Li Guang

Life

He passed the jinshi examination in 1106. He was appointed magistrate of Kaihua and then Changshu; during the Xuanhe era he rose through the Sifeng and Sixun yuanwailang posts, entered court as Fubao lang, and was demoted to supervise Tingzhou's wine tax after remonstrating.

When Emperor Qinzong came to the throne, Li Guang was promoted to Right Remonstrator and then to Investigating Censor. In the first year of Jianyan (1127), he became a Supervisor of the Palace Library. In the third year of Jianyan (1129), he became governor of Xuanzhou. There he repaired the city walls, assembled troops and provisions, and organized a yi-she (義社); his defense of the territory was considered effective. He was later transferred to Lin'an.

In the first year of Shaoxing (1131), he governed Wuzhou and was promptly promoted to Assistant Minister of Personnel; the Personnel Ministry rank is also given as Minister of Personnel. In the second year of Shaoxing, he became pacification commissioner for western Huainan. He was then made Jiangdong pacification commissioner and concurrently governor of Jiankang and Shouchun. He subsequently lost his office and was assigned to supervise the Taizhou Chongdao Abbey. He later governed Huzhou, Pingjiang, Taizhou, and Wenzhou. In the fifth year of Shaoxing, he was also appointed Minister of Rites and went out to govern Taizhou and Wenzhou.

In the seventh year of Shaoxing, he became pacification and military commissioner of the Jiangnan West Circuit and concurrently governed Hongzhou. In the eighth year of Shaoxing, he was appointed executive councillor. In the ninth year, after falling out with Qin Hui, he was sent out as governor of Shaoxing and reassigned to supervise the Dongxiao Palace. In office, he opposed ceding territory in exchange for peace, argued that the Jin could not be trusted, that a peace agreement could not be relied upon, and that the defenses should not be withdrawn; before Emperor Gaozong he accused Qin Hui of “usurping state power and ruining the country through treachery.” Qin Hui consequently turned against him, and he left the government after one year as a chief councillor.

In the eleventh year of Shaoxing, he was demoted to Assistant Military Commissioner of Jianning and placed under confinement at Tengzhou; in the fourteenth year he was transferred to Qiongzhou, and in the twentieth to Changhuajun. After Qin Hui died in the twenty-fifth year, he was moved inland to Chenzhou; in the twenty-eighth year he was restored to Left Chaofeng dafu and allowed to live where he wished. He retired in the twenty-ninth year and died on the way at Jiangzhou, aged eighty-two. After Xiaozong's accession, he was posthumously restored as a Zizheng dian xueshi; his posthumous name was Zhuangjian, also given as Anjian and Zhuangsu.

His father was Li Gao, his mother Lady Shi, and his father-in-law was Guan Shike; his wife was Guan (1104–1175). His sons included Li Mengbo (李孟博), Li Mengjian (李孟堅, 1115–1169), Li Mengzhen (李孟珍, 1129–1184), and Li Mengchuan (李孟傳, 1136–1219), whose position in the birth order is variously given as youngest or fifth son. His sons-in-law included Pan Zhi (潘畤), Lu Quanzhi (陸權之), Cao Cuizhong (曹粹中), and Zhang Ju (章駒); his grandchildren included Li Zhixiao (李知孝), Li Zhiwei (李知微), and Li Zhihe (李知和), one granddaughter married Hu Yong, and his great-grandsons included Li Fu (李復) and Li Qu (李衢).

Scholarship and writings

Li Guang studied under Liu Anshi (劉安世) and is classified as a Neo-Confucian scholar. In political argument he opposed territorial concessions for peace and maintained that neither a peace settlement nor the withdrawal of defenses could be relied upon.

His writings included the ten-volume 《讀易詳說》, also called 《讀易老人詳說》, the ten-volume 《兵略》, the ten-volume 《神仙傳》, and a thirty-volume literary collection, which was later lost. Other works associated with him include the one-volume 《椒亭小集》, an eighteen-volume compilation of 《莊簡集》, and 《李莊簡詞》.