孫公談圃

Sūngōng tánpǔ 孫公談圃

Master Sun’s [Sheng’s] Garden of Conversation by 孫升 (語; speaker) and 劉延世 (編; compiler)

About the work

A three-juàn record of the table-talk of 孫升 Sūn Shēng 孫升 (1038–1099, zì Jūnfú 君孚; senior Yuányòu-faction official) compiled by 劉延世 Liú Yánshì 劉延世, son of the magistrate of Chángtīng 長汀, during Sūn’s exile at Tīngzhōu 汀州 in Shàoshèng (1094 onwards). Sūn Shēng had served as Zhōngshū shèrén under Yuányòu and was demoted to Tīngzhōu in the Shàoshèng reversal; Liú Yánshì’s father was then the local magistrate, and Liú Yánshì obtained access to Sūn’s conversation, recording it. The work is one of the principal contemporary witnesses to the Yuányòu faction’s internal politics — particularly Sūn’s view of the Wáng Ānshí faction and his characteristic Yuányòu-internal critique of Sū Shì (whom Sūn opposed for elevation to chief minister, on the grounds that Sū as Hànlín xuéshì had already reached his proper limit). The Sìkù compilers note that Sūn’s stance is distinctively independent within the Yuányòu coalition.

Tiyao

Your servants report: Sūngōng tánpǔ in 3 juàn, by the Sòng Línjiāng Liú Yánshì recording what he heard of Sūn Shēng’s speech. Shēng zì Jūnfú, of Gāoyóu. In Yuányòu he held Zhōngshū shèrén; in Shàoshèng 1 (1094) he was demoted to Tīngzhōu. Liú Yánshì’s father at that time held the magistracy of Chángtīng; he was able to befriend Shēng and so collected the record. Shēng entered the Yuányòu dǎngjí (faction record), and the work treats contemporary politics. Among entries: the report of Wáng Ānshí seeing Wáng Páng [his son] receive [Daoist] míngzhōng (otherworldly) summons — i.e., dissatisfaction with Wáng Ānshí. The entry on Sū Shì, who through Sīmǎ Guāng’s recommendation was about to enter the central government — Sūn Shēng said: “Sū Shì as Hànlín xuéshì has already reached his limit; he should not be further elevated. If literary writings are to be the basis of chief-ministerial appointment, then Zhào Pǔ, Wáng Dàn, and Hán Qí never made themselves known by literary writing; if Wáng Ānshí was a sound Hànlín xuéshì who became inadequate as chief minister, then to elevate Sū Shì would be to invite the same disaster.” Also when Sū Shì proposed an guǎnzhí examination question reviewing Hàn Wéndì, Xuándì, Sòng Rénzōng and Shénzōng comparatively, Sūn Shēng instructed Fù Yáoyú and Wáng Yánsǒu to memorialise saying: “if [Hàn] Wéndì had faults, Rénzōng was not faultless; if [Hàn] Xuándì had failings, Shénzōng was not failing-less” — i.e., a further objection to Sū Shì. The entries on the contesting of Sīmǎ Guāng’s funeral attendance also depart from Chéng Yí’s view. Within the dǎngjí, Sūn was thus willing to walk his own road. Wáng Mào’s Yěkè cóngshū: “The Líntīng print of Sūngōng tánpǔ in 3 juàn; recently Gāoshā re-cut it from the Líntīng edition at the prefectural studio. I obtained from the Shānyáng Wú family a transcript made in the early Jiànyán; the latter has three additional passages, the last two by Sūn’s sister’s son Zhū…”

Abstract

Sūn Shēng (CBDB id 1542) and Liú Yánshì (CBDB id 20440) — neither with firm lifedates in CBDB — are reconstructible from the work’s internal evidence and the Sòng historical record: Sūn served at the Yuányòu court and was demoted to Tīngzhōu in Shàoshèng 1 (1094); the conversation-recording must therefore be 1094 onwards through Sūn’s death (1099 in standard reference works; Sòng shǐ Yìwén zhì lists Sūn’s various zòuyì writings). Liú Yánshì then arranged the record (probably in Yuánfú or Chóngníng).

The work’s principal value is its preservation of Sūn Shēng’s distinctive Yuányòu-internal voice — not Wáng Ānshí, not Cài Què, but also not Sū Shì, not Chéng Yí. It is one of the few primary sources showing the Yuányòu faction as multi-vocal rather than monolithic.

The Wáng Mào notice in Yěkè cóngshū establishes a textual history: a Líntīng (Tīngzhōu) original edition; a Gāoshā recut; and a Shān-yáng-family early-Jiànyán transcript with three additional entries (two by Sūn’s nephew Zhū). The present 3-juàn recension presumably contains some of these supplements.

Standard modern edition: collated in QuánSòng bǐjì; also in Sòng shǐliào cóngshū.

Translations and research

• Smith, Paul Jakov. 2009. “Shen-tsung’s Reign and the New Policies,” in CHC vol. 5. Uses Sūn-gōng tán-pǔ on Yuán-yòu-internal dynamics.
• Levine, Ari Daniel. Divided by a Common Language. UHP 2008. Major user of the work on Yuán-yòu factional plurality.
• Hartman, Charles. The Making of a Confucian Hero (CUP 2021). Cites the work on Sī-mǎ Guāng’s funeral debate.
• No European-language translation has been located.

Other points of interest

The SūShì objection — that Hànlín xuéshì should be the ceiling, not a stepping-stone to chief minister, because literary writings are not the foundation of zǎifǔ zhī cái (chief-ministerial talent) — is one of the more remarkable internal critiques in the Yuányòu faction, and explains some of Sū Shì’s troubles with his own ostensible allies.

Links

• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §63.
• https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&res=86691