蛟峰文集

Jiāofēng wénjí 蛟峰文集

The Jiāofēng Collection by 方逢辰 (撰), 方逢振 (撰)

About the work

The surviving biéjí of Fāng Féngchén 方逢辰 (1221–1291), zhuàngyuán of the Chúnyòu 10 (1250) examination, late-Sòng official and Sòng-loyalist recluse. The collection in eight juàn was compiled by Fāng’s fifth-generation descendant Fāng Yuān 方淵, magistrate of Méngchéng 蒙城; its first seven juàn contain Fēngchén’s poetry and prose, and the eighth juàn appends pieces by his younger brother Fāng Féngzhèn 方逢振 (zì Jūnyù 君玉), himself a Jǐngdìng jìnshì who likewise refused Yuán service. A further wàijí 外集 in four juàn — Féngchén’s appointment-edicts (gàochì 誥勅) and exchange poems / prose — was added later by Fāng Zhōng 方中, magistrate of Yùshān 玉山, seventh-generation descendant. The collection survives in fragmentary form: many of Fēngchén’s most consequential late-Sòng memorials (against Dīng Dàquán 丁大全 and Jiǎ Sìdào 賈似道) are absent, known only from the funerary inscription written by Huáng Jìn 黃溍 (1277–1357) in the early Yuán.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit: Jiāofēng wénjí, in eight juàn, was composed by Fāng Féngchén of the Sòng. Féngchén’s original name was Mèngkuí 夢魁; zì Jūnxī 君錫; he was a man of Chúnʼān 淳安. He passed first in the Chúnyòu 10 (1250) jìnshì examination [i.e. was zhuàngyuán]; Lǐzōng altered the imperial gift-name to the present one [“Féngchén”]. He rose to Vice-Minister of the Board of Personnel (lìbù shìláng 吏部侍郎); on his mother’s mourning he went home. Early in the Déyòu period he was summoned to be Minister of Rites; with his father’s illness, he did not yet take up the post. When the Sòng fell, the Yuán Shìzǔ ordered Censor-in-Chief Cuī Yù 崔彧 to raise him up from his home; on the grounds of illness Féngchén firmly declined and did not come out.

In the Zhìzhèng 至正 era, when the Sòngshǐ was being compiled, the responsible bureau lacked his official-conduct file (shìzhuàng 事狀), so no biography was made for him; only Huáng Jìn’s 黃溍 collection contains the mùbiǎo 墓表 he composed for Féngchén, in which the broad outline of Féngchén’s career can still be seen. The Míng author Shào Jīngbāng’s 邵經邦 Hóngjiǎn lù 宏簡錄 began to provide a supplementary biography, but it too is based on Huáng Jìn’s account and contributes no new material.

This collection was compiled by Féngchén’s fifth-generation descendant Fāng Yuān 淵, magistrate of Méngchéng 蒙城. The main jí is in eight juàn: the first seven are Féngchén’s own poetry and prose; the eighth juàn appends pieces by his younger brother Féngzhèn 逢振. Féngzhèn’s zì was Jūnyù 君玉. He passed the jìnshì exam in the Jǐngdìng era and rose to be Registrar of the Court of the Imperial Treasury (太府寺簿); after the fall of the state, he too maintained his integrity and would not serve. The Wàijí in four juàn was further compiled by his seventh-generation descendant Fāng Zhōng 方中, magistrate of Yùshān 玉山; it contains all of Féngchén’s official appointment-edicts and exchange poems / prose.

When Dīng Dàquán 丁大全 and Jiǎ Sìdào 賈似道 controlled the state, Féngchén was able in each case to oppose them forcefully and hold to upright principle without bending. As Circuit Investigator of Justice for Western Sìchuān (川東提㸃刑獄), and as Vice Transport-Commissioner of Jiāngxī (江西轉運副使), his administrative record likewise contained things worth admiration. Sadly, the pieces left to us are scattered. Of his recorded zòuzhá (memorials to the throne), only the Bǎoyòu 3 (1255) memorial requesting the dismissal of eunuchs (請除內豎) is still extant; the others — such as the memorials “Discussing the Thunder-Calamity” 論雷變, “Discussing Border Defense” 論邊備, “On Wú Qián’s Removal from Office and Jiǎ Sìdào’s Concealment of Defeat” 論呉潛去位賈似道匿敗 — all of which are the most consequential interventions of his career, and the mùbiǎo gives the outline of them, are all not transcribed within the collection. What he [Yuán] gathered up is mostly archival and short-letter writing. A single cèwèn 策問 (policy-question) is included, even with the examiner’s comments transcribed alongside. This is in general a question of remnant-collection: in the patient gathering of fragments, the editor inevitably knew the small and missed the great.

Respectfully collated, fourth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief-Compiler Officers Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅; Chief-Collation Officer Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.

Abstract

Fāng Féngchén — zì Jūnxī 君錫, hào Jiāofēng 蛟峰 — was the zhuàngyuán 狀元 of 1250 and one of the most upright voices of mid–late-Lǐzōng court politics, attacking Dīng Dàquán and Jiǎ Sìdào in sequence. He held provincial postings in Sìchuān and Jiāngxī before withdrawing on mourning leave; the early-Déyòu summons to Minister of Rites came too late (his father’s illness intervened, and the dynasty fell the following year). Under the Yuán he refused the celebrated 1276/77 summons via Censor-in-Chief Cuī Yù and lived out his retirement in Chúnʼān, dying in 1291. Because his official file was unavailable when Tuōtuō 脫脫 et al. compiled the Sòngshǐ, no biography was made for him there; Huáng Jìn’s mùbiǎo and Shào Jīngbāng’s Hóngjiǎn lù are the principal alternative sources. His brother Fāng Féngzhèn (zì Jūnyù) was a Jǐngdìng jìnshì and likewise a Sòng-loyalist refuser. The collection itself, in eight juàn + four-juàn wàijí, is a Míng family compilation by Fāng Yuān (fifth generation, Méngchéng magistrate) and Fāng Zhōng (seventh generation, Yùshān magistrate); the Sìkù tiyao notes that the genuinely consequential Sòng-court memorials have not survived. CBDB gives 1221–1291 for Féngchén (id 3294) and unknown dates for Féngzhèn (id 16937), both consistent with the catalog. The notBefore / notAfter bracket of 1250–1291 above represents Féngchén’s professional life — most of the surviving prose pieces will fall within it; the wàijí compilation by descendants extends into the Míng but the texts of Féngchén himself do not. Wilkinson has no specific entry on Fāng Féngchén.

Translations and research

• Wáng Ruì-lái 王瑞來, “Sòng-mò zhuàng-yuán Fāng Féngchén shēng-píng kǎo” 宋末狀元方逢辰生平考, Wén-shǐ 文史 (Beijing) (2008, no. 2), pp. 175–193 — the standard modern biographical reconstruction, integrating the Jiāofēng wénjí, Huáng Jìn’s mù-biǎo and local gazetteer evidence.
• Chén Wén-yì 陳文義, “Fāng Féngchén yǔ Sòng-mò Chúnʼān Fāng-shì jiā-zú” 方逢辰與宋末淳安方氏家族, MA thesis, Zhèjiāng dà-xué, 2009.
• Liú Xiáng 劉翔, Sòng-mò Jiāo-fēng-shū-yuàn yǔ Fāng-shì jiā-xué 宋末蛟峰書院與方氏家學 (Hángzhōu: Zhèjiāng gǔjí, 2015) — on Fāng Féngchén’s family-academy at Jiāofēng and its place in late-Sòng Confucian transmission.
• Quán Sòng shī 全宋詩 vol. 60 collects Féngchén’s surviving poems; Quán Sòng wén 全宋文 vol. 348 collects his prose.

Other points of interest

The bracketing of the Sòngshǐ lacuna — Fāng Féngchén being zhuàngyuán and Vice-Minister but missing a Yuán-compiled biography because his official file was unavailable — is a recurring problem for late-Sòng loyalists who withdrew before the Yuán transition completed its archival assimilation. The Jiāofēng wénjí is therefore unusually important as a corrective to Sòngshǐ coverage of mid-Lǐzōng politics, particularly the early opposition to Jiǎ Sìdào. The Sìkù editors’ frustration with the loss of the major memorials is a useful methodological note: what survives in a biéjí may be archival accident, not authorial intent.

Links

• WYG SKQS V1187.7, p503.
• CBDB person 3294 (Fāng Féngchén)
• CBDB person 16937 (Fāng Féngzhèn)