Fāng Jiǎnsù wénjí 方簡肅文集
Literary Collection of Fāng Jiǎn-sù by 方良永 (撰)
About the work
The literary collection of Fāng Liángyǒng 方良永 (1461–1527), zì Shòuqīng 壽卿, posthumous shì Jiǎnsù 簡肅, of Pútián 莆田 (Xīnghuà, Fújiàn) — Right Vice Censor-in-Chief and Wǔ-zōng-era remonstrant. 10 juǎn. Compiled by Hénán àncháshǐ Zhèng Mào 鄭茂; reprinted in Lóngqìng gēngwǔ (1570) by his grandson Yōu 攸 (Shāndōng bùzhèngshǐ). The principal documentary content includes Fāng’s memorial against Zhū Níng (the Wǔzōng adopted-imperial-favourite eunuch) — kāngkǎi zhuàngliè, yóu yǒu qiānjū zhéjiàn zhī fēng — “indignant-and-bold, still having the air of the qiānjū (clinging-to-the-imperial-robe) and zhéjiàn (breaking the railing)” remonstrative tradition; and his correspondence with Wáng Yángmíng (王守仁) after the Níngwáng (Zhū Chénháo) rebellion’s suppression. The collection contains pointed anti-Yáng-míng remarks — Fāng’s yōuMèng zhī wéi Sūn Shūáo (Yōu Mèng acting as Sūn Shūáo) satirical critique of xīnxué practitioners.
Tiyao
Fāng Jiǎnsù wénjí in 10 juǎn — by Fāng Liángyǒng of the Míng. Liángyǒng, zì Shòuqīng, native of Pútián. Hóngzhì gēngxū (1490) jìnshì; office reached yòu fù dūyùshǐ, fǔzhì of Yúnyáng; on-leave returned. Recalled to xúnfǔ Yīngtiān; on the road illness came; begged retirement; soon was appointed Nánjīng Xíngbù shàngshū; Liángyǒng had already died first; shì Jiǎnsù. Record in Míngshǐ main biography. This collection is what Hénán àncháshǐ Zhèng Mào compiled. Lóngqìng gēngwǔ (1570) his grandson Shāndōng bùzhèngshǐ Yōu continued to cut. Liángyǒng in Zhèngdé times held successive fēngjiāng (border-region) posts — all displayed fēngcǎi (manner-and-style); after begging-on-leave, the court-recommendations multiple times reached him, but he always declined for yǎngqīn (caring for parents). Now the various shū (memorials) are all in the collection; his jìntuì pō wèi bù gǒu (advance-and-retreat truly not careless). His prose flows from the pen at-will-and-splashed-out, though not deliberately seeking craft; yet hépíng tǎnyì (calm-and-level, plain-and-easy), not pursuing gōují (hook-and-thorn); compared to the mónǐ túshì (imitate-and-decorate) habits of those who came later, is rather běnsè (native-colour). His lùnhé Zhū Níng yī shū (memorial impeaching Zhū Níng): kāngkǎi zhuàngliè (indignant-and-bold) — still has the qiānjū zhéjiàn zhī fēng (clinging-the-robe, breaking-the-railing air). Also once foretold Prince Níng’s rebellion; after Háo’s defeat, sent letter to Wáng Shǒurén (王守仁) — discussing the great-plan of settling-the-disorder. As for his life-long discussion of learning, says: Recent-age scholars going-out-the-sky, entering-spirit, surpassing-and-attaining, alone-arriving — exclusively take xīnxué as speech; all are appended to Lù Jiǔyuān. Such delusion! As to what they make of “Lù Jiǔyuān” — it resembles [his teaching], but in the middle truly is not — perhaps Yōu Mèng acting as Sūn Shūáo? His speech all subtly cì Shǒurén (pricks Shǒurén) — can be said to be zhuōrán bù ē qí suǒ hào (towering-and-not flattering what he likes). Compiled and presented in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
The Fāng Jiǎnsù wénjí is one of the cleanest Sìkù-preserved late-Zhèng-dé / early-Jiā-jìng anti-Yáng-míng documents. Fāng’s YōuMèng zhī wéi Sūn Shūáo — Yōu Mèng pretending to be Sūn Shūáo — is one of the most pointed Confucian satires of the period on superficial xīnxué practice: it accuses Wáng Shǒurén’s followers of impersonating, not truly being, the Lù Jiǔyuān position they claim. The Sìkù editors’ enthusiastic preservation of this satire — kě wèi zhuōrán bù ē qí suǒ hào (can be called towering-and-not-flattering his favourites) — and Fāng’s documented correspondence with Wáng Yángmíng after the Níngwáng rebellion, make the collection a paradigm of political-loyalty-without-philosophical-agreement in early-Jiā-jìng Sìkù judgement.
The two other documentary anchors are: (i) Fāng’s foresight of Prince Níng’s rebellion before the event — placing him in the Cài Qīng (KR4e0137) / Lín Jùn (KR4e0135) cluster of Fújiàn officials who recognised the Níngwáng threat early; (ii) Fāng’s memorial against Zhū Níng — the favoured Wǔzōng imperial-adoptee — as a continuation of the qiānjū zhéjiàn (clinging-imperial-robe, breaking-railing) HànTáng remonstrative tradition.
CBDB id 34612 gives 1461–1527 for Fāng Liángyǒng. The catalog meta gives no dates; CBDB supplies them here.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: notice of Fāng Liáng-yǒng.
- Míng shǐ j. 201 — Fāng Liáng-yǒng biography.
- Carney T. Fisher, The Chosen One: Succession and Adoption in the Court of Ming Shizong. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1990 — for the Zhū Níng / Wǔ-zōng adopted-favourite context.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí) and §27.1 (Míng political history).
Other points of interest
The YōuMèng / Sūn Shūáo analogy — taken from Shǐjì — is one of the wittiest anti-Yáng-míng one-liners preserved in any mid-Míng biéjí: it accuses Wáng Shǒurén’s followers of being stage-impersonators, not the revived Lù Jiǔyuān position they pretend to be. The Sìkù editors’ explicit endorsement of this critique is one of the cleanest editorial-anti-Yáng-míng signals in this division.