Zhòng Bìng 仲幷 (also written 仲并 in modern transcription; fl. 1132–1170s), zì Míxìng 彌性, hào Fúshān 浮山, native of Jiāngdū 江都 (modern Yángzhōu, Jiāngsū). Sòng shǐ Yìwénzhì records his Fúshān jí in 16 juǎn but does not give him a biography. Career reconstructed by the Sìkù editors from Zhōu Bìdà 周必大’s preface (preserved in the Píngyuán jí).
Shàoxīng rénzǐ (1132) achieved jìnshì. Shàoxīng jiǎyín (1134), by Prime Minister Zhū Shèngfēi 朱勝非’s recommendation, promoted to jīnzhì (current rank). Soon supplemented to outside posts. Three years later (Shàoxīng dīngsì = 1137), recalled by Zhāng Jùn 張浚’s recommendation; on arriving at the imperial gates, blocked by Qín Guì 秦檜; transferred to assistant-prefect of Jīngkǒu (Zhènjiāng). From-this leisured-and-set-aside for 20 years. Xiàozōng acceded to the throne; promoted to Guānglù chéng and out as Prefect of Qízhōu.
Zhōu Bìdà’s preface specifically praises Zhòng’s lìpái Wángshì zhī shuō; wéi KǒngMèng shì shī (vigorously refuting Wáng Ānshí’s doctrine; taking only Confucius and Mencius as teachers). The drafted-edict (zhìcí) for his initial jīngzhí (capital-rank) appointment by Wáng Jūzhèng 王居正 — preserved in the collection — also praises Zhòng’s xué zhī shìfēi xiézhèng (learning to know right-and-wrong, evil-and-correct).
Chén Zhènsūn’s Zhízhāi shūlù jiětí KR3h0011 records that during Zhòng’s prefecture of Húzhōu (vice-prefect) he composed a Shēngcháo qīngcí (birthday Daoist-prayer) for a registered-singer; for-this demoted. The Sìkù editors are puzzled: Zhōu Bìdà’s preface does not corroborate, and the act seems incompatible with Zhòng’s known character. The collection’s Chénqíng qǐ (presenting-feelings felicitation) line pángguān xiàshí, chóujiā bàngshāng (bystanders threw stones; the enemy-family slandered) suggests Zhòng was framed.
Connection to the Mèng family: the collection has a Huí Mèng jùnwáng yīnlǐ shū (return-letter on marriage-protocol to Jùnwáng of the Mèng family) — Jùnwáng being Mèng Zhōnghòu 孟忠厚, nephew of Empress-Dowager Lóngyòu 隆祐. Mèng Zhōnghòu was a peer-relation of Qín Guì but resisted him. Wáng Míngqīng’s Huīzhú lù records that Wú Yù 吳棫 ghost-wrote Mèng Zhōnghòu’s memorial and consequently offended Qín Guì. The Sìkù editors hypothesise Zhòng’s punishment was due to his Mèng-family marriage-connection.
The Sìkù editors’ aesthetic verdict: ancient prose gāojiǎn yǒu fǎdù (lofty-and-concise, with rule-and-measure); parallel-prose able-to use sǎnxíng (free-flowing) for páiǒu (parallel-couplet) — ŌuSū surviving-style; poetry also qīngjùn bású (clear-elegant, transcending-vulgarity).
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