Chao Gongwu: A Biography of Chen Zhensun

Author: Hao Runhua, Wu Xiucheng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: Not available
Features: Chao Zongqu, styled Shiliang, was born in the second year of the Yongxi era of Emperor Taizong (985 AD). He became a schoolbook compiler in the Secretariat Department through his father's influence and repeatedly presented poems of praise. During the Great Middle Auspicious Era of Emperor Zhenzong, he was summoned to the Imperial Academy and granted the imperial examination degree. In the eighth year of the Great Middle Auspicious Era (1015 AD), he was appointed as a library and archives compiler and concurrently as an imperial collection annotator. He was promoted three times to become a deputy judge of the Dali Temple. After Emperor Renzong ascended the throne, he was transferred to the position of a deputy chamberlain and co-editor of the Imperial Chronicles. In the second year of the Tiansheng era of Emperor Renzong (1024 AD), he became a compiler of the Jixian Academy and was responsible for editing medical texts such as the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon, the Suwen, the Nanjing, and the Nestor's Source of Illness and Symptoms. He was successively promoted to the position of a deputy minister of the Temple Department and became a chief drafter of imperial edicts in the ninth year of the Tiansheng era (1031 AD). In the third year of the Jingyou era (1036 AD), he joined the Hanlin Academy as a scholar and later concurrently served as a scholar of the Longtu Pavilion and a temporary acting magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture. In the first year of the Kangding era (1040 AD), he became a deputy premier. He passed away in the second year of the Qingli era (1042 AD) at the age of fifty-eight and was posthumously granted the title of Minister of Works and the posthumous name Wenzhuang. His biography appears in Volume 3 of the History of Song. He wrote works such as the Wenlin Qixiu (10 volumes), the Collected Works of Chao Zongqu (40 volumes), and the Collected Imperial Edicts (10 volumes). He had two sons: Zhongyan and Zhongwei.
Chao Zhongyan, styled Zichang, was the eldest son of Chao Zongqu. During the Mingdao era, he passed the Ministry of Rites examination but encountered a period of mourning for his father. In the first year of the Jingyou era of Emperor Renzong (1034 AD), his grandfather Chao Jun specially petitioned the emperor, who granted him an imperial examination exemption. Later, he was summoned for an examination in the Western Pavilion and granted the same imperial examination degree as his peers. In the early Qingli era, Chao Zhongyan was admitted to the imperial court. Coincidentally, Emperor Renzong was hosting a banquet for the imperial family in the Taqing Pavilion and observing lanterns in the Cuifang Pavilion, while the state of Fuzhou presented the grand event of the Jinshan Festival. Chao Zhongyan composed poems to present to the emperor, who praised him three times. Later, he was summoned for an examination in the Imperial Academy and appointed as a deputy chamberlain, compiler of the Secretariat, and a. He was later appointed as the governor of Huai Prefecture and later transferred to the position of the judicial inspector of the Eastern Circuit. He was successively promoted to the rank of a deputy minister of the Temple Department and became a light cavalry commander of the first rank. He served as a deputy minister of the Temple Department before his death. He was buried in the new city of Zhengzhou. Chao Zhongyan was a person of integrity and diligence, never ceasing to study books for a single day. He was highly praised by the prime ministers Zhang Dexiang and Yan Shu. He wrote works such as the Collected Works (20 volumes), the Bianyang Miscellaneous Records (1 volume), the Post-Collection of Events (30 volumes), the Collected Works of the Jin and Jin Dynasties (50 volumes), the Miscellaneous Notes of the Court of Ying (the name of a pavilion), the Collected Poems of Hebei (the name of a region), the Three Volumes of Historical Arguments, the Twenty Volumes of the Records of the Grand Historian, and the Annotations to the Six Poems of Bai Juyi (the name of a collection). He had six sons: Duan Yan, Duan Fang, Duan Bing (the three younger sons were unnamed and passed away in childhood).
His second son, Chao Duanfang, had an unknown life story. He had two sons: Zaizhi and Chongzhi. Chongzhi was the father of Chao Gongwu.
Chao Chongzhi, styled Shucai and also known as Yongdao, was known as the "Master of Juci" and was a famous writer and poet of late Northern Song Dynasty. He was renowned for his poetry and was highly regarded by the famous poet Chen Shidao. He was friends with Lü Benzhong, who listed him as one of the twenty-five poets in the Map of the Jiangxi Poetry School and praised his poetry as "solely dedicated to learning the style of Du Fu." Yu Ruli once wrote the preface Preface to the Collected Poems of Chao Juci in high praise of Chao Chongzhi's poetry, saying: "Shucai, having peacefully devoted himself to the vastness of forests and streams, depicted things as they arose in his mind, and his style was profound, elegant, and bright, never expressing sounds of anger, danger, or intense sorrow. From this, I can see that Shucai was never disturbed or unhappy in the midst of the changing fortunes of light and darkness, gains and losses."