Fàn Zhōngzhēn jí 范忠貞集
The Collected Works of Fàn (Chéngmó) the Loyal-Faithful by 范承謨 (撰), edited by 劉可書 (編)
About the work
The collected works of the martyred Fújiàn Governor-General 范承謨 Fàn Chéngmó (1635–1676), in 10 juan, edited shortly after his posthumous canonization as Zhōngzhēn 忠貞 (“Loyal-Faithful”) by 劉可書 Liú Kěshū of Qīngyuàn. The arrangement is liturgical-biographical: juan 1 collects the imperially-composed sacrificial text, stele inscription and shrine-tablet inscription, together with the family-transmitted jiā zhuàn and cítáng jì; juan 2 the Fǔ Zhè zòuyì (memorials from his Zhèjiāng governorship); juan 3 the Dū Mǐn zòuyì (memorials as Fújiàn governor-general); juan 4 the Wúlú cún gǎo (literary writings from his pre-imprisonment period); juan 5 the Bǎikǔ yín (Hundred-Bitternesses Chant — verse from his three-year captivity 1673–1676); juan 6 the Huàbì yí gǎo (the Wall-Painting Surviving Drafts — verse written on the walls of his cell); juan 7 miscellaneous prose; juan 8–10 fùlù — colophons, mourning poems and prose.
Tiyao
Your servants reverently submit the following: the Fàn Zhōngzhēn jí in 10 juan is by Fàn Chéngmó of our dynasty. Chéngmó, zì Jìngōng, hào Luóshān, of the Bordered Yellow Banner of the Hànjūn, was a son of the Dàxuéshì 范文程. He first served as an imperial bodyguard. In the xīnmǎo of Shùnzhì (1651) the edict permitted bannermen’s sons to take the examinations together; he passed the jǔrén in that round, and the following year, rénchén (1652), passed the jìnshì, was transferred to shùjíshì, and appointed compiler of the Hóngwén yuàn. He rose to Fújiàn governor-general. In rénzǐ of Kāngxī (1672) the rebel feudatory 耿精忠 revolted; the provincial governor Liú Bǐngzhèng surrendered to the rebels, but Chéngmó held the jié and died upholding it. He was conferred the posthumous title Zhōngzhēn. His Huà bì shī 畫壁詩 (Wall-Painting Verses) were carved by Wú Zhènfāng of Shímén in the Shuō líng 說鈴 and have been universally recited. The present is his complete collection, edited by Liú Kěshū of Qīngyuàn: opening with the imperial sacrificial proclamation, the imperially-composed stele text, and the imperial inscription on the shrine-tablet, with the family transmission and the shrine-record appended, in one juan; then the memorials from Zhèjiāng in one juan; then the memorials from Fújiàn in one juan; then Wúlú cún gǎo in one juan; then Bǎikǔ yín in one juan; then Huàbì yí gǎo in one juan; then zázhù in one juan; and finally three juan of fùlù — colophons, mourning poems and prose. The memorials have much that touched the state’s vital interest. The poetry and prose pour out directly from the breast — the impassioned vehemence and the bitten-teeth, splitting-eye fury can still be summoned in mind to this day. Wén yǐ rén zhòng — “the writing is given weight by the person” — this is Chéngmó’s situation. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 45 (1780), tenth month. Chief editors your servants 紀昀, 陸錫熊, 孫士毅. Chief proof-collator your servant Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The Sìkù compilers’ striking phrase wén yǐ rén zhòng — “writing is weighted by the writer” — captures the work’s place in early-Qīng literary politics: Fàn Chéngmó is given his place in the biéjí section not for literary refinement but as a Loyal-Faithful (zhōngzhēn) martyr whose imprisoned poetry served the Qīng state’s narrative against the Sān fān rebels 耿精忠 Gěng Jīngzhōng, 尚之信 Shàng Zhīxìn, and 吳三桂 Wú Sānguì in the early 1670s. The Huà bì sequence — written on the walls of his Fúzhōu prison cell during three years of captivity — was preserved by his servants after his death and entered Wú Zhènfāng’s Shuō líng 說鈴 anthology shortly after; it then became one of the most-quoted bodies of Qīng martyr-poetry.
The catalog meta gives Fàn’s birth year as 1624, which conflicts with CBDB id 57356 (giving 1635, consistent with the Sìkù tíyào which records him passing the 1652 jìnshì — impossible if born 1624 at the age of 28, since he would then have been bypassed for the much earlier 1646 cohort). CBDB’s 1635 is followed here in the person note.
The composition window runs from approximately 1665 (Fàn’s early Zhèjiāng-governorship memorials) through his death in 1676. The closing fùlù materials reach into the post-1680 period as later mourning poems were added.
Translations and research
Jonathan Spence, Emperor of China: Self-portrait of K’ang-hsi (New York: Knopf, 1974) — uses the Fàn corpus for the Sān fān war.
Cynthia J. Brokaw, The Ledgers of Merit and Demerit (Princeton, 1991) — references Fàn as model of zhōng-zhēn loyalty in Qīng moral didactic literature.
Tsao Kai-fu, The Rebellion of the Three Feudatories Against the Manchu Throne in China, 1673–1681 (PhD diss., Chicago, 1965).
Other points of interest
The Huà bì sequence is a striking case of poems-as-physical-evidence: Fàn’s poems were written on the cell walls in his blood (per the cítáng jì tradition), then transcribed and circulated after his death by his servants. The Wú Zhènfāng Shuō líng edition is therefore at one remove from the wall itself; the WYG-Sìkù recension is at a further remove via Liú Kěshū’s editorial transcription.
Links
- Wikidata Q3034067 (Fan Chengmo)
- ECCP 230 (Fang Chao-ying)
- Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào