1207. Liu Zheng 劉整 was from Wei during the Three Kingdoms period—see Sanguo Zhi 4.

17. Zhao Ding, Chen Liang, and Meng Gong were soldiers and statesmen of the Southern Song period. Biographical details are as follows: Zhao Ding 趙鼎, Song Shi 360. The quoted remarks are on 32.11286. Chen Liang 陳亮, Song Shi 436. The statement in the essay does not appear verbatim in the history, but something very similar can be found on 37.12937. Meng Gong 孟珙, Song Shi 412. The quoted remarks are on 35.12376.

18. Reference here is to events of the pre-Qin period when, in 241 B.C.E., the southern state of Chu moved its capital to Shouchun 壽春, which was in what is now the Shou district of Anhui province.

19. Ming Tai Zu, the founder of the Ming dynasty. For details of his military successes, see CHC, 7(i).44ff.

20. Bi 邲 is an ancient place-name. It was situated in what is now the Cheng district of Henan province and was, in ancient times, the site of a battle between Jin and Chu.

21. For details of the military events leading up to the establishment of the Han dynasty, see CHC, 1.110ff.

22. Guang Wu is Guang Wudi 光武帝, founder of the Later Han dynasty.

23. Liu Yu 劉裕 (356–422) was the founder of the Liu Song dynasty and later called Song Wudi.

24. See Sun Wu 孫吳, The Art of War (Bingfa 兵法). This phrase is used to indicate skill in the deployment of military forces.

25. Fu Qin is Fu Jian 苻堅 (337–384).

26. Wanyan Liang 完顏亮 (d. 1161) was the fourth emperor of the Jin dynasty. He held sway in northern China for twelve years until 1161, when he launched a large-scale, but unsuccessful, attack on the Song.

27. Qin 秦 and Yang 楊 were, in the early Han period, renowned for their agriculture—see Shiji 129, 10.3282, and Han Shu 91, 11.3694.

28. Qiao Yao 橋姚 was from the Han period and renowned for the rearing of domestic animals—see Shiji 129, 10.3280. Wu Shi is Wu Shi Luo 烏氏裸. He was ennobled by Qinshi Huang Di for his work in animal husbandry—see Shiji 129, 10.3260.

29. Qi 棄 was a minister of agriculture under Emperor Shun—see Documents II.I.5; LCC, 3.43.

30. Fei Zi 非子 of the Zhou state was noted for his animal husbandry—see Shiji 5, 1.175ff.

31. Hucker, Dictionary of Official Titles, p. 550, no. 7409, has a detailed and informative entry on this term.

32. Wei Liaoweng 魏了翁 was a Song neo-Confucian scholar of note who rose to high office—for biographical details, see Song Shi 437, 37.12965–71. I am unable to locate the exact source of the quotes here from Wei Liaoweng. His collected works, Zhongjiao Heshan Xiansheng Daquanji, appear as vol. 60 of the SBCK.

33. Yangzhou 揚州 was one of the nine ancient divisions corresponding to part of what is now Jiangsu province. Ying 潁 and Shou 壽 are presumably Yingzhou and Shouzhou, the former originally established in the Eastern Wei period in an area corresponding in part to Henan province and the latter corresponding to part of present-day Anhui. Yang Hu 羊祜 (d. 278) and Du Yu 杜預 (222–284) were officials of the Jin dynasty—see Jin Shu 34, 4.1013–25 and 1025–34.

34. He Chengju 何承秬 was from the Song period. For details of his activities, see Song Shi 273, 27.9327ff.

35. Guanzi 22, SBCK 18(Guanzi).128.

36. Longlü was a district established in Han times. I haven’t been able to find an account of this incident.

37. Reference here is to Emperor Yuan of Jin’s crossing of the Yangzi River from north to south in 317 and setting up the Eastern Jin.

38. Zhang Fangping 張方平 (1007–1091) was a Song scholar and trenchant opponent of Wang Anshi—see Song Shi 318, 30.10353–59.

39. The two men referred to are the scholar-officials of the Former Han Jia Shan 賈山 and Jia Yi 賈誼. The statements can be found in Quan Shanggu Sandai Jin Han Sanguo Liuchao Wen, 1.14 and 16, respectively.

40. There are two references to the Zhou Yi in this opening statement: (1) su lü 素履, SSJZS, 1(Zhou Yi).40; (2) ri xin sheng de 日新盛德, “Xici” (shang), SSJZS, 1 (Zhou Yi).149.

41. The Five Classics referred to here are the Odes (Shi 詩), Documents (Shu 書), Rites (Sanli 三禮—Li Ji, Zhou Li, Yi Li), Changes (Zhou Yi 周易), and Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu 春秋). I have taken the term shi jian to refer to historical writings generally (featuring as they do so much in Gu’s writings), although here it may be a specific reference to the Shiji 史記 and the Zizhi Tongjian 資治通鑑.

42. The reference here is to Mencius IIIA.4(12); LCC, 2.253–54. D. C. Lau’s translation is as follows: “I have heard of the Chinese converting barbarians to their ways, but not of their having been converted to barbarian ways” (Mencius [New York: Penguin, 1970], 117).

43. The three provinces Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu.

44. Mention of Confucius’s chariot is a reference to his returning to Lu to teach there after a long absence—see Lunyu 5.22. Bo Luan 伯鸞 was a servant of a high official in Han times. The story is that he used the stove to cook his meals after others had done so in order to avail himself of the heat they had created—see Dongguan Hanji, “Liang Hong Zhuan.”

1. This essay appears as 9.8 in the Yuanchaoben version, immediately before “Gui Shen,” which is 6.45 in the Huang Rucheng edition.

2. This was published in 1695 and was the first complete edition.

3. The essay is 29.11 in the Yuanchaoben version.

1. This is not an exact quote—the idea is expressed in Xunzi 1, “Quanxue.”

2. The five ranks were gong 公 (duke), hou 侯 (marquis), bo 伯 (earl), zi 子 (viscount), and yong 男 (baron).

3. See SBCK 14(Guoyu).3–11.

4. The four references are, respectively, Zuo Zhuan, third year of Duke Huan, LCC 5.292–93; Zuo Zhuan, fifth year of Duke Huan, LCC 5.297–98; Spring and Autumn Annals, seventh year of Duke Yin, LCC 5.22; Zuo Zhuan, third year of Duke Ai, LCC 5.801–2. The years were, respectively (all B.C.E.), 708, 706, 715, 493.

5. Han Shu 1 (xia), 1.63.

6. After Liu Bang there followed Hui, Wen, and Jing.

7. The four references are (1) Shiji 104, Burton Watson, trans., Records of the Grand Historian of China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), 1:556–61; (2) Shiji 102, Watson, Records, 1:539–42; (3) Shiji 96 (8.2688), Han Shu 89 (11.3627–34); (4) Shiji 120, Watson, Records, 2:343–52.