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政經

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Text ID
KR3a0061
Date
1232–1235
Dynasty
宋

Zhèng jīng 政經

The Government Classic attributed to 眞德秀 (Zhēn Déxiù, 1178–1235, 宋)

About the work

A one-juan compilation gathering classical citations on government followed by historical xíngzhèng (governance-deeds) anecdotes — the latter titled zhuàn 傳 to distinguish them — closing with a fù lù (appendix) of six contemporary near-events. Appended further are documents from Zhēn Déxiù’s own gubernatorial career: his zīchéng 咨呈 as Húnán Ānfǔshǐ and Chángshā Prefect (preaching the four characters liánréngōngqín 廉仁公勤 to the subordinate officers); his quànyú wén 勸諭文 as Quánzhōu Prefect; his appeal Shè yìcāng wén 設義倉文 as Chángshā Prefect (on establishing relief granaries); and his Fúzhōu xiǎoyù wén 曉諭文. The appended materials are clearly later additions (hòurén suǒ yì 後人所益), comparable in this respect to the augmentations in the parallel Xīn jīng (KR3a0060). The SKQS tíyào expresses some doubt about the work’s authorship — Zhēn’s own disciple Wáng Mài’s preface to the parallel printing of Xīn jīng and Zhèng jīng says the Zhèng jīng was Zhēn’s late composition during his second tenure as Prefect of Quánzhōu (Shàodìng 5, 1232) — but the Shūlù jiětí records only the Xīn jīng, raising the question whether the Zhèng jīng might be a near-contemporary disciple’s compilation under Zhēn’s name. The SKQS editors leave the question open, preserving the work alongside the Xīn jīng as “not contrary to the Confucian’s word.”

Tiyao

(Translated from Kyoto Zinbun digital Sìkù tíyào 0191401.)

The Zhèng jīng in 1 juan — copy from the Ānhuī Provincial Governor’s submission.

Composed by Zhēn Déxiù of the Sòng. Selecting from the canonical literature passages on government and listing them in front; with the deeds of governance listed behind, titled zhuàn to distinguish. At the close, six near-contemporary items as fùlù. Thereafter the work records Déxiù’s zīchéng of Chángshā command, his quànyú wén as Quánzhōu Prefect, his Shè yìcāng wén of Chángshā command, and his Xiǎoyù wén as Fúzhōu Prefect — plainly later hands’ supplements, like the Xīn jīng’s citations of the Dúshū jì. Déxiù may have proclaimed himself a great Confucian, but he would not have titled his own tiáojiào a jīng (classic).

The Sòng shǐ Dàoxué zhuàn says: Déxiù held Húnán Ānfǔshǐ and Tánzhōu command, encouraging his subordinate officers with the four characters liánréngōngqín; further established the Huìmín relief granary and the shè cāng. Holding Fúzhōu, he warned subordinate offices against arbitrary judgement and reckless extraction, against private favouritism and graft. Déxiù’s time at court was short; his administrative achievements were mostly during his external posts. He was attentive to the people’s woes and so wrote this. His disciple Wáng Mài’s preface says: “the master twice held Wēnlíng [Quánzhōu]; in those days he composed the Zhèng jīng.” Examining: Déxiù’s second tenure of Quánzhōu was in Lǐzōng’s Shàodìng 5 (1232) — a late composition. Mài says further: Zhào Shídì served as fǎcáo and was in daily contact, hence obtained this jīng — earlier than the four-direction disciples; and the four-direction disciples may not all have seen it. The Shūlù jiětí records the Xīn jīng but not this work. Did the Xīn jīng circulate early and this book emerge later? Or did Déxiù’s renown lead someone to fabricate under his name? Authenticity cannot now be settled. But its words are not contrary to the Confucian, so we let it stand alongside the Xīn jīng.

Abstract

The Zhèng jīng’s authorship is not entirely secure. The work circulated in the immediate post-Zhēn-Déxiù generation as Zhēn’s late composition (per Wáng Mài’s preface), but the Shūlù jiětí’s omission of the work — combined with the conventional Confucian humility that would discourage Zhēn from titling his own tiáojiào a jīng — leaves room for doubt. The SKQS editors’ position is to preserve the work without resolving the question. The composition window, on the most charitable Wáng Mài account, is the period of Zhēn’s second tenure of Quánzhōu (Shàodìng 5 = 1232) through to his death (1235); the frontmatter brackets to 1232–1235.

The substantive content — classical-political citation followed by exemplary deeds, with appended Zhēn Déxiù governance documents — places the work as a practical companion to the more theoretical Dàxué yǎnyì (KR3a0058). The closing four documents (the Chángshā / Quánzhōu / Fúzhōu administrative texts) are evidently authentic Zhēn writings, transferred into the Zhèng jīng from his collected works.

The bibliographic record: not in Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì; not in Zhízhāi shūlù jiětí; Wénxiàn tōngkǎo; SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi. The pairing with the Xīn jīng in the 1242 Zhào Shídì Dàyú printing established the Xīn jīng / Zhèng jīng dyad in late-imperial transmission.

Translations and research

  • No substantial English-language secondary literature located specific to the Zhèng jīng.
  • The work is treated within studies of late-Sòng administrative literature and Zhēn Déxiù-specific scholarship.
  • For the broader Zhēn Déxiù Lǐxué-statecraft project: Theodore de Bary, Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the Learning of the Mind-and-Heart (1981).

Other points of interest

The four appended administrative documents — particularly the Liánréngōngqín fourfold zīchéng — are widely cited as a model of late-Sòng Lǐxué-aligned moral-administrative guānzhēn 官箴 (officials’ admonitions). The four-character formula became canonical in YuánMíngQīng official manuals and remains in use as a slogan in modern Chinese administrative literature.

The pairing with the Xīn jīng in the 1242 Dàyú printing established a “xīnzhèng” — heart-mind / governance — pedagogical pairing that is methodologically distinct from the Northern-Sòng daoxué abstract-metaphysical canon. The Zhēn Déxiù dyad represents the late-Sòng Lǐxué turn toward applied jīngshì alongside its continued xīnxìng anchoring.

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