Xie Duo

Life

Gifted from an early age, Xie entered the county school at about twenty. In 1459 he placed second in the Zhejiang provincial examination, and in 1464 he earned the jinshi degree, ranking thirty-first in the second class. He was selected as a shujishi of the Hanlin Academy, appointed a compiler the following year, and later advanced to lecturer and service at the Classics Mat; he also took part in the preparatory compilation of the Veritable Records of Emperor Yingzong.

In 1473, the ninth year of Chenghua, Xie was ordered to collate the *Tongjian Gangmu*. He submitted a memorial urging the Chenghua emperor to govern with greater diligence and also discussed frontier affairs, addressing current problems pointedly; his remonstrance was not adopted. He soon suffered two bereavements and, after completing the mourning periods, did not return to office, citing the care of his parent.

Early in the Hongzhi reign he was recalled in his former office to help revise the *Veritable Records of Emperor Xianzong*. In 1490 he was promoted to libationer of the Nanjing Directorate of the Imperial College; the following year he returned home because of illness and remained there for more than a decade. When the directorship later fell vacant, the court appointed him Vice Minister of Rites to oversee it; after repeated refusals he took up the post. His career also includes the title Left Vice Minister of Rites. While overseeing the directorate he tightened the curriculum, curbed solicitation, and increased the number of student quarters; five years later he again left office because of illness.

Xie died at home on the second day of the second month in the fifth year of Zhengde (1510). The court posthumously elevated him to Minister of Rites and gave him the posthumous name Wensu.

Scholarship and literature

Xie was praised for deep learning in the Classics and substantial, well-formed prose. He was also regarded as a Neo-Confucian scholar and an important member of the Chaling poetry school during the Chenghua and Hongzhi periods. His administration of the Imperial College was marked by strict curricula, the curbing of personal solicitation, and the expansion of student quarters.

He devised a curriculum for his own study of poetry, spending a month at a time on a single poetic form; the resulting poems were regarded as grave and firm in manner. Even in old age he had his sons point out flaws in each new poem. A contemporary description calls his poetry “unyielding and brilliant, needing no ornament,” and regards his ancient yuefu as especially successful in recovering the spirit of antiquity.

Xie exchanged letters and literary writings with figures such as Li Dongyang and Wu Kuan and was a friend of Zhang Bi; Huang Wan was counted among his students. He composed epitaphs, tomb inscriptions, biographies, sacrificial texts, prefaces, biographical accounts, and spirit-way inscriptions for many people.

Works

His works include *赤城論諫錄*, *伊洛淵源續錄*, *赤城新志*, and *桃溪淨稿*. *桃溪淨稿* is listed in eighty-four juan, *伊洛淵源續錄* in six, and *赤城論諫錄* in ten. Other titles associated with his corpus include *赤城集*, *方石文集*, *謝鐸奏議*, *謝鐸文稿*, *謝鐸詩*, and *桃溪集*; the catalogued titles do not give wholly consistent numbers of juan.

Family

Xie’s lineage places Xie Lingyun among his direct ancestors and Xie Wenliang as his great-great-grandfather, or fourth-generation ancestor. His great-grandfather is given as Xie Mou, his grandfather as Xie Xingduan, his father as Xie Shiyan, and his mother as Gao.

He had four younger brothers—Xie Nao, Xie Zhu, Xie Jian, and Xie Rui—and was married to Chen. His sons were Xie Xingren, Xie Xingyin, and Xie Xingyi; his son-in-law was Jin Xin, and his grandson was Xie Bizuo.