Sun Mian

Family and early career

His great-grandfather was Sun E (孫鶚), his grandfather Sun Zhi (孫植), and his father Sun Pi (孫丕); his mother is variously given as Zhang or Zhou, and his wife was Bian (邊氏, 1017–1081). He had a younger brother, Sun Dong (孫洞), and a son, Sun Zhiwen (孫之文); another entry calls Sun Zhimin (孫之敏) his only son. His sons-in-law were Hu Zongyao (胡宗堯), Su Bing (蘇炳), and Zhuang Gongyue (莊公岳), and his granddaughter's husband was Li Que (黎確).

He passed the jinshi examination in the third year of the Tianxi era (1019) and was appointed assistant judicial examiner in Zhaozhou.

Career

During the reign of Renzong, he served as Secretary Supervisor and Investigating Censor in Waiting. At the end of the first year of Jingyou, he was demoted to magistrate of Hengshan for seeking leniency for Li Anshi; while on the way, he submitted a memorial on current affairs and was demoted again to wine supervisor in Yongzhou. He was later transferred to serve as assistant prefect of Tanzhou, became prefect of Chuzhou (處州) and Chuzhou (楚州), was summoned as Left Admonisher, and appointed Shaanxi Transport Commissioner.

His provincial appointments included Chuzhou (處州), Chuzhou (楚州), Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Qinzhou, Hangzhou, Bingzhou, and Shouzhou; records also list posts in Mingzhou, Weizhou, Shanzhou, and Haozhou. The number of his appointments at Qingzhou is given variously as two and three. His listed titles also included Surveillance Commissioner for the Liangzhe Circuit, Director of the Remonstrance Office, Hedong Transport Commissioner, and pacification commissions concurrently held with the prefectures of Qin, Hang, Tan, Qing, and Bing.

While serving at Qingzhou, he was familiar with frontier affairs and had a talent for military administration; he also submitted a forceful memorial attacking the chancellor Lü Yijian. During the Huangyou era, he served as pacification commissioner for Hunan and Jiangxi and concurrently for Guangnan East and West; after suppressing the Nong Zhigao rebellion, he was appointed Deputy Privy Councillor. From the fifth to the sixth year of Huangyou (1053–1054), he also served as Associate Commissioner of the Privy Council.

He was later dismissed for licentiousness and illegal conduct. When Yingzong came to the throne, he was recalled as prefect of Hezhong, transferred to Qingzhou, and then moved to Yanzhou, dying on the way. One account gives his age at death as 71, while another gives 72; he was posthumously titled Weimin (威敏).

Recommendations and associations

He recommended Hou Ke. When the court ordered close officials to nominate men fit for military command, Sun Mian put Liu Ji forward; during the Kangding era, while serving as a commandery prefect, he recommended Wu Yan as a professor at the prefectural school. One entry lists Wang Lue as his disciple and another as his student; he corresponded with Wang Anshi and received letters from Fu Bi, Han Qi, Ouyang Xiu, Li Gou, and Fan Zhongyan.

A stele inscription for him bears the title *Sun Weimin gong Mian shendao bei* (《孫威敏公沔神道碑》). Buildings associated with Sun Mian received inscriptions, accounts, or names from Su Shi, Su Shunqin, and Yu Jing.

Writings

He had a collected works in ten scrolls, and four of his poems are recorded.