Fan Zhongyan

Life

His father was Fan Yong. After his mother remarried into the Zhu family of Changshan, he took their surname and was named Zhu Shuo. In 1015, he earned the jinshi degree, was appointed 司理參軍 in Guangde jun, and then became 節度推官 in Bozhou; after entering government service, he restored the Fan surname and adopted the personal name Zhongyan.

Outspoken in court, he repeatedly suffered demotion; he served as Palace Library Collator and Right Remonstrator, and later as acting prefect of Kaifeng. In 1036, the third year of Jingyou, he submitted the Hundred Officials Chart to argue over the rights and wrongs of appointments, offended Lü Yijian, and was sent out as prefect of Rao, Run, and Yue.

In 1040, the first year of Kangding, he became Shaanxi Vice Commissioner for Pacification and prefect of Yanzhou. He later served as Route Commissioner for Pacification in Huanqing and as Border Defense Commissioner, then as prefect of Yaozhou and Qingzhou; alongside Han Qi and Wen Yanbo, he was one of the renowned commanders of Shaanxi, serving on the frontier for several years and bearing responsibility for defense against Western Xia.

In 1043, the third year of Qingli, he entered the Bureau of Military Affairs as a vice commissioner and was soon appointed vice chief councillor. His other appointments included Academician-attendant of the Tianzhang Palace, Right Admonition Grand Master, Academician of the Zizheng Palace, Gentleman for Palace Audiences, and Vice Minister of Revenue.

Political work

As vice chief councillor, Fan submitted a ten-point memorial in response to the accumulated abuses of the Northern Song state, proposing the clarification of promotion and demotion, the restriction of irregular advancement, and the refinement of the civil-service examinations; he led the Qingli reforms. The reform program came to an end after Xia Song and others attacked him, and he left the central government as Academician of the Zizheng Palace to serve as prefect of Binzhou, concurrently pacifying four Shaanxi circuits; he later served in Deng, Hang, Qing, and Ying prefectures.

At the end of his career he was Vice Minister of Revenue and prefect of Qingzhou. In 1052, the fourth year of Huangyou, he was transferred to Yingzhou, fell ill and died on the way to take up the appointment, and was posthumously named Wenzheng at the age of sixty-four. He died at Xuzhou and was buried in Henan.

Literature and works

Fan wrote poetry, prose, and ci lyric poetry. His late essay *Record of Yueyang Tower* contains the celebrated line “先天下之憂而憂，后天下之樂而樂,” which has been widely recited.

His collected works are known as 《范文正公集》 and also as 《范文正公全集》; the corpus comprises a twenty-volume collection, a four-volume supplement, seventeen volumes of memorials, two volumes of governmental discussions, and five volumes of letters. His poems survive in a Northern Song printed edition; a later editorial recension used the 《四部叢刊》 edition as its base, collated it against Song editions and the 《四庫全書》, removed two duplicated poems from the supplement, and placed poems from outside the collection in a sixth volume.

Other titles associated with his writings and compilations include 《政府奏議》, 《義莊規矩》, 《范文正公詩餘》, and 《范氏續家譜》; 《義莊規矩》 and 《范氏續家譜》 are identified as works he compiled.

Family and associations

His family included an elder brother, Fan Zhongwen, and a father-in-law, Li Changyan. He had four sons—Fan Chunyou, Fan Chunren, Fan Chunli, and Fan Chuncui—and a daughter who married Zhang Wan.

His relationships included patronage of Hu Kai, Di Qing, and Sun Fu, while Cai Qi was his patron; friends included Li Hong, Wu Zunlu, Wang Zhi, and Yin Zhu, and he was associated as a fellow examination-year friend with Teng Zongliang and Zhou Kui. When Fan was banished, Li Hong went outside the city to escort him and share a farewell drink.