New Book of Tang - Genealogy of Ministers

Author: Chief Editor: Liu Xian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-04-01
Features: Excerpt: Table 1, Section 7, Entry 2193 [Textual Variant] In the "Epitaph for Prefect Pei Jun" from Volume 327 of the Complete Writings of the Tang Dynasty by Wang Wei, it is written: "His name is Hui, style name Yuwen, and he is from Wenxi, Hedong. His great-grandfather Hongtai was the Recorder of Yongzhou, posthumously granted the title of Longshi of Shangdang. His grandfather Siyi was the Imperial Censor, Assistant Director of the Ministry of Personnel, Director of the Left Department, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and Personnel, and the Commandant of Hedong Prefecture, and the of Jincheng County. His father Dianzhen was the Assistant Cavalry Officer of the Xue Royal Family. Yet he did not live to middle age, held only one official rank, his mother was still alive, his younger brothers had not yet entered official service, and his son was still young, while his daughter was an infant." According to the epitaph, Hui should have had younger brothers and a son, but the New Genealogical Records do not mention them. [Chao's Note] On April 20, the 14th year of the Dali era, the "Epitaph for the Late Imperial Censor of the Great Tang Dynasty, Pei Shi, who concurrently served as the Magistrate of Gaocheng County in Henan Prefecture and the Commandant of Hedong" (based on a rubbing preserved in the Beijing Library) states: "Style name Tongxuan, from Wenxi, Hedong. His ancestors traced back to the post of Censor of Jizhou under the name Hui. His great-grandfather was Cao of the Sili Platform, posthumously granted the title of Longshi of Lu Prefecture. His grandson was Hongtai, the Assistant Director of the Sili Platform in Jingzhao Prefecture, posthumously granted the title of Longshi of Lu Prefecture. His great-great-grandfather was Siyi, the Censor of the Imperial Court, Assistant Director of the Ministry of Personnel, Director of the Left Department, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and Personnel, and the of Jincheng County. His great-great-great-grandfather was Dianzhen, the Assistant Cavalry Officer of the Xue Royal Family, posthumously granted the title of Dajie. He is the fifth son of the Dajie. His descendants include Jian and others. In the New Genealogical Records, the space below Hui is filled with Di, Tong, Zao, and Da. According to the style of the New Genealogical Records, Di and the others should be Hui's younger brothers and cousins, likely mistakenly placed in the next generation. Based on the aforementioned Pei Shi epitaph, Dianzhen had five or more sons. The Pei Hui epitaph also mentions younger brothers and a son. In the New Genealogical Records, all four—Di, Tong, Zao, and Da—are named with the radical , suggesting they belong to the same generation as Pei Shi. The style name of Pei Shi is similar to the character for Zao, so it is possible that Zao was also mistakenly recorded as Pei Shi. Thus, Di and the others should be moved up one generation, making them Dianzhen's five sons: Hui, Di, Tong, Da, and Shi. Alternatively, they could be Dianzhen's six sons: Hui, Di, Tong, Zao, Shi, and Da. Di's son Lu has a name similar in sound to Shi's son Jian, likely also due to a phonetic error. [Southern Pei of Wu] Pei Cuo, the son of Pei Xuyi, the Censor of Southern Yanzhou, initially returned to the north and was known as the Southern Pei of Wu. Later, he served under the Northern Wei and became the Censor of Yuzhou and the Duke of Langling, posthumously granted the title of Zhongwu. Excerpt: Table 1, Section 7, Entry 2194 [Textual Variant] In Wang Wei's "Epitaph for Pei the Vice Minister of State in Qizhou, Who Showed Love to the People," it is written: "His name is Yaoqing, style name Huanzhi, and he is from Wenxi, Hedong. His thirteenth-generation ancestor Zheng was the Censor of the five prefectures of Yi, Yu, Yong, Yan, and Xu in the Wei Dynasty and the Duke of Langling." Zheng is not mentioned in the New Genealogical Records, but his official rank and title are the same as Pei Xuyi's, suggesting they might be the same person. However, according to the New Genealogical Records, there are only eight generations from Pei Xuyi to Yaoqing, while the epitaph claims thirteen generations. It is unclear how to calculate the generations to arrive at the number thirteen.