Dōngzhāi jìshì 東齋記事
Records of the Eastern Studio by 范鎮 (撰)
About the work
A six-juàn compilation (originally 10 or 12 juàn; reconstructed by the Sìkù compilers from Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and other extracts into 5 juàn + 1 juàn bǔyí) by the senior Yuányòu-faction official 范鎮 Fàn Zhèn 范鎮 (1008–1088, zì Jǐngrén 景仁), composed in his Yuánfēng (1078–85) retirement after his second resignation from court. The work was banned in the Chóngníng — Dàguān period (1102–1110) as anti-Xīníng New Policies literature, alongside the writings of Sū Shì and Huáng Tíngjiān; lifted from the ban after the Southern crossing. Recovered text contains substantial coverage of Shǔ (Sìchuān) matter, due to Fàn Zhèn’s native-place attachment.
Tiyao
Your servants report: Dōngzhāi jìshì in 6 juàn, by the Sòng Fàn Zhèn. Zhèn zì Jǐngrén, of Huáyáng. Career in Sòng shǐ. Per the self-preface, this work was composed in Yuánfēng. The Sòng treatise records 12 juàn; Wénxiàn tōngkǎo 10 juàn; the old text long lost, unclear which is correct. We have gathered from Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and arranged categorically into 5 juàn; Jiāng Shǎoyú’s Shìshí lèiyuàn and Zēng Zào’s Lèishuō also quote it frequently; we have removed duplicates and continued with a bǔyí of 1 juàn. The result is not necessarily Zhèn’s complete book, but reckoning against the Sòng and Tōngzhì counts we have recovered probably more than half. Wáng Déchén’s Zhǔshǐ: this book was composed in Zhèn’s retirement, and so the Shǔ-matters are abundant. Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì: in the Chóngníng — Guān-era it was banned because much was on previous-court gùshì. The present text contains much praise of Sòng founding-house good governance; nothing slanderous or treasonous. But the recorded matters are subtly contrary to the Xīníng New Policies, doubtless with hidden intent — so Fàn Zhèn entered the dǎngjí and his book was suppressed alongside the SūHuáng writings; with the Yuányòu faction restored after the southern crossing, the work circulated again. Among entries the original line-notes (e.g. “Zhāng Huì” annotated “the Jīng print writes Zhāng Lún” — many such cases) show that the contemporary printed editions were not uniform…
Abstract
Fàn Zhèn (CBDB id 3279; 1008–1088) — the most steadfast of the Yuányòu faction’s anti-Xīníng protesters, who resigned twice from court rather than serve under Wáng Ānshí’s New Policies — composed the Dōngzhāi jìshì in retirement at Huáyáng (Shǔ). Topically the work covers the Tàizǔ — Shénzōng period with characteristic Yuányòu-faction inflection: Zhēnzōng-era court politics (especially the Tānyuān and the fēngshàn), the Qìnglì reform, the XīXià war, Rénzōng-era cultural life. The Shǔ-matter — Hú Yuán 胡瑗’s school, the Mèng Shǔ — Sòng transition, regional ritual practice, the Jiāozǐ (paper-money) institution at Chéngdū — is the work’s most distinctive contribution. Several major entries are unique sources for these subjects.
Standard modern edition: Rǔ Pèi 汝沛, coll. Dōngzhāi jìshì; Chūnmíng tuìcháo lù (Zhōnghuá 1980, TángSòng shǐliào bǐjì cóngkān) — the reconstructed Yǒnglè dàdiǎn-based text.
Translations and research
- Smith, Paul Jakov. 2009. “Shen-tsung’s Reign and the New Policies,” in Cambridge History of China, vol. 5. Cites Dōngzhāi jìshì on anti-reform discourse.
- von Glahn, Richard. 1996. Fountain of Fortune: Money and Monetary Policy in China. UCP. Uses Dōngzhāi jìshì on the Jiāo-zǐ paper-money system in Shǔ.
- Hartman, Charles. The Making of a Confucian Hero (2021) — engages with Fàn Zhèn as a primary source for Yuán-yòu historiography.
- No complete European-language translation has been located.
Other points of interest
The work’s textual fate — banned in the Chóngníng — Dàguān period and recovered through Yǒnglè dàdiǎn — makes it a primary case study for the textual transmission of “Yuányòu xuéshù” (Yuányòu learning) under the Cài Jīng regime. The notes preserved in the Sìkù edition flagging variant readings (“the Jīng print writes X”) are themselves witnesses to the multiple Sòng editions in circulation before the Chóngníng ban.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §63.
- https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&res=86571