Huáng Gōngdù 黃公度 (1109–1156)
Zì Shīxiàn 師憲. Hào Zhījiàwēng 知稼翁 (“the Old-Farmer who Knows the Crops”). Native of Pútián 莆田 (Fújiàn). Placed first (zhuàngyuán) in the jìnshì of Shàoxīng wùwǔ (1138) at age 29; held office to Kǎogōng yuánwàiláng. CBDB id 11110, lifedates 1109–1156.
His career was cut short by Qín Huì 秦檜’s faction: while serving as Mìshūshěng zhèngzì he wrote a letter to a Censor that was construed as critical of court policy, and he was demoted to Zhǔguǎn Táizhōu Chóngdàoguàn (a Daoist sinecure). On his journey south, passing the Fēnshuǐ Pass, he composed a poem with the lines “Who knew that not many partings were destined / Old reunions still in the cyan ocean lie” — which contemporaries read as a coded reference to the disgraced chief minister Zhào Dǐng 趙鼎, then in Cháoyáng exile. Qín Huì took offense and Huáng was further demoted to Tōngpàn of Zhàoqìngfǔ (Guǎngdōng), where he died at age 48. Hence no Sòng shǐ biography. Hóng Mài’s 洪邁 1196 preface to his collection and Chén Jùnqìng’s 陳俊卿 companion-preface are the principal contemporary biographical documents.
In addition to his literary collection he composed a Hànshū juānzhuàn 漢書鐫譔 (Inscription-Selection of the Hànshū), now lost.
Surviving in Kanripo:
- KR4d0208 Zhījiàwēng jí (2 juǎn, WYG; reduced from the original 11- to 12-juǎn compilation by his son Wò 沃, surviving via a 1625 descendant printing).
(The catalog meta entry under KR4d0208 mistypes his name as 黃公廣 / Huáng Gōngguǎng. The correct name 黃公度 is recovered here from the WYG tíyào, the Wénxiàn tōngkǎo, and CBDB.)