Booth Tea House

Author: Liu Yanwen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: The renowned literary critic and classical literature expert, Professor Liu Yanwen, offers this new work to the reading community with his rich life experiences, extensive knowledge of history and literature, extraordinary insights, and vivid writing style. The book consists of three parts: "Extracurricular Notes on 'Stone Language'," "Fascinating Anecdotes of Historical Stories," and "Modern and Ancient Ramblings." It includes discussions on various characters and anecdotes recorded in Qian Zhongshu's "Stone Language," tales of historical figures like Liu Luoguo (Dong), Ji Xiaolan, Heshen, Hong Liangji, and Zheng Banqiao, as well as reflections on the poems and writings of these individuals. There are also heartfelt tributes to deceased teachers and friends, along with insightful analyses of classical literature and poetry. It is a rare and high-quality read on historical anecdotes and literary stories in recent years.
Excerpt:
Through a prism, let us view Ji Yun. In the tenth year of the Jiaqing reign (1805), he was appointed as Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Vice-Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, and Grand Secretary with the title of Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, overseeing the Imperial University. At that time, Ji was already eighty-two years old. Unexpectedly, by the evening of the fourteenth day of the second month, less than a month later, Ji passed away. The Jiaqing Emperor wrote both an imperial eulogy and an imperial inscription for his tomb, both in the classical parallel prose style, praising him so highly that it was truly astonishing.
The Imperial Eulogy stated: "He relied on his noble character to set a standard for the court, and his integrity served as a model for officials. How could it be that after only ten days of receiving his appointment, his prime years were cut short and he could not stay?" It seemed that the emperor originally intended to make him a model for the upper echelons, possibly considering further promotions. But unexpectedly, he could no longer be relied upon!
The Imperial Inscription praised him as "grateful for the special favor of the former emperor and renowned for his outstanding scholarship," confirming his status as a favored minister of both reigns. It also lauded him as "fair and impartial in judgment, as if the market was near and the door was like water; noble and upright in character, even in his advanced age, his eyes remained sharp." He was almost a rare perfect being in this world.
However, when we turn to the relevant records in the Continued Annals of the Donghua, we discover that not only did Han Yu engage in "flattery for tombs," but emperors sometimes also flattered their deceased ministers, forgetting their past words and actions entirely. Let us set aside the case of Lu Jianzeng, who was exiled to Urumqi for revealing confidential information regarding the salt tax deficit, as it is unrelated. During the compilation of the Complete Collection of the Four Treasuries, he was frequently punished with deductions from his salary and disciplinary records due to errors. In the winter of the forty-fifth year of the Qianlong reign alone, he was disciplined three times in a row. In the fiftieth year of the Qianlong reign, when it was discovered that the suicide of Wu Yaji was not accurate, the emperor called him a "useless, decaying scholar," though perhaps still harboring some affection, he deliberately made excuses for him.
But in the January 1783 imperial edict, the emperor merely noted that "Debao and Ji Yun both belong to mediocre talents," and their evaluations were not flattering. As for the Jiaqing Emperor himself, in the October 1796 edict, he stated that "the vacancy for Grand Secretary had been open for over a month, and among the current ministers, Liu Dong, Ji Yun, and Peng Yuanrui are all more senior in terms of qualifications than Dong Gao." He then criticized each of them individually: "Liu Dong has never been willing to take his duties seriously," "in daily affairs of personnel selection and appointments, he has paid no attention and merely used vague excuses to pass the buck, which shows his incompetence in the court. Peng Yuanrui lacks self-discipline and has repeatedly committed faults. Ji Yun reads a lot but lacks understanding of principles, and he is merely an ordinary official, unable to fulfill the duties of a Grand Secretary." The following year, only Liu Dong was appointed as Grand Secretary, which may have been related to his contributions to the abdication.
Initially, the Qianlong Emperor refused to hand over the imperial seal (), and Liu Dong argued for half a day before finally securing it and performing the ceremonial bow (see Chinese Materials from the Korean Choson Dynasty Archives, Volume 12, Chapter 23 of the Zhengzong era). Even in the seventh month of the eighth year of the Jiaqing reign, when the Empress Xiaoshu was moved from Jing'an Villa to the mausoleum for burial in October, the memorial submitted by the officials in charge contained the phrase "the stone gate was closed, and the grand funeral ceremony was completed," which angered the emperor, and Ji Yun was punished with "removal from office but retained in post, with eight years of no disciplinary records before being reinstated." Fortunately, the October consecration ceremony was completed, and everyone was pardoned.
When we compile these archival records and compare them, how interesting it is. Since the emperor had already praised Ji Yun to the fullest extent in his posthumous honors, it was inevitable that various biographies, epitaphs, and notes would begin to deify him.
Following the ancient tradition that great figures and geniuses "have their origins," there are many mysterious accounts of Ji Yun's birth. Liang Zhangju's Notes from My Return to the Countryside, Volume 6, provides a comprehensive account. It mainly states that Ji was reborn as a fire spirit in the form of a woman, hence "his ears had holes," "his feet were very white and pointed," and "he often took off his socks to show them, without any hesitation." It also claims that he was a monkey spirit, a python spirit, and so on, without end.
The modern Guo Moruo, in his My Childhood, also recorded that Ji was born after his mother dreamed of a leopard coming from the sky, hence the name Wenbao. At the time, this was mocked by Lin Gengbai in his Notes from the Solitary Tower. Is it so? Or is it so? Many people today compare Guo Moruo's fate with Ji Yun's, saying they are quite similar. But in my opinion, only this is somewhat superficial.
Ji's friends, students, and some other scholars all praised him as "able to remember everything he read," "having read every book," and "knowing everything." His student Liu Quanzhi, in the preface to Ji Wenda's Collected Works, even wrote: "For books he had never seen before, he could immediately recognize the author of the preface or postscript, and every word on the first page was accurate. This shows his innate wisdom and literary talent as mere secondary matters." Isn't this the same as the "reincarnation of a spirit" theory, which ultimately leads to the worship of a god?