Shi Yannian

Life

Shi failed the imperial examinations repeatedly. Under Emperor Zhenzong he was granted the office of Sanban fengzhi (三班奉職), an imperial favour extended to candidates who had failed the examinations three times, and he thus entered the service through the military track. In 1026, the fourth year of the Tiansheng era of Emperor Renzong, he became magistrate of Jinxiang county in Jizhou; he later served as assistant prefect (通判) of the Qianning and Yongjing armies, then at the capital as case reviewer of the Court of Judicial Review (大理評事) and compiler of the Jixian Institute (直集賢院), rising to assistant director of the Court of Judicial Review (大理寺丞). He received the additional post of collator of the Palace Library (館閣校勘) in 1032, became assistant prefect of Haizhou in 1035, and in 1040 was sent on a mission to Hedong.

He once submitted a memorandum on frontier defence that met with no reply. When Li Yuanhao (李元昊) of the Western Xia rebelled, Shi was ordered to register tens of thousands of local militia in Hedong, and he asked that envoys be sent to the Gusiluo (唃廝囉) and the Uyghurs to raise troops against Yuanhao, which won Emperor Renzong's approval. He died in the capital in the second month of the second year of the Kangding era (1041), while holding the offices of zhongyun of the Heir Apparent (太子中允) and collator of the Imperial Archives (秘閣校理), at the age of forty-eight.

Shi was a man of bold and untrammelled spirit who prized personal integrity; he read widely and grasped the essentials, wrote vigorous prose, and was especially accomplished in poetry and also skilled in calligraphy. He was fond of heavy drinking, and once drank with Liu Qian (劉潛) until evening without showing any sign of it. He was on friendly terms with Ouyang Xiu, Liu Qian and the monks Weiyan (惟儼) and Miyan (秘演), and also associated with Wei Bufa (韋不伐) together with Fan Zhongyan. After his death Ouyang Xiu wrote his tomb inscription, and Fan Zhongyan a sacrificial address.

Works

His poems were collected in one juan as Shi Manqing ji (《石曼卿集》), also known as Shi Manqing shi (《石曼卿詩》) or Shi Manqing shiji (《石曼卿詩集》); the bibliographical treatise of the Song History lists Shi Yannian shi (《石延年詩》) in two juan. He also had a collection of ci, Menshi'an changduanju (《捫虱庵長短句》), and some of his ci are found in the Hua'an cixuan (《花庵詞選》). In the Qing dynasty, Li Zhengang (李振綱) compiled Shi xueshi shiji (《石學士詩集》) in one juan, printed in 1840, the twentieth year of the Daoguang era, which contains more poems than earlier editions. His collection was formerly furnished with prefaces by Ouyang Xiu, Su Shunqin, Yin Zhu and Shi Jie. His calligraphy and writings were frequently given colophons by later writers. The Song History includes his biography in juan 442.