Chao Yuezhi

Life

His place of origin is variously given as Juye in Jizhou (modern Juye, Shandong) and Qingfeng (modern Qingfeng, Henan); Shangyuan is also given as his native place, while Jiangning and Kaifeng appear among his residences.

He was the son of 晁端彥 (born 1035), the brother of 晁補之 (1049–1106) and 晁詠之, and a collateral cousin of 晁冲之; 晁公酇 and 晁公祖 were his collateral nephews, and 晁觀之 a clan brother. His family connections included his father-in-law 盛觀仲, his son 晁公耄, and his eldest son 晁公壽 (d. 1107) and grandson 晁子健; 朱弁 was the husband of a niece.

During the Xining era, his father held office in Hangzhou, and Chao accompanied him. He passed the presented-scholar examination in the fifth year of Yuanfeng (1082).

At the beginning of Yuanyou, he served as judicial assessor of Yanzhou; in the Shaosheng era, as a professor in Caizhou and Suzhou; and during Yuanfu, as magistrate of Wuan County in Cizhou.

The date of his appointment as magistrate of Wuji differs in the accounts: one places it in the third year of Yuanfu; another places it in the second year of Chongning (1103), when he governed Wuji in Dingzhou. In the third year of Yuanfu he memorialized the throne, criticizing Wang Anshi and the political actions of the ministers who promoted the Shaoshu policies, and was consequently entered on the register of the “heterodox” party for more than twenty years.

During Chongning he held the rank of 承議郎, served as magistrate of Wuan and Wuji counties, and supervised the Jiji warehouse at Shanzhou; the date of his appointment at the Mingzhou shipyard is variously placed in the Daguan–Zhenghe period and at the end of Daguan. During Xuanhe he served as assistant prefect of Fuzhou and magistrate of Chengzhou, retiring soon afterward.

At the beginning of Jingkang, he was summoned as 著作郎 and appointed 秘書少監兼太子諭德; shortly afterward he became 中書舍人兼太子詹事, but lost office after requesting an external appointment and amid disagreement over his views. When Jin forces moved south, he took refuge in Gaoyou.

After Gaozong’s accession, he was summoned as 徽猷閣待制兼侍讀 and at one point supervised 萬壽觀; after making another request, he was appointed to supervise 杭州洞霄宮. Another account says that illness prevented him from taking up the 徽猷閣待制 appointment. He died in the first month of the third year of Jianyan, aboard a boat at Jiangning, aged seventy-one.

Scholarship and associations

In Yuanyou, a group of eminent men recommended him for his extensive learning and historical expertise, while Su Shi recommended him for the elegance of his prose and his suitability for scholarly writing.

Fan Zuyu also recommended him. He was a friend of 陳恬 and, admiring Sima Guang, adopted 景迂生 as his style.

He was learned in the Five Classics—or, in another formulation, the Six Classics—and especially expert in the Changes. He was a poet and a landscape painter, and in later life followed Buddhism.

Works

He wrote more than thirty works. Titles associated with him include 儒言, 晁氏客語, and 景迂生集; 嵩山文集, also known as 景迂生集, comprised twenty juan.

The accounts differ on what survives: one says that only 嵩山文集 and 晁氏客語 survive, while another also lists 儒言; 中庸傳 and 揚雄別傳 are also recorded among his works.