Jiang Tang

Life and career

In the fifth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era under Emperor Zhenzong (1012), he passed the jinshi examination, received an appointment as military commander's aide in Chuzhou, then became a vice director of the Court of Judicial Review and magistrate of Linchuan. He subsequently served as assistant prefect of Meizhou, Jizhou, and Chuzhou, and as prefect of Sizhou.

At the beginning of the Mingdao era he was summoned as a Censor of Inspection and soon promoted to Investigating Censor; a separate formulation describes his service under Emperor Renzong as that of a Grand Master of Remonstrance. Because he remonstrated against the abolition of Empress Guo, he was sent out as transport commissioner of the Jiangnan East Circuit, transferred to Huainan, and concurrently placed in charge of Jiang-Huai transport; after being demoted for dereliction of duty, he became prefect of Yuezhou and was transferred to Suzhou in the fourth year of the Jingyou era.

After entering the central government to oversee the Ministry of Justice, he served in the Revenue and Finance administrations and as deputy commissioner of salt and iron. In the first year of the Kangding era, he was promoted to Reader-in-waiting at the Tianzhang Pavilion and Jiang-Huai transport commissioner, then appointed prefect of Hongzhou and Yingtiangfu. In the first year of the Qingli era he became prefect of Hangzhou; in the third, as a Direct Academician of the Privy Council, he was appointed prefect of Yizhou, transferred to Hezhong Prefecture, and later served again in Hangzhou and Suzhou.

His retirement is placed generally in the Huangyou era, with one formulation specifying its fifth year; he retired as Vice Minister of Rites. He died in the sixth year of the era, aged seventy-five.

Family and associations

His grandfather was Jiang Hongjin and his father Jiang Jiugao. His third son was Jiang Changyuan; his sons-in-law included Shao Bi and Wang Jingfen. Jiang Zhiqi is variously labeled a collateral nephew and a nephew, Jiang Yi was a grandson, Jiang Zhixing a sixth-generation descendant or kunsun, and Jiang Tinggui a direct descendant.

While serving at Qiantang, he was a friend in Buddhist circles of the monk Shi Weizheng, whose name also appears in an associated note as Weisu; the relationship was described as close. Shi Kan is listed as a disciple.

He wrote prefaces for works by Zhang Fangping and Li Jinqing, exchanged poems with Li, and had a book preface written by Qin Guan. Hu Su wrote his epitaph and spirit-way inscription; Song Qi composed a portrait eulogy and a shrine inscription, while Jiang Zhiqi wrote his biography.

His exchanges also included letters from Zhang Fangping, Zhang Yu, and Wang Anshi, inscriptions, records, or names for buildings associated with Li Zhongyan and Li Jinqing, and a visit by Lu Bing while Jiang Tang was building his garden.

Literary work

He was described as a man of austere and principled conduct, fond of learning, accomplished in prose, and especially accomplished in poetry. He wrote the twenty-volume *Wumen ji* (《吳門集》), now long lost; the extant *Chunqing yigao* (《春卿遺稿》) survives, and he called his residence Yinpu, for which he composed *Twelve Poems on Yinpu* (《隱圃十二詠》).

In 1621, his twentieth-generation descendant 鐄 gathered surviving pieces and compiled *Chunqing yigao* (《春卿遺稿》) and *Chunqing yigao xubian* (《春卿遺稿續編》), one volume each; in 1895, Sheng Xuanhuai of Wujin reprinted them and added a one-volume supplement, *Buyi* (《補遺》).

The current edition uses the Sheng version as its base and is arranged in one volume, with poems outside the collection placed in a second volume. *Chunqing yigao* also has postscripts by Wei Liaoweng and Sheng Xuanhuai.