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涉史隨筆

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Text ID
KR2o0009
Date
1184–1212
Dynasty
宋

Shèshǐ suíbǐ 涉史隨筆

Random Notes on Reading the Histories

by 葛洪 (Gě Hóng, of the Sòng, fl. 1184–1233)

About the work

The Shèshǐ suíbǐ is a 1-juan collection of 26 historical-criticism essays produced by Gě Hóng of the Southern Sòng before his rise to high office. (This Gě Hóng is to be distinguished from the much earlier Eastern-Jìn alchemist Gě Hóng 葛洪 of the Bàopǔzǐ, c. 283–343, whose entry on this site is the upper section of the 葛洪 person note.) The work was composed during the home-mourning that followed Gě’s Chúnxī 11 (1184) jìnshì — i.e. roughly between 1184 and his first substantive office — as a “notes-while-reading” companion to the dynastic histories. Gě’s frame for the genre is set out in his own preface, preserved in the WYG: minor officials and commoners seeking advancement at the imperial gate routinely produce trivial flattery as their “self-introduction”; he refuses this convention and instead presents 26 essays of substantive moral-political analysis, “to support the deliberations of the high court by some thousandth part.” The Sìkù tiyao places Gě’s work between Hú Yín’s 胡寅 KR2o Dúshǐ guǎnjiàn 讀史管見 (in style and genre) and the standard Sòng shǐpíng tradition; it is written in a milder register than Hú Yín, less censorious and less factionally combative.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Shèshǐ suíbǐ in one juàn was composed by Gě Hóng of the Sòng. Gě, zì Róngfǔ 容甫, self-styled Pánshì lǎorén 蟠室老人, was a native of Dōngyáng 東陽 in Wùzhōu 婺州 (modern Zhèjiāng). Jìnshì of Chúnxī 11 (1184). In the Jiādìng era he rose to Cānzhī zhèngshì 參知政事 (Vice Counselor of State) and Guānwéndiàn xuéshì 觀文殿學士. Posthumous title Duānjiǎn 端簡; biography in his Sòngshǐ entry.

This book has Gě’s own preface at the front. In substance it says: “When minor officials and commoners apply at the gate of the High Court for promotion, beyond begging an introduction or pleading favour they generally have nothing else to say — this is just mutual deception. I dare not engage in such deception. Lately I have been in mourning at home, and have taken up the histories for soothing reading; whenever I caught a glimpse of something, I jotted it down — and have selected the 26 essays which might be of use to high-court deliberation.” So this is a work composed by Gě before he had risen to high office, presented to the chief minister of the day. The discussions are therefore all on the deeds of great ministers of antiquity.

The essay on Tián Xīn 田歆 says: “Had Xīn been firm and self-standing, men of themselves would have not dared interfere by private channels; if the imperial relatives dared to make their requests for appointments, that fact only sealed Xīn’s culpability.” The essay on Wéi Ào 韋澳 says: “Although right-and-wrong should run with the popular mood, judgement should be made on one’s own grounds.” These remarks are precisely reasoned. The other essays mostly argue from circumstance, in the manner of Hú Yín’s Dúshǐ guǎnjiàn, but the persuasive register is mild — not given to Hú Yín’s harshness or one-sided railing. Only the essay on Shēntú Jiā 申屠嘉 repeatedly elaborates the principle that the chief minister’s authority should be heavy. But the Sòng zǎizhí (chief executive office) was not in fact obstructed by a usurping eunuch corps; the situation was utterly different from the Hàn or the Táng. Men like Wáng Ānshí, Cài Jīng, Zhāng Dūn, Qín Huì, Hán Tuōzhòu, Shǐ Mǐyuǎn, and Jiǎ Sìdào — all suffered from the zǎizhí having too much authority, until they had rooted out everyone of upright standing and ruined the state. Gě’s argument, in proposing only to guard against the harm of eunuchs but not against the harm of corrupt ministers, falls into one-sidedness. Qiánlóng 42 (1777), 3rd month, respectfully revised.

Abstract

This Sòng-dynasty Gě Hóng (the catalog correctly distinguishes him from the East-Jìn alchemist of the same name) was a Wùzhōu / Dōngyáng man, jìnshì of Chúnxī 11 (1184). His career took off in the Níngzōng and Lǐzōng reigns: he reached Cānzhī zhèngshì (Vice Counselor) in the Jiādìng era under Níngzōng, served as Guānwéndiàn xuéshì, and was awarded the posthumous title Duānjiǎn 端簡. His birth and death dates are uncertain; CBDB id 30231 records his death as 1237, which is in line with the Sòngshǐ indications, though birthyear cannot be securely fixed. The work itself was written considerably earlier, during a period of home-mourning following his 1184 success in the metropolitan exam — i.e. between 1184 and his first substantive central appointments around 1210–1212.

The 26 essays cover figures and events from across pre-Sòng history, with particular attention to the Western Hàn and the Táng. Notable for their precision are the essays on Tián Xīn (the principle that subordinate-rank evasions are themselves evidence of senior weakness), on Wéi Ào (the proper relation of public opinion and individual moral judgement), and on Shēntú Jiā (the case for stronger ministerial authority). The Sìkù tiyao reads this last essay as Gě’s most one-sided — argued from HànTáng analogies without recognising that the Sòng-era danger ran the opposite way: corrupt prime ministers (Wáng Ānshí, Cài Jīng, Zhāng Dūn, Qín Huì, Hán Tuōzhòu, Shǐ Mǐyuǎn, Jiǎ Sìdào) concentrating excessive ministerial power. The remark is one of the more pointed Sìkù digressions and reflects the Qing court’s own preoccupation with concentration of central authority.

The work was preserved in the Wénxiàn tōngkǎo and Jūnzhāi dúshū zhì citation traditions, but the printed Sòng original was lost; the Sìkù compilers worked from a LiǎngJiāng family copy submitted by the Bào family of Zhèjiāng.

CBDB id 30231 for the Sòng Gě Hóng (distinct from the Eastern-Jìn alchemist’s id 30856) records death year 1237; birth year not preserved.

Translations and research

No English translation located.

  • Charles Hartman, The Making of Song Dynasty History (Cambridge UP, 2021), §6.5 on late-Sòng shǐpíng (historical critical) writings.
  • Hilde De Weerdt, Information, Territory, and Networks (Harvard, 2016), Ch. 6.
  • Mark Halperin, Out of the Cloister (Harvard Asia Center, 2006), passim.
  • Wāng Shèngduó 王聖鐸, “Sòng Gě Hóng Shèshǐ suíbǐ yánjiū” 宋葛洪《涉史隨筆》研究, Wénshǐ zhī xīng 文史知識 (2005).
  • Sòng Yànshēn 宋衍申, Sòngdài shǐxué shǐ 宋代史學史 (Bĕijīng shīfàn dàxué, 1991), Ch. 5.

Other points of interest

The preface’s anecdote about a Yǐng-man writing to a Yān minister and accidentally telling him to “lift a torch” (jǔ zhú 舉燭), the Yān minister taking this as advice to elevate worthy gentlemen, and then producing a great political reform — Gě uses this as a self-deprecating gloss on his own rough-and-ready essays — is one of the most often-cited literary tags from this work, and was anthologised in Míng-era prose-school readers.

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