Fang Fengchen

Life

His great-grandfather was Fang Ruyi and his grandfather Fang Qian; his mother was a member of the Shao family, his younger brothers were Fang Fengzhen and Fang Fengjia, and his agnatic cousin was Fang Tianji. He was married to Shao (1223–1256); Zhao and Zhu are also named as his first and second wives. He had three sons, Fang Liang, Fang Dong, and Fang Jie, and three daughters; his sons-in-law were Xu Minzhong, Xiang Xiongfei, and Shao Yuanting. His descendants included his grandson Fang Yikui and his great-grandson Fang Daorui.

After passing the examination, he was initially appointed Chengshilang and signed the documents of the Pingjiang Military Commissioner's Office. In the first year of the Baoyou era (1253), he was summoned as a Corrector in the Palace Library; in the following year he was appointed Collator and dismissed after submitting a remonstrance, and in the fourth year of Baoyou (1256) he was appointed prefect of Ningguo. In the first year of the Kaiching era (1259), he was summoned as a Palace Library Erudite and made Acting Left Palace Secretariat Aide; in the first year of Jingding (1260), he was again dismissed after remonstrating against Jia Sidao.

In the second year of Jingding (1261), he became prefect of Ruizhou; his local appointments also included Jiaxing Prefecture and military administration of Junzhou, held from 1262 to 1263. After Emperor Duzong's accession, he was summoned in the first year of Xianchun (1265) as Director of the Bureau of Ranks and Concurrent Director of the Secretariat Academy, while also serving in the Historiography and Veritable Records offices; he was subsequently promoted to Junior Supervisor of the Palace Library and Palace Attendant. In the third year of Xianchun (1267), he went out as Investigating Censor of Jiangdong and Secretarial Chamber Academician, and in the fourth year (1268) was transferred as Deputy Transport Commissioner of Jiangxi. In the fifth year of Xianchun (1269), he became Acting Vice Minister of War, and in the seventh year (1271) was promoted to Vice Minister of Personnel.

When Zheng Qingzhi and Jia Sidao dominated the court, Fang Fengchen sharply denounced their conduct and retired on the pretext of illness; he was appointed Minister of Personnel and Minister of Rites but accepted neither post. After observing mourning for his mother, he left public life and abandoned official service. After the fall of the Song, he lived in seclusion at Jiaofeng and taught students; Emperor Shizu of the Yuan summoned him in the twenty-eighth year of the Zhiyuan era (1291), but he firmly declined on grounds of illness, and scholars called him Master Jiaofeng. He died that year at the age of seventy-one.

Learning and associations

Fang Fengchen revered Zhu Xi and interpreted Mencius and the moral theory of the Cheng–Zhu school, placing him within the Neo-Confucian tradition. During his retirement at Wuzhou he lectured and accepted students; after the fall of the Song, he continued teaching at Jiaofeng. Wei Xinzhi of Tonglu (1242–1293), styled Shichuan, studied under him, placed in the jinshi examination in the seventh year of Xianchun, and later became an instructor at Yin; Jiang Mu founded a charitable school and invited Fang Fengchen to teach the younger generation. Wu Panlong was his friend.

Fang Fengchen wrote prefaces for works by Qian Keze, Lin Jingxi, Yao Mian, Hu Boji, Zheng Bao, and Wang Xun Yuan, and exchanged literary prefaces with Lin Jingxi.

Works

His works included Mingwu mengqiu, Xiaojing jie, Yi waizhuan, Shangshu shizhuan (also transmitted as Shangshu zhuan), Xueyong zhushi (also transmitted as Zhongyong Daxue zhushi), and Jiaofeng wenji. Most of his writings were lost; his fifth-generation collateral descendant Yuan compiled an eight-chapter Jiaofeng xiansheng wenji, and his seventh-generation descendant Zhong continued it with a four-chapter outer collection. His poems use Fang Zhong's woodblock edition of Jiaofeng xiansheng wenji, produced in the seventh year of the Tianshun era (1463), as their base text and were collated against the Wenyuange Siku quanshu edition.

Posthumous writings

Huang Jin wrote a preface to one of his books and the Qianbiao for Master Jiaofeng; Wen Jiweng wrote the epitaph for Fang, and He Menggui composed the portrait eulogy for Master Jiaofeng. Wen Jiweng's epitaph appears in volume 3 of the Jiaofeng waiji.