Qian Dehong

Life

His father, Qian Meng, was blind and used the sobriquet Xin Yuweng; his mother was surnamed Ma, and the family had lived for generations in Dengxiang, Yuyao. After a fire destroyed their home, the family rented the Mo family residence; Qian Dehong was born there, at Ruiyun Tower, which was also identified as the birthplace of Wang Shouren. He read the Book of Changes at Lingxu Mountain, a circumstance associated with his being known as Xushan Xiansheng.

His recorded family included his great-grandfather Qian Shizhi, grandfather Qian Xi, father Qian Meng, and mother Ma. He had elder brothers Qian Dezhong, Qian Dezhao, and Qian Deshu, and younger brothers Qian Dezhang and Qian Dezhou; the name of another younger brother appears as “錢德?”. His wife was Zhu, and his sons were Qian Yingzhi, Qian Yingdu, and Qian Yingle.

In 1519, he was enrolled as a student of the local county school and became a pupil of Wang Shouren after Wang’s return to his native region. His examination career is reported in two forms. One account says that he entered the metropolitan examination in 1526 and returned directly, did not attend in 1528 because of his teacher’s death, and finally passed in 1532; another places him thirty-seventh in the Zhejiang provincial examination in 1522, two hundred and thirty-first in the 1532 metropolitan examination, and in the third class at two hundred and twenty-sixth place.

After passing the examination, he first served under the Ministry of Personnel and was initially appointed professor at the Suzhou Prefecture School. In Jiajing 13 he presided over the Jiawu Guangdong provincial examination; in Jiajing 14 he returned home to observe mourning for his mother. After completing the mourning period, he was promoted to an assistant director at the Directorate of Education, then to secretary and vice director in the Ministry of Justice, and eventually to vice minister of justice. In the ninth month of Jiajing 20, he was imprisoned by the Embroidered-uniform Guard for arguing that Guo Xun deserved the death penalty; in Jiajing 22 he was stripped of office and registered as a commoner, also described as having his official status removed.

After his release, he traveled through Jiangnan and Zhejiang, Xuanshe, and Huguang, lecturing on the learning of liangzhi for thirty years and taking disciples. After the accession of the Muzong Emperor, he was restored to office, received the rank of Chaolie Dafu, and retired; when the Shenzong Emperor succeeded to the throne, he was advanced by another rank. He died in the second year of the Wanli era (1574), at the age of seventy-nine.

Thought and Associations

Qian Dehong studied under Wang Shouren and taught the learning of liangzhi, placing him in the Yangming school. During Wang Shouren’s lectures, he and Wang Ji first clarified the main ideas for fellow students, and Qian later took Wang Shouren’s scholarly mission as his own. He was regarded alongside the contemporary Wang Ji, also known as Wang Longxi, and compiled *Wang Shouren nianpu*; he also wrote Wang Ji’s biography.

His teaching network included Lu Kejiu and Wu Lin as students, Xu Yongjian as a student from 1556, and Shen Chong, Yao Xitang, and Wang Shousheng among those who followed him. He was a friend of Zhou Yi and Hu Han, exchanged letters or poetry and prose with Luo Hongxian, Ouyang De, and Zhan Ruoshui, and discussed learning with Wang Hongbin.

Works and Legacy

His works include *Ping Hao ji*, *Xushan huiyu* in twenty-five juan, and *Wang Shouren nianpu* in one juan. After his dismissal, his long-term teaching of liangzhi and the disciples he gathered led scholars to call him Xushan Xiansheng; he became one of the important representatives of Confucian mind-learning after Wang Shouren.