Fan Chengda

Life

His father was Fan Yu; his elder brother was Fan Chengxiang and his younger brother Fan Chengji. His father-in-law was Wei Xinchen, while Wang Bao was a relation by marriage, Wang Mai a son-in-law, and Fan Wei a nephew.

In 1154, Fan passed the jinshi examination. His first appointment was as Assistant Military Registrar of Huizhou. In the thirty-second year of the Shaoxing era he entered the supervision of the Taiping Huimin Hejiju; in the first year of Longxing he joined the office that compiled the Shengzheng of Emperor Gaozong and served concurrently as a review official in the Edict Office. In the first year of Qiandao (1165) he rose through the ranks to become Assistant Director of the Palace Library; in the second year he was appointed an assistant director in the Ministry of Personnel, was dismissed after criticism from remonstrance officials, and was then put in charge of the Chongdao Temple at Taizhou; in the third year he became prefect of Chuzhou. As prefect of Chuzhou, he restored the Tongji Dyke, bringing irrigation benefits to the people. In the fifth year of Qiandao he became an assistant director in the Ministry of Rites, concurrently lecturer at the Chongzhengdian and compiler in the National History Office; he was later promoted to Reader in Attendance, concurrently lecturer, and continued as a reviewer in the Veritable Records Office, becoming Recorder in Attendance in the sixth year. In the sixth year of Qiandao, as Recorder in Attendance and acting Grand Academician of the Zizheng Hall, he went as envoy to Jin and fulfilled his mission without humiliation; after returning, he became a Secretariat Drafter and took part in compiling the national history and the Veritable Records Office's joint chronicle. In the seventh year of Qiandao he became prefect of Jingjiang and military commissioner of Guangxi; in the second year of Chunxi (1175) he was appointed Sichuan Military Commissioner and concurrently prefect of Chengdu. In the fourth year of Chunxi (1177), illness led him to request retirement; after an imperial audience he was appointed Acting Minister of Rites. In the fifth year of Chunxi he presided over the metropolitan examination, soon concurrently directing the Imperial Secretariat, and was appointed Vice Grand Councillor with the rank of Grand Master, concurrently supervising the compilation of the national history and calendar; after only two months he was impeached, removed, and given a worship-retirement appointment. In the seventh year of Chunxi he became prefect of Mingzhou and Coastal Military Commissioner; in the eighth year he was transferred to the prefecture of Jiankang, concurrently military commissioner of Jiangdong and Palace-Lodging Commissioner. In the tenth year of Chunxi (1183) he retired on grounds of illness; in the fifteenth year he was appointed prefect of Fuzhou but did not take up the post and firmly declined it. In the third year of Shaoxi (1192) he was made Grand Academician of the Zizheng Hall and prefect of Taiping, but soon requested retirement; a separate office entry also places him as military administrator of Nanping in 1191–1192. His titles also included the ranks of Grand Master of Central Position, Grand Master of Central Support, and Grand Master for Discussion, as well as Academician of the Duanming Hall, Revising Academician of the Jiying Hall, Grand Academician of the Zizheng Hall, Cavalry Commandant, and envoy bearing the imperial credentials. Illness eventually took him back to his home at Shihu. He died in the fourth year of Shaoxi at the age of sixty-eight, was posthumously granted the rank of Junior Preceptor, enfeoffed as Duke of Chongguo, and given the posthumous name Wenmu.

Associations

Fan was a friend of Lu You and Jiang Kui, and shared a same-year friendship with Yang Wanli. He recommended Li Shourou and He Song, recruited Jian Shijie into his staff, had Zhang Lu as a student, and had You Cigong and Zhao Panlao among his staff.

Poetry and writings

Fan was already celebrated for his literary talent, excelled in poetry and ci lyric, and was known especially for pastoral poetry; with You Mao, Yang Wanli, and Lu You he was counted among the Southern Song's “Four Great Poets of the Restoration” (the Four Great Poets of the Southern Song). His representative work Four Seasons: Rural Excursions comprises sixty poems. The 136-volume Shihu Complete Works has been lost; the 34-volume Shihu Jushi Poetry Collection survives. His writings include the Shihu Collection, Lanpei Record, Wuchuan Record, Wu Commandery Gazetteer, Guihai Record of Things, Canluan Record (also written Canlu Record), Shihu Ci, Ju Manual, and Plum Manual. Other titles associated with his writings include Guihai Miscellany, Guihai Barbarians, Guihai Caverns, Guihai Epigraphy, Guihai Fruits, Guihai Flowers, Guihai Plants, Guihai Flowers and Trees, Shihu Chrysanthemum Manual, Guihai Insects and Fish, Guihai Birds, Guihai Beasts, Guihai Fragrances, Guihai Implements, Guihai Wines, Taihu Stone Record, and lost passages from the Guihai Record of Things. At the Mid-Autumn Festival of 1177, while returning east from Sichuan to Lin'an after leaving office, he climbed the Southern Tower on Yellow Crane Mountain at Wuchang several times and wrote the ci “Drinking at the Southern Tower on Mid-Autumn Day” and the regulated verse “Southern Tower of Ezhou”; the former conveys frustration at passing years and unfulfilled ambitions, while the latter depicts Wuchang's Mid-Autumn night and praises the river city.