Fàn Wénzhèng zòuyì 范文正奏議
Memorials of Fàn Wén-zhèng by 范仲淹 (撰)
About the work
Two-juàn selection of the official memorials of Fàn Zhòngyān 范仲淹 (989–1052; Wénzhèng 文正 his posthumous title) submitted during his three-year tenure as Cānzhī zhèngshì 參知政事 (Vice Grand Councillor) in Qìnglì 3–5 (1043–1045) — the period of the celebrated Qìnglì xīnzhèng 慶曆新政 (Qìnglì Reforms). The 85 memorials are arranged in four categories: zhìtǐ 治體 (the principles of governance), biānshì 邊事 (frontier affairs), jiànjǔ 薦舉 (recommendations of officials), and zázòu 雜奏 (miscellaneous memorials). The collection was edited by Fàn’s son Fàn Chúnrén 范純仁 (then a Sìchéng 寺丞) and prefaced by his close associate Hán Qí 韓琦 (1008–1075) in Huángyòu 5 (1053), the year after Fàn’s death.
Tiyao
The two juàn of Fàn Wénzhèng’s Memorials, by Fàn Zhòngyān of the Sòng. Zhòngyān, zì Xīwén, his ancestors were from Bīnzhōu, the family later moved south so he became a man of Wúxiàn. Passing the jìnshì in Dàzhōng xiángfú 8 (1015), he served through to Zīzhèng diàn xuéshì, Hùbù shìláng, and Zhī Qīngzhōu, dying in office; posthumously promoted Bīngbù shàngshū with Wénzhèng as posthumous title; his career is in his Sòng shǐ biography. — From Qìnglì 3 (1043), when he became Cānzhī zhèngshì, until Qìnglì 5 (1045) when he was sent out as Shǎnxī sìlù xuānfǔ shǐ, his time in central government was three years from beginning to end. This compilation is the entire body of his memorials from that period — hence the title. Divided into zhìtǐ, biānshì, jiànjǔ, and zázòu — four categories, eighty-five pieces in total. In Huángyòu 5 (1053), Hán Qí, then Hédōng jīnglüè ānfǔ shǐ, first wrote a preface and circulated it; the editor he calls sìchéngjūn refers to Fàn’s son Chúnrén. The Sòng shǐ Yìwén zhì records Fàn Zhòngyān zòuyì in 15 juàn, different from this version. In Hán Qí’s preface he speaks of “Memorials in 17 juàn, Zhèngfǔ lùnshì in 2 juàn”; the 17 juàn should be what the Sòng shǐ records — the Sòng shǐ being careless has misread 7 as 5; the 2 juàn should be precisely this work, only there it is called Lùnshì and not Zòuyì. However, in Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí there is a Fàn Wénzhènggōng zòuyì in 2 juàn, so the title Zòuyì is of long standing. The Sòng History records that, when Fàn was in power, Rénzōng was eager for governance, repeatedly inquiring about the urgent affairs of the day; he opened the Tiānzhāng gé and consulted by hand-written edict, and Fàn responded with the famous Tiáo chén shí shì 條陳十事 (Detailed Statement on Ten Matters), which Rénzōng adopted in full — only the Fǔbīng fǎ (the militia method) was held to be impracticable and not implemented. Now in this collection, the Dá zhào tiáo chén zhìdào (Reply to Imperial Edict on the Way of Governance) is precisely this matter; and his memorial requesting that fǔchén (vice-councillors) jointly supervise the various boards is also in this collection. Fàn took the empire as his own task, intent on cutting back undeserving favoritism and tightening official assessment; but the critics largely disagreed. Once the ten measures were carried out, the rènzǐ (yīn-privilege) was reduced and the mókān (evaluation) tightened; the favoritism-seekers were the more inconvenienced, and made up slanders, so Fàn could not remain in his position and left, and the implementation of his measures was gradually obstructed. From this collection one can still glimpse the regulations and plans he laid out; the Sòng shǐ praise of him as “hóngyì zhī qì, fit to bear this responsibility” is borne out without shame. Reverently presented in the eleventh month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief Editors: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Fàn Wénzhèng zòuyì is one of the principal documentary monuments of the Qìnglì xīnzhèng — the Northern Sòng’s first major reform attempt and the model for Wáng Ānshí’s later, larger Xīníng reforms. The 85 memorials include: the Dá zhào tiáo chén shí shì (Fàn’s keynote ten-point reform program), submitted in Qìnglì 3 / 9 in response to Rénzōng’s Tiānzhāng gé hand-edict; multiple frontier-defence memorials from his earlier service in the northwest against Western Xià; recommendations for the appointment of Hán Qí, Fù Bì 富弼, Ōuyáng Xiū 歐陽修, and others. The work overlaps in part with the much fuller Fàn Wénzhèng gōng jí (KR4d0079); but its categorical organization and its contemporary preface (Hán Qí, 1053) make it the more useful witness for the Reform program. The compiler — Fàn’s son Fàn Chúnrén 范純仁 (1027–1101), himself later Cānzhī zhèngshì — gave the collection canonical shape within a year of his father’s death.
Translations and research
- James T. C. Liu, An Early Sung Reformer: Fan Chung-yen (Harvard UP, 1957) — the principal English biography.
- Mao Han-kuang 毛漢光, Fàn Zhòng-yān yánjiū 范仲淹研究 (Lián-jīng, 1990).
- Fukuzawa Sōkichi 福澤宗吉, Han Chūen no jōgi to Hokusō no naisei kaikaku 范仲淹の上議と北宋の内政改革 (Tokyo, 1989).
- Wilkinson 2018 §62.3.7.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù editors’ note on the textual history (the Sòng shǐ “15 juàn” misreading for “17”, the Lùnshì / Zòuyì title variation) is a model of cautious philological reasoning in the tíyào. The 15-juàn version is now lost; this 2-juàn selection (with the much fuller Fàn Wénzhèng gōng jí) is the principal carrier of his memorial corpus.
Links
- Wikidata: Fan Zhongyan
- Wilkinson 2018 §62.3.7.