Xue Xuan

Life

Xue Xuan came from a scholarly family. His grandfather, Xue Zhongyi, was versed in the Classics, declined office at the end of the Yuan, and taught locally; his father, Xue Zhen (1355–1425), served as an instructor at the Yuan County school, and his grandson was Xue Qi, born in 1435. At a private school he studied the Book of Songs and the Book of Documents and recorded a thousand or more words a day; after his father was transferred to Yanling in Henan, he became a county student there. As a youth he excelled at poetry and fu, then studied Neo-Confucian learning under Wei Xiwen of Gaomi and Fan Ruzhou of Haining, burning all the poetry and fu he had written earlier. He ranked first in the Henan provincial examination in 1420 and became its jieyuan; in 1421 he passed the Xin-chou metropolitan examination as a jinshi. His jinshi placement is given as fourteenth in the second class. After passing, he observed mourning for his father and followed the ancient rites. When the mourning period ended during the Xuande era, he was appointed an investigating censor; while the Three Yangs controlled the government, he declined their invitation to meet. From 1429 to 1432, he served as an investigating censor of the Huguang Circuit, was sent as an envoy to Chenzhou, and supervised the Huguang silver works at Yuanzhou in western Hunan. He spent more than three years in Yuan, became known for prosecuting corruption among silver-mine officials, and was praised for good government; after his stepmother died, he returned home. Early in the Zhengtong era, he became educational commission associate commissioner in Shandong. He instructed students with the Bailudong school regulations and taught them personally, earning the name “Master Xue”; he was later promoted to Left Vice Minister of the Dali Court. Because his uprightness brought him into conflict with the eunuch Wang Zhen, and because he refused to bow before him, Xue Xuan was falsely accused and imprisoned in the Jinyiwei prison. He was condemned to death for embezzlement and bribery, but was spared after Vice Minister of War Wang Wei and others petitioned on his behalf. After the Jingtai Emperor’s accession, the recommendation of the Reminder Cheng Xin brought him back as a Vice Director of the Dali Court; in the second year of Jingtai he was promoted to President of the Nanjing Dali Court. After the restoration of the Yingzong Emperor, he became Vice Minister of Rites and concurrently a Hanlin Academician, entering the cabinet to participate in state affairs; the concurrent offices are also given as Left Vice Minister of Rites and Grand Academician of the Wenyuan Pavilion. Seeing Shi Heng and Cao Jixiang disrupting the government, he memorialized to request retirement and soon withdrew from office. He died in the sixth month of the eighth year of Tianshun (1464). He was posthumously granted the rank of Minister of Rites and the name Wenqing; in the sixth year of Longqing (1572), he was enshrined in the Confucian temple.

Thought

Xue Xuan’s learning followed the Cheng–Zhu tradition. He held that after Zhu Xi there was no need to multiply writings, but that one should practice the teaching in one’s own conduct; self-cultivation and the education of others were to be directed toward the recovery of original nature.

Writings and literary achievement

His works include 《讀書錄》 and 《薛文清集》. His poetry and prose collections are also titled 《河汾詩集》 and 《敬軒文集》, with 《河汾集》 as another form. The bibliographic titles further include 《薛子道論》, 《薛文清公從政錄》, 《薛文清公讀書錄》, 《新刻讀詩錄一卷》, several excerpted or continued versions of the 《讀書錄》, and 《薛文清公讀書續錄》十二卷. Literary assessments describe his prose as elegant and exemplary and his poetry as generally tranquil: his old-style verse is distant and refined, his regulated verse broad and vigorous, and his quatrains full of charm, with occasional philosophical diction and a frequent air of Tao Yuanming and Wei Yingwu.

Students and legacy

His students included Liu Jian, Duan Jian, Zhang Ding, and Yan Yuxi.