Hua Zhen (with his birth year given variously as 1051 or 1052 and his death date unknown) was a Northern Song official and writer of poetry and prose. He was styled Anren, used the sobriquet Yunxi, was also known as Yunxi Jushi, and called himself Yunxi Shanke; he was a native of Kuaiji (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang).
Life
In the second year of Yuanfeng under Emperor Shenzong (1079), Hua passed the jinshi examination at the age of twenty-eight and began his career as lieutenant of Gaoyou. In the first year of Yuanyou (1086), he supervised the Yongjia Salt Field in Wenzhou; in the seventh year, he became Daozhou Judicial Assistant (司法參軍), also given as Registrar Assistant (錄事參軍), and later held the Hunan Transport Office post of 帳勾兼管勾文字. In the second year of Yuanfu (1099), he administered Haimen County in Tongzhou, also recorded more briefly as Haimen; in the fifth year of Chongning (1106), he administered Xin'an County in Henan Prefecture, also recorded as Xin'an.
He spent more than two decades in county and prefectural service. At the beginning of Zhenghe, he became administrator of Zhangzhou and ended his career as Chaofeng Dafu; his recorded titles also include tongpan (通判) and you shijin (右侍禁).
Family and correspondence
His father was named Hua Mou, as was an elder sister; his wife's grandfather was Zhao Kegao (1037–1102), and his son Hua Chuping died in 1127. Guo Yin wrote a preface to one of his books and a biography of him; Hua in turn composed an epitaph for Huang Yi, a postface to a book by Zhao Wanzong and a biography of Zhao, and a sacrificial text for Sun Sheng.
He addressed letters to An Dun, Cheng Shimeng, Zhang Wan, Jiang Zhiqi, Xu Jiang, Gu Lin, Li Chang, Liang Zimei, Lü Gongzhu, Sun Sheng, Cai Jing, Lüqiu Xiaozhi, Zhu Fu, and Xing Shu. He also addressed letters to Xu Duo, Liang Tao, Lin Xi, Liu Zhi, Cai Bian, Feng Ji, Zhang Heng, Liu Yi, Zeng Xiaoyong, Dong Yi, Li Hong, Ke Shu, Chen Gou, and Huang Shi.
Literary work
Hua was fond of reading, learned, and skilled in poetry and prose, with a clear and graceful style. His works included Yangzi Fay an Xunjie (《揚子法言訓解》), ten juan; Shushuo (《書說》), three juan; Kuaiji langushi (《會稽覽古詩》), 103 poems; Yunxi Jushi Ji (《雲溪居士集》), 100 juan; and Kuaiji lu (《會稽錄》), one juan.
The original 100-juan Yunxi Jushi Ji was lost; Qing Siku editors reconstructed thirty juan from the Yongle Dadian, including twelve juan of poetry, and the Yangzi Fay an Xunjie and other works were also lost. An edition of Hua's poetry takes the photoreproduced Wenyuange Siku Quanshu text as its base, collates it against manuscripts associated with Shao Eryun and the Shenshi Mingye Shanfang, a Qianlong-period Hanlin Academy manuscript, and the Liang Song Mingxian Xiaoji, and adds one juan of poems outside the collection.
References
- CBDB Hua Zhen (13460)
- 搜韵 華鎮 (24950)
- Wikidata Hua Zhen (Q45377714)