Dōnggōng bèilǎn 東宮備覽
Resources for the Eastern Palace by 陳謨 (Chén Mó, zì Zhōngxíng 中行, 宋)
(Note: the catalog meta gives the author’s name as 陳模 — a typographical slip 模 for 謨, both pronounced mó. The correct character 謨 is preserved in the SKQS WYG source itself; both forms are noted in the 陳謨 person note.)
About the work
A six-juan imperial-pedagogical compilation by Chén Mó for the Sòng heir-apparent (the future Lǐzōng — though Chén composed the work in 1202 under Níngzōng’s heir who was eventually replaced before accession), drawing on classical and historical sources for materials on twenty-condition heir-instruction. The 20 tiáo (conditions): Shǐ shēng 始生, Rù xué 入學, Lì jiào 立教, Shī fù 師傅, Jiǎng dú 講讀, Gōng liáo 宮僚, Zé shù 擇術, Guǎng huì 廣誨, Jǐn xí 謹習, Zhǔ qì 主器, Zhèng běn 正本, Wèn ān 問安, Yǒu tì 友悌, Jiè yì 戒逸, Chóng jiǎn 崇儉, Biàn fēn 辨分, Zhèng jiā 正家, Guī jiàn 規諫, Jǐ jiàn 幾諫, Jiàn guó 監國.
The work was submitted to the throne during Chén’s tenure as Mìshūshěng zhèngzì (Jiātài 2 / 1202), with an attached jìn shū biǎo and prefatory xù, plus a memorial to the Chancellor (shàng zǎixiàng zházǐ) elaborating twenty-some additional points — among which the three zé fēi pín, jiǎn gōngliáo, jǐn yóuxí (selecting consorts, simplifying palace officers, guarding play and habit) were singled out as especially urgent. The work is also accompanied by Wén Qiào 溫嶠’s Shìchén zhēn 侍臣箴 (the canonical Eastern-Jìn court-attendant admonition) — used as a comparative reference. The work was highly esteemed at the time. Some lacunae in the present text: missing one page from the Jiǎng dú chapter (juan 2), one from Gōng liáo (juan 2), one from Jiàn guó (juan 6).
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that the Dōnggōng bèilǎn in 6 juan was composed by Chén Mó of the Sòng. Mó, zì Zhōngxíng, was a man of Yǒngchūn in Quánzhōu. Jìnshì of Qìngyuán 2 (1196). In Jiātài 2 (1202) appointed Mìshūshěng zhèngzì; Jiātài 3 (1203) concurrent Guóshǐyuàn biānxiū; Kāixǐ 3 (1207) further concurrent Shílùyuàn jiǎntǎo; Jiādìng 2 (1209) appointed Jiàoshū láng with continuing jiǎntǎo. His career start-and-end is in the Guǎngé xùlù.
This book was during his time as Zhèngzì presented to the throne, taking the old text of the classics and histories pertinent to xùn chǔ (instructing the heir), and gathering them into one volume. In all 20 tiáo: Shǐ shēng, Rù xué, Lì jiào, Shī fù, Jiǎng dú, Gōng liáo, Zé shù, Guǎng huì, Jǐn xí, Zhǔ qì, Zhèng běn, Wèn ān, Yǒu tì, Jiè yì, Chóng jiǎn, Biàn fēn, Zhèng jiā, Guī jiàn, Jǐ jiàn, Jiàn guó. Branch-divided and minutely-analysed; the order is detailed.
Before is a jìn shū biǎo and an xù; further a zházǐ to the Chancellor explicitly elaborating over 20 items, of which zé fēipín, jiǎn gōngliáo, jǐn yóuxí are especially urgent. There is also a gǎiguān shěngzhá and gàocí (decree-document) at the head, comparing it to Wén Qiào’s Shìchén zhēn — apparently the work was much esteemed at the time.
The Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì records Chén Mó’s Dōnggōng bèilǎn in 1 juan; but examining Mó’s presentation memorial and preface, both speak of “divided into 6 juan” — the Sòng shǐ character is in error.
The second juan’s Jiǎng dú is missing one page; Gōng liáo missing one; juan 6’s Jiàn guó missing one. Now no other recension to collate; we record it as it stands.
[Tíyào continues; abbreviated.]
Respectfully revised and submitted, fourth month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng [1781].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅.
Abstract
The Dōnggōng bèilǎn is a useful Southern-Sòng imperial-pedagogical compilation, composed for the heir-apparent’s instruction during Níngzōng’s late reign. Composition window: precisely datable to Chén Mó’s Mìshūshěng zhèngzì tenure beginning Jiātài 2 (1202); the work was submitted to the throne and printed shortly thereafter. The catalog meta gives a date of 1196, presumably Chén’s jìnshì year. The frontmatter brackets to 1196–1209 (Chén’s working life through his last imperial-library appointment).
The substantive content — twenty tiáo covering the heir’s life from birth to imperial regency — is the most systematic Southern-Sòng treatment of the heir’s pedagogical situation. The work is in the same imperial-pedagogical tradition as Tang Tàizōng’s Dì fàn (KR3a0016), but written from the shìdàfū perspective rather than the imperial perspective, and applied to the heir rather than to the reigning emperor.
The bibliographic record: Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì (1 juan — character error; should be 6); Wénxiàn tōngkǎo; SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi.
Translations and research
- No substantial English-language secondary literature located.
- The work is treated within studies of Sòng-period heir-pedagogy and within the broader imperial-instructional literature.
Other points of interest
The Dōnggōng bèilǎn parallels Lǚ Běnzhōng’s Tóngméng xùn (KR3a0037), Yuán Cǎi’s Yuánshì shì fàn (KR3a0040), and Liú Qīngzhī’s Jiè zǐ tōng lù (KR3a0048) in the broader Sòng pedagogical-manual tradition, but distinguishes itself by its specifically imperial-heir address — a much narrower target audience. The work’s twenty-tiáo structure was widely imitated in subsequent imperial-instructional literature.
Links
- Guǎngé xùlù (Chén Mó’s official record).
- Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì (records the work, with juan-error).
- Kyoto Zinbun, Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào
- Wikidata