Wang Yinglin (1223 - 1296): A study in the political and intellectual history of the demise of song [microform]
- Bib ID:
- 3287337
- Format:
- Book and Microform
- Author:
- Langley, Charles Bradford
- Description:
- 658 p.
- Summary:
-
This dissertation is a biographical, not a bibliographical, study of Wang Yinglin( , 1223-1296)'s accomplishments as a scholar-official(' )(, ) during the late Southern Song and early Yuan. The first chapter, "Antecedents(1127-1253)", describes those facets of twelfth and thirteenth century China which formed the political backdrop of Wang's service in the Song bureaucracy(1246-1275), and the intellectual roots of his "conservative" scholarly ideals. It also treats the significant role played by men of Mingzhou (Wang's home prefecture) in(' )(, ) Southern Song politics, and outlines the life and career of Wang's father,(, ) Wang Hui (1184-1253), who bestowed upon his son the Lu Zuqian (1137-1181) tradition of "conserving" the Han-through-Tang(' )(, ) literary and scholarly heritage.
Chapter two, "The Polymath(1253-1259)", describes the development of the special examination, bo xue hong ci , "the Polymathes(' )(, ) and Resonant Prose", and the Polymathes "tradition" which Wang Yinglin inherited from the great Polymath, Zhen Dexiu (1178-1235).(' )(, ) This examination was the quintessential expression of conservative values; it required the memorization of all Classics, histories, works of science, and literature which had ever been compiled, and the commentaries to these(, ) works as well. Wang Yinglin completed the Yu Hai encyclopedia in 1252 to aid his preparations for the examination; he and his younger(' ) brother were the last of only forty men ever to pass examination (list of all forty Polymaths appears in the Appendix). Chapter three, "Wang's Career in Bloom(1260-1272)", outlines Wang's rise to high office during the regime of the hegemon Jia Sidao(' )(, ) ^(1213-1275), whose government is also described in some detail.
Additionally, the chapter describes Wang Yinglin's relationship with the(, ) emperor Duzong (r. 1264-1274), his participation in Lizong's funeral (1264), in the Altar of Heaven ceremony of 1267, and in the debate over(' ) selecting Jia Sidao's successor as Chief Councilor (1267). I have analyzed Wang's rise from grade 8B posts in 1259 to 6B posts in 1267 in terms of Song career patterns observable in the Nan Song Guang Ge Xu Lu, and in the careers of some of his friends. Finally, chapter three describes the background of Wang Yinglin's falling out with Jia, in 1267-1268, in terms of Jia's antipathy towards certain key members of the Song government and towards officials from Mingzhou. Chapter four, "The Last Year(1275)", speculates on the circumstances surrounding Wang's return to Linan in 1275, and describes his role in the central government during this last year of Song's administration of its southern capital.
It discusses the fall of Jia Sidao and the rise of some of his proteges, and in particular, Wang Yinglin's role in Jia's banishment. This chapter concludes with a description of Wang's impeachment of Liu Mengyan and a discussion of the factors which induced Wang to turn his back on the Song government in December of 1275, shortly before Linan's surrender to the Mongols, drawing analogies from similar actions of Yohanan Ben Zakkai at Jerusalem in A.D. 68. The final chapter, "Under the Yuan(1276 - 1368)", describes the teaching and compilation activities of Wang Yinglin and his principal disciples, especially their preservation of the fruits of conservative scholarship from the ravages of Mongol rule and the scholarly selectiveness of "reformists" (Neo-Confucians). "Under the Yuan" characterizes the school Wang Yinglin established between 1275 and 1296, and the works he completed or re-edited during the last twenty years of his life.
It traces the(, ) activities of Yuan Jue (1266-1327), who used some of Wang's ideas as Yuan, Hanlin Academician, and Wang Housun(' )(, ) (1301-1376), the grandson who initiated the first publication of the Yu Hai opus in the 1330s.
- Notes:
-
- (UnM)AAI8105984
- Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-09, Section: A, page: 4038.
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 1980.
- Reproduction:
- Microfiche. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International.
- Subject:
- Literature, Asian
- Other authors/contributors:
- Indiana University
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