Fàn Zhōngxuān jí 范忠宣集
Collected Works of [Fàn] Zhōng-xuān [Chún-rén] by 范純仁 (撰), 范能濬 (輯補)
About the work
Fàn Zhōngxuān jí 范忠宣集 (also Fàn Zhōngxuān gōng wénjí, named from Fàn Chúnrén 范純仁’s posthumous shì Zhōngxuān 忠宣) is the literary collection of Fàn Chúnrén (1027–1101, zì Yáofū 堯夫), second son of Fàn Zhòngyān 范仲淹 范仲淹 and one of the central Yuányòu premiers. The Sòng-period transmission was prefaced by Lóu Yuè 樓鑰 in Jiādìng 5 / 1212 with four colophons (Fàn Zhīróu 范之柔, Shěn Qí 沈圻, Liào Shì 廖視, Chén Zōngdào 陳宗衜). The Sìkù received a Kāngxī dīnghài / 1707 re-edition by Fàn Shíchóng 范時崇 (Chúnrén’s 20th-generation descendant), supplemented by his elder kinsman Fàn Néngjùn 范能濬 范能濬: 18 juǎn main collection (5 juǎn shī + 12 juǎn záwén + 1 juǎn national-history běnzhuàn appended at the back), 2 juǎn zòuyì (73 sealed-memorials from Zhìpíng 1 / 1064 to Yuányòu 8 / 1093), 1 juǎn yíwén (Chúnrén 7 pieces + Chúnlǐ 2 + Chúncuì 19), and 1 juǎn bǔbiān (12 zhìcí / tíbá + 1 chǐdú) — total 22 juǎn. The Sòng-period Yánxínglù 言行錄 in 20 juǎn (mentioned in Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí but already lost in Sòng times); the Tánshì 彈事 in 5 juǎn and Guólùn 國論 in 5 juǎn are likewise lost.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Fàn Zhōngxuān jí in 18 juǎn, zòuyì 2 juǎn, yíwén 1 juǎn, bǔbiān 1 juǎn by Fàn Chúnrén of the Sòng. Chúnrén, zì Yáofū, second son of [Fàn] Zhòngyān. In Yuányòu held Shàngshū yòu púyè; on dǎnghuò (factional persecution) demoted to Yǒngzhōu; recalled and made Guānwéndiàn dàxuéshì; posthumously Kāifǔ yítóng sānsī. His móuguó zhōngzhāng (state-counsel, loyal-bright) particularly has the fùfēng (paternal style); deeds in his Sòngshǐ běnzhuàn. The wénjí in 18 juǎn — the first 5 juǎn shī, the back 12 juǎn all záwén; the last juǎn is the national-history běnzhuàn — that being what Chúnrén’s zàicóngsūn (great-grandnephew) Zhīróu (Fàn Zhīróu) added when cutting the collection. Front carries Lóu Yuè’s Jiādìng 5 / 1212 xù; back carries Zhīróu, zhī Yǒngzhōu Shěn Qí, Liào Shì, Yǒngzhōu education-supervisor Chén Zōngdào, four colophons. Yuè praises his wén as gēndǐ liùjīng, qiē yú lùnshì (rooted in the Six Classics, cutting to the discussion of affairs) — clearly his qìtǐ běn zì shēnhòu (basic spirit-and-style was deep-and-substantial); he is not merely lifted by the man’s character. Further: zòuyì in 2 juǎn — from Zhìpíng 1 / 1064 as Diànzhōng shìyùshǐ until Yuányòu 8 / 1093 second-time as premier — qiánhòu total 73 fēngshì. Further yíwén in 1 juǎn — Chúnrén’s 7 pieces, with his younger brother Chúnlǐ’s 2 pieces and Chúncuì’s 19 pieces appended — that is what yìsūn Néngjùn re-deleted-and-supplemented based on the old běn. Further bǔbiān in 1 juǎn — Chúnrén’s chǐdú (correspondence-piece) 1 — with zhìcí, tíbá etc. 12 pieces appended — also what Néngjùn edited. Kāngxī dīnghài / 1707 his 20th-generation descendant Shíchóng combined-cut with [Fàn] Zhòngyān’s collection and circulated. The Shūlù jiětí-recorded Chúnrén Yánxínglù in 20 juǎn in Sòng times was already lost; the Tánshì in 5 juǎn and Guólùn in 5 juǎn are also now not transmitted. Qiánlóng 43 (1778) 5th month, respectfully collated.
The Lóu Yuè yuánxù (1212) is one of the more substantive Southern-Sòng biéjí prefaces: it reads Fàn Chúnrén explicitly through the Yánxínglù’s zéjǐzérén 責己責人 maxim (judging-self, judging-others), recounts Lóu’s youthful admiration; details several of the most-cited Chúnrén anecdotes — the protection of Dèng Wǎn 鄧綰 against impeachment (“shàng xī cháotíng shìtǐ, xià yǐ ān rénqíng fǎncè”); the Sū Zhé / Yáng Wèi episode (after which Sū compared Chúnrén to “a person at the Buddha-stage”); the protection of Zhāng Dūn’s nonagenarian father; the post-blindness Yǒngzhōu exile and the fùzhōu yújiāng (boat-capsizing) anecdote — cǐ yì zǐhòu suǒ wèi yé (this also Zǐhòu’s doing?); the Cài Xīnzhōu defense, in which Chúnrén opposed the death penalty for Cài Què against the empress dowager and his own coalition members; and, in his last advice, the warning that xiézhèng bìngyòng (mixing the perverse with the upright) had been the cause of Yuányòu’s collapse. The preface ends with the Wáng Ān-shí-related personal context: Wáng once wished to use Lóu’s ancestor in office, and he refused on Chúnrén’s principle.
Abstract
Fàn Zhōngxuān jí is one of the most fully-developed Northern-Sòng senior-statesman biéjí — preserving 73 sealed memorials across 30 years (1064–1093), the principal-court epistolary record of a Yuányòu premier, and a substantial shī corpus that anchors Fàn’s reputation as a shīrén (a register Lóu’s preface particularly emphasizes). The two iconic Fàn anecdotes — the Yǒngzhōu boat-capsizing and the cǐ yì Zǐhòu suǒ wèi yé deflection of family resentment, and the post-blindness Suízhōu zéjiàn episode — are recurring touchstones for Sòng xiánshù (worthy-discourse) literature. The Sìkù editors’ explicit framing of Fàn as a fùfēng (carrying the paternal style of Fàn Zhòngyān) places this biéjí in a structural pair with the Fàn Wénzhènggōng jí KR4d0023 — a model of trans-generational Sòngrú jiājí assembly. Dating bracket: Fàn’s death (1101) to the Sìkù re-collation (1778).
Translations and research
- Levine, Ari Daniel. 2008. Divided by a Common Language. Hawai’i.
- Smith, Paul J. 1991. Taxing Heaven’s Storehouse. Harvard.
- Yú Yīng-shí 余英時. 2003. Zhū Xī de lì-shǐ shì-jiè. Sān-lián.
- Liu, James T. C. 1959. Reform in Sung China. Harvard.
- Fàn Néng-yùn 范能浕 et al. 1988. Fàn Wén-zhèng gōng zú-pǔ — Fàn-family compilation tracing Fàn Zhòng-yān → Chún-rén lineage to the Qing recension.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù editors’ note on Lóu Yuè’s connection to Fàn Chúnrén — Lóu being a Northern-Sòng / Southern-Sòng cultural bridge whose own ancestor was offered office by Wáng Ānshí and refused on Fàn’s principle — is one of the more revealing pieces of late-Southern-Sòng Yuányòu-coalition family memory, refracted through Lóu’s Jiang-zhe gentry network. The Yánxínglù, Tánshì, and Guólùn losses (the three principal Sòng-period non-collected works) are still felt; Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì records all three.
Links
- Fan Chunren (Wikidata)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.1 (Sòng biéjí); §44 (Yuányòu / Shàoshèng).