Chen Zhu

Family and Early Career

His great-grandfather was Chen Hong, his grandfather Chen Shen (陳伸), his father Chen Degang, his mother Zhu Shi, and his father-in-law Tong Jugao. Tong Shangrou (1216–1252) is named as a wife; Tong is also named as his first wife, while Zhao Bixing is named as his second wife. His son was Chen Shen (陳深), his sons-in-law were Huang Zhengsun and Hu Youwen, and Chen Guan was a kinsman of the same clan.

He passed the jinshi examination in the fourth year of the Baoyou era (1256), ranking seventeenth in the fifth class. He began as supervisor of the Raozhou commercial-tax office and was later appointed professor at Guangzhou.

Career

In the first year of the Jingding era (1260), he became head of the Bailu Academy, also called Luzhou, and magistrate of Anfu County. In the fourth year (1263), he was appointed a zhuzuo lang; Jia Sidao was then in power, and when Jia tried to draw him into his circle, Chen refused. When Jia purchased public fields, Chen submitted a memorial impeaching him; having offended Jia, Chen was sent out to serve at Jiaxing, where the office is variously described as magistrate of Jiaxing County or prefect of Jiaxing Prefecture.

He governed Sheng County, in either the third year of the Xianchun era (1267) or its fourth year. Sheng was an enclave of imperial relatives, and for seventeen years the regular authorities had been unable to administer it. Chen alone maintained his standards and authority; when he was promoted, the people of Sheng lined the road with farewell tents and escorted him to Chenggu Ridge, which was consequently renamed Chen Gong Ridge.

In the seventh year of Xianchun (1271), he was transferred to Yangzhou as assistant prefect; soon he became signing judge and then transport judge of Lin'an Prefecture, and was promoted to Erudite of the Imperial Academy. In the tenth year (1274; the posting year is also given as 1275), he served as censor and governor of Taizhou, a place also written as Hezhou; his offices also included the honorific Shanghujun.

After the Song fell, he withdrew to the mountains of Siming, styled himself Songxi yimao, and used cyclical dates, in a gesture implying non-subjection. He died in the first year of the Dade era (1297); the claim that he was eighty-four coexists with the differing birth dates.

Scholarship and Literary Associations

His disciple Zhao Yan, whose courtesy name was Guangshu and who was a native of Sheng, praised Chen as learned and discerning, talented and strong in character. Chen was also a friend of Jiang Xiao, engaged in poetic exchanges with Bai Ting, Dai Biaoyuan, and Kong Zhaosun, and corresponded with Hu Sansheng and Zhang Bochun.

His writings include epitaphs, sacrificial texts, academy essays, and postscripts to poetry and prose; he also wrote the preface titled 《錢塘白珽詩序》 for Bai Ting and commented on the works of Shu Lin.

Works

His principal work was the *Bentang ji* (《本堂集》), also known as the *Bentang wenji* (《本堂文集》), in ninety-four juan; other works include *Lidai jitong* (《歷代紀統》) and *Bentang ci* (《本堂詞》). The transmitted versions of the *Bentang wenji* contain many textual lacunae and errors, and two fascicles of poetry are missing.

The extant poetry collection is based on the Qing Guangxu edition collated and printed by the Chen family of Siming from a manuscript preserved by the Fan family, and collated against the Wenyuange *Siku quanshu* version of *Bentang ji*; poems outside the base poetry collection and newly collected poems outside the collection were assembled in a separate fascicle.