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Yuanyou dangren beikao 元祐黨人碑考

Aug 6, 2019 © Ulrich Theobald

Yuanyou dangren beikao 元祐黨人碑考 "Investigations into the inscription on faction members of the Yuanyou reign-period", also called Yuanyou dangji beikao 元祐黨籍碑考, is a critical research on biographical information about court officials during the Yuanyou reign-period 元祐 (1086-1093) of the Song period 宋 (960-1279). The short text was written by Hai Rui 海瑞 (1514-1587), courtesy name Ruxian 汝賢, style Gangfeng 剛峰, posthumous title Zhongjiegong 忠介公. Hai Rui was a high official at the court of Emperor Shizong 明世宗 (r. 1521-1566), and a kind of popular hero who withstood a tyrannical regime. His collected writings are called Hai Zhongjiegong wenji 海忠介公文集 and Hai Rui ji 海瑞集, and he also wrote the book Beiwanglu 備忘錄.

The strife between various court factions during the Yuanyou reign-period is described in detail on a stone inscription called Yuandou dangren bei 元祐黨人碑. It is recorded in Li Xinchuan's 李心傳 (1167-1244) Daominglu 道命錄, and Ma Chun's 馬純 (mid-12th cent.) Taozhu xinlu 陶朱新錄, but the text of the inscription as quoted in these two books is not identical. Hai Rui therefore critically revised the Daominglu version and added information from other historiographical sources, for instance, on the persons Huang Lü 黃履 (1030-1101) and Zhang Shangying 張商英 (1043-1122). The result of Hai's work is the most complete collection of biographies of officials participating in the factional strife under Emperor Zhezong 宋哲宗 (r. 1085-1100).

The appendix includes the text Qingyuan weixue dangji 慶元偽學黨籍, also called Weixue nidang ji 偽學逆黨籍.

The book is included in the series Xuxiu siku quanshu 續修四庫全書.

Source:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 1006.