Gāofēng wénjí 高峯文集
The Gāo-fēng Collection by 廖剛 (撰)
About the work
Gāofēng wénjí 高峯文集 in 12 juǎn is the literary collection of Liào Gāng 廖剛 (1071–1143, zì Yòngzhōng 用中, hào Gāofēng 高峯, of Shùnchāng 順昌 in modern Fújiàn). Jìnshì of Chóngníng 5 (1106); rose through Yùshǐ zhōngchéng 御史中丞 (Censor-in-Chief) and ended with the Tíjǔ Míngdàogōng sinecure on retirement. A senior Yáng Shí 楊時 men-disciple whose record is split in the historiographic literature: Zhū Xī’s Yǔlèi assesses Liào as a Shàoxīng-era assistant of the peace party, but the Sòng shǐ records his sharper resistance after the Jin breach of the 1141 settlement, including his demand that Zhèng Yìnián 鄭億年 stake “a hundred mouths” on Jin good faith. The collection’s surviving text is poorly preserved (no Sòng-era printed edition; many transcription errors), but the structure remains: 7 juǎn of zházǐ and biǎo (memorials), 2 of qǐ and jiǎn, 1 of poetry/lyric, 1 of shūzhuàng / qīngcí / jì / bá / mùzhì, 1 of zhìyǔ / zhùwén / jìwén / wǎncí.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: the Gāofēng wénjí in 12 juǎn was composed by Liào Gāng of the Sòng. Gāng’s zì was Yòngzhōng, a man of Shùnchāng. In Shàoxīng he was Yùshǐ zhōngchéng; with the Tíjǔ Míngdàogōng sinecure he retired. Gāofēng is his hào. Master Zhū’s Yǔlèi discussing the Guīshān (Yáng Shí) men-disciples calls Gāng one who aided the peace settlement. Examining the collection now: pieces such as the Zhāngzhōu bèi zhào shàngdiàn qǐ yuēshù biānjiàng (When-Summoned-from-Zhāng-zhōu memorial requesting that the frontier-commanders be controlled), [we may say] this discussion is true.
But the Sòngshǐ běnzhuàn records: when the Jin broke the settlement, Gāng then had the Zé Zhèng Yìnián yǐ bǎi kǒu bǎo Jīnrén (Demanding Zhèng Yìnián stake a hundred mouths on Jin good-faith) and further requested to summon back former chief ministers of virtue and reputation; for this he was hated by Qín Huì and dismissed to a sinecure. And in the collection, Letter to Chief Minister Qín also takes the peace settlement as a mistake. The before-and-after look like two different men. Could it be that he came to realize his mistake at this point? The Sòngshǐ placing Gāng with Zhāng Jiǔchéng 張九成 and Hú Quán in the same biographical group — surely incorrect; but compared with the relentlessly party-aligned, there is a difference.
His other zòuyì point out the abuses of his time and have much to take. The Letter to Chén Jǐsǒu (= Chén Yuān 陳淵) discussing the failures of the Zhī zhìgào (drafted-edicts) office is particularly to the point. As to his memorial requesting the establishment of a Qīnjūn (imperial guard) — putting aside the great and considering the small — the views are rather meager. And his memorial remonstrating against Gāozōng’s seasonal bài Qīnzōng (formal-bow to the captive Qīnzōng) — on the jūnchén xiōngdì (ruler-subject and brother) ethics, also altogether inappropriate. The Sòngshǐ alone gathered these in — its qǔshě unavoidably loses balance.
The collection has long had no printed edition; the transmitted transcripts have many errors; some places are missing several lines, with no source to collate. We have for the time being followed the old text in transcription. Qiánlóng 43 (1778), 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Liào Gāng is a senior Yáng Shí 楊時 men-disciple whose career bracketed the late Northern Sòng (he held the Yùshǐ zhōngchéng office under Huīzōng) and the early Southern Sòng (he was Yùshǐ zhōngchéng again under Gāozōng during the contentious 1141 negotiations with the Jin). The Sìkù editors carefully sort through a contradictory historiographic record: Zhū Xī classified him as a peace-party supporter (and there is one early-Shàoxīng memorial to that effect in the collection); but the Sòngshǐ records him as a strong post-1141 critic of the settlement, with his demand that Zhèng Yìnián 鄭億年 (the Jin court-collaborator official) stake “a hundred mouths” on Jin good-faith and his demand that former chief ministers of virtue be recalled. The Sìkù editors propose the simple resolution that Liào changed his mind after the Jin breach.
His enduring interest beyond the political-historiographic question is the Letter to Chén Jǐsǒu (= Chén Yuān, 陳淵 KR4d0207) discussing the abuses of the Zhī zhìgào drafted-edicts office — a source for late-Sòng court bureaucratic procedure. The original text is poorly preserved: no Sòng-era printed edition survives, and the transmitted manuscripts have many lacunae which the Sìkù editors did not attempt to fill.
The dating bracket: 1100 (a conservative notBefore covering Liào’s late-Northern-Sòng activity, since he passed jìnshì in 1106 but was active earlier as a junior official) through 1143 (his death year per CBDB id 1144).
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù editors’ explicit critique of the Sòngshǐ compilers’ choice to include Liào with Zhāng Jiǔchéng 張九成 and Hú Quán in the zhōngyì-style group biography is one of the more pointed late-Qián-lóng-era methodological observations on Yuán-period Sòng-historiography.
Links
- Liao Gang (Wikipedia, zh)
- Sòng shǐ (biography of Liào Gāng).