Tiěān jí 鐵菴集
The Iron-Hermitage Collection by 方大琮 (zhuàn 撰)
About the work
A 35-juan reconstructed collection of the prose, memorials, and writings of Fāng Dàcóng 方大琮 (1183–1247), zì Dérùn 德潤, hào Húshān 壺山, zhāihào Tiěān 鐵菴 (whence the title), of Pútián in Fújiàn. Recognised as one of the most outspoken Lǐzōng-era remonstrators — yòuzhèngyán who in 1236 protested the wrongful death of the Jìwáng 濟王 Zhào Hóng 趙竑 and was expelled from court the same day as Liú Kèzhuāng 劉克莊 and Wáng Yì 王逸. The original collection was lost; the Sìkù recension is the jiāzú (clan-redaction) compiled posthumously by his clansmen Fāng Liángyǒng 方良永 and Fāng Liángjié 方良節 from scattered residues. The work is principally valuable for its memorials, which the Sìkù tíyào judges “well able to circulate the channels and break through to the heart of the times’ ills”.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully observe that the Tiěān jí in thirty-five juan was composed by Fāng Dàcóng of the Sòng. Dàcóng’s zì was Dérùn, hào Húshān; he was a native of Pútián. He took third place in the shěngshì (provincial examination) of Kāixǐ 1 (1205); appointed yòuzhèngyán, he memorialised on the great matters of the empire and the principles of order and disorder, of safety and danger. He was promoted to qǐjū shèrén concurrently Shílù yuàn jiǎntǎo guān. He was assigned a sinecure (fèngcí) and removed from office; before long he was reassigned as Jíyīng diàn xiūzhuàn, prefect of Guǎngzhōu, then transferred as prefect of Lóngxīng, where he died. Posthumous title Zhōnghuì 忠惠. There is no biography in the Sòng shǐ; his career is found only in outline in the Fújiàn tōngzhì. We now find from Zhōu Mì 周密’s Qídōng yěyǔ a reference to “Mǐncáo Fāng Dàcóng [being] on friendly terms with Wáng Qúxuān 王臞軒”; the present collection itself contains a jiāngqīng cáo zhī mìng (announcing his transfer as fiscal commissioner), which means that he had served as Fújiàn fiscal commissioner. The opening matter of the collection bears the original heading “Sòng Bǎozhāng gé zhí xuéshì” — meaning he did not end his career as Jíyīng diàn xiūzhuàn. The career-list in the tōngzhì is therefore incomplete. The Sòngjì sāncháo zhèngyào records that in the third year of Duānpíng (1236) of Lǐzōng’s reign, Dàcóng as yòuzhèngyán memorialised vehemently on the wrongful death of the Jìwáng (Zhào Hóng); Censor-in-chief Jiǎng Xiàn 蔣峴 impeached him for “fanning heterodoxy”, and on the same day he, Wáng Yì 王逸, and Liú Kèzhuāng 劉克莊 were expelled from court — he was, in short, a fearless and outspoken man. Hence his memorials are largely able to range broadly and strike at the heart of the times’ ills, and his jīngyì are also worth reading. Although his diction is somewhat plain and unadorned, it is no idle empty talk. The original collection has long been lost; the present text is what his clansmen Fāng Liángyǒng 良永, Fāng Liángjié 良節 and others assembled and edited — what survives the dispersal, no longer a complete copy. Reverently collated, fifth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Editor-in-chief Jì Yún, with Lù Xīxióng and Sūn Shìyì; chief proofreader Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Tiěān jí is one of the principal documentary sources for the politics of Lǐzōng’s middle reign, in particular the Jìwáng affair of 1236 — the politically explosive question of the death of Zhào Hóng, the legitimate-by-Níngzōng’s-installation but Shǐ Mí-yuǎn-displaced heir apparent, whose death the regime treated as natural but Fāng Dàcóng (with Liú Kèzhuāng and Wáng Yì) treated as a wrongful killing. The same-day expulsion of all three remonstrators is preserved in the Sòngjì sāncháo zhèngyào and is a reference point for any account of mid-Lǐzōng court politics. The tíyào’s textual reconstruction is itself instructive: Fāng has no Sòng shǐ biography, only a Fújiàn tōngzhì outline; the collection’s own headings supply the missing offices (Bǎozhāng gé zhí xuéshì, Mǐncáo); Zhōu Mì’s Qídōng yěyǔ corroborates the Mǐncáo posting. The 35-juan recension was assembled by clansmen — Fāng Liángyǒng of the Míng (a jìnshì of 1493, prominent in the Lǐzōngzōng tradition of Pútián) and Fāng Liángjié — from “what survived the dispersal” and is acknowledged by the Sìkù compilers to be incomplete. The notBefore / notAfter dates use Fāng’s career bracket (1205 shěngshì; 1247 death). CBDB id 11328. Wilkinson’s Chinese History refers to the Jìwáng affair generally; Fāng’s role is documented in James T. C. Liu’s Reform in Sung China and in standard Chinese surveys of Sòng remonstrance literature.
Translations and research
- Modern Chinese scholarship on Fāng Dà-cóng concentrates on the Jì-wáng affair and on his role within the Pútián Fāng clan; see e.g. Zhāng Wèi 張偉, Sòng-dài Pútián Fāng-shì jiā-zú yán-jiū 宋代莆田方氏家族研究 (mainland-Chinese MA / PhD literature, 2010s).
- The Tiě-ān jí itself has not received a critical edition; the Sìkù recension is the working text.
Other points of interest
Fāng Dàcóng’s identification as hào Húshān is one of the Sìkù’s key clues for attributing the anonymous KR4d0328 Húshān sìliù to him; the editors’ caution there is exemplary scholarly yǐ yí chuán yí — preserving the doubt rather than forcing the attribution.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū tíyào (juan 162, jíbù biéjí lèi sān).
- Sòngjì sāncháo zhèngyào (Lǐzōng, Duānpíng 3).
- Zhōu Mì, Qídōng yěyǔ.
- CBDB id 11328 (Fāng Dàcóng).