自警編

Zì jǐng biān 自警編

A Compilation for Self-Vigilance

by 趙善璙 (Zhào Shànliáo, b. 1153), Sòng imperial-clansman, seventh-generation descendant of Tàizōng.

About the work

A 9-juàn Southern-Sòng jiāxùn compendium by 趙善璙 (Zhào Shànliáo), a Sòng imperial-clansman of the seventh generation from Tàizōng (Tàizú’s younger brother and successor) whose family had settled at Nánhǎi. The work was composed during his Duānpíng (1234–1236) tenure as Prefect of Jiāngzhōu. It compiles the jiā yán yì xíng (excellent words and seemly deeds) of Sòng-era famous ministers and great Confucians that may serve as model conduct, organized into eight categories with 55 sub-categories: Xué wèn 學問 (learning, 3 sub-categories); Cāo xiū 操修 (personal cultivation, 12); Qí jiā 齊家 (family management, 4); Jiē wù 接物 (treating others, 7); Chū chù 出處 (taking and refusing office, 5); Shì jūn 事君 (serving the ruler, 11); Zhèng shì 政事 (administration, 11); Shí yí 拾遺 (gleanings, 2). The format imitates the established Sòng Yán xíng lù genre (Zhū Xī’s Bā cháo yán xíng lù) but with some variation. Zhào lived in the last decades of the Southern Sòng, yet his selection of figures runs only through to Jìngkāng (1126); after that, only Zhū Xī’s discussions are sometimes included, with most later figures omitted. The Sìkù editors suggest two reasons: (1) reluctance to judge figures contemporary or near-contemporary; (2) Zhào’s view that Sòng customs declined after the southward crossing — the biàndū (Kāifēng) era being the high point of literati propriety, while the post-Nán dù era saw factions, partisan struggles, and reduced practical effect.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Zì jǐng biān in 9 juàn was compiled by Zhào Shànliáo of the Sòng. Shànliáo was Tàizōng’s seventh-generation descendant; family was at Nánhǎi; during Duānpíng (1234–1236) was Prefect of Jiāngzhōu. His book compiles the jiā yán yì xíng of Sòng-era famous ministers and great Confucians that can serve as principles. In Xuéwèn category 3 sub-headings, Cāoxiū category 12, Qíjiā category 4, Jiēwù category 7, Chūchù category 5, Shìjūn category 11, Zhèngshì category 11, Shíyí category 2 — eight categories with 55 sub-headings in all. The format imitates the Yán xíng lù tradition with slight variation.

Shànliáo lived at the end of the Southern Sòng, yet what he records ends at Jìngkāng (1126); thereafter only Zhūzǐ’s discussions are sometimes selected, the rest mostly not recorded. Probably because the times were close [to his own], and difficult in selection; and because Sòng-era scholar-official customs were of pure depth — only at Biàndū (the Northern-Sòng capital) at their highest; after the southern crossing, factions arose, party-positions emerged, discussion proliferated and practical use decreased — no longer the simple thick custom of the former people. So he uniquely arrayed the old virtues to demonstrate the boundary. Although what is listed is what people commonly know, fine-divisions and ordered analysis make it convenient for review.

The Cáifù (Wealth) and Bīng (Military) and Shíyí divisions also reach down to the petty and crafty, used for displaying a clear warning — these too are yàoshí (medicine-stones) for the contemporary scholar-officials.

The original text had book-citation names noted below each entry; today many are lost — apparently a transmission error; the various copies are all alike, so we let them stand as in the original.

Respectfully revised and submitted, tenth month of the forty-fourth year of Qiánlóng (1779).

Abstract

The Zì jǐng biān is a Southern-Sòng jiāxùn compendium in the míngchén yánxíng (famous-ministers’-words-and-deeds) tradition, compiled by the imperial-clansman 趙善璙 (Zhào Shànliáo) during his prefectship at Jiāngzhōu in the Duānpíng era (1234–1236). Its eight-category, 55-sub-category structure is one of the more carefully designed late-Sòng moral-handbook arrangements.

The book’s principal contributions:

1. Late-Sòng synthesis of Northern-Sòng exemplars. By collecting and topically arranging the exemplary conduct of Northern-Sòng worthies (with Zhū Xī as the principal Southern-Sòng addition), the book preserves a late-Sòng canon of the Northern-Sòng míngchén tradition.
2. Eight-category arrangement. The eight topical divisions — covering learning, personal cultivation, family, social relations, taking and refusing office, serving the ruler, administration, and gleanings — provide an unusually complete moral curriculum for the literati class.
3. Critical reflection on the southward crossing. The Sìkù editors’ identification of Zhào’s implicit critique of post-1127 customs is one of the more interesting historical-judgment dimensions of the work.
4. Source for Northern-Sòng anecdote. The book preserves many anecdotes from now-lost or rare Sòng bǐjì sources (though the original source-attributions have been lost in transmission).

Dating. Zhào served as Prefect of Jiāngzhōu during Duānpíng (1234–1236). NotBefore 1234, notAfter 1236.

Translations and research

No substantial Western-language treatment located. The work is cited in modern Chinese scholarship on Sòng-era jiā-xùn and on the development of the míng-chén yán-xíng genre. The Yuán-Míng Zhāng Guāng-zǔ Yán-xíng guī-jiàn (KR3j0184) expands on this work’s foundation.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 5, Zì jǐng biān entry.