周麟之

Zhōu Línzhī 周麟之 (1118–1164)

Zì Màozhèn 茂振. Native of Hǎilíng 海陵 (modern Tàizhōu 泰州, Jiāngsū). Lifedates 1118–1164, CBDB id 8034. Of the same Hǎilíng Zhōu lineage as Zhōu Bìdà 周必大 (Zhōu Bìdà’s 1183 preface to Zhōu Línzhī’s collection invokes “wú zōng” — “my clan”).

Jìnshì of Shàoxīng 15 (1145); also passed the Hóngcí (Broad-Erudition) examination — the principal route into senior literary-draftsmanship at court. Career: Qǐjū shěrén → Bīngbù shìláng → Zhí xuéshìyuàn → Jǐshìzhōng → Zhī zhìgào → Hànlín xuéshì → ending as Tóngzhī Shūmìyuàn shì (Co-Director of the Privy Council). His career, the Sìkù editors note, was a Southern-Sòng equivalent of the Northern-Sòng Wáng Guī 王珪: senior literary draftsman, never a major executive figure, with his entire career conducted within the Forbidden Court precincts.

Surviving in Kanripo:

• KR4d0220 Hǎilíng jí (23 juǎn, WYG; edited posthumously by his son Zhōu Zhǔn 周準 in 1183, with a preface by his clansman Zhōu Bìdà of the same year). The collection is dominated by zhìgào (inner-and-outer drafted edicts), reflecting his Hànlín career.