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Mingru yanxing lu 明儒言行錄

Mar 12, 2012 © Ulrich Theobald

Mingru yanxing lu 明儒言行錄 "Records of words and deeds of Ming Confucians" is a collection of biographies of Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) Confucians compiled by the Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Shen Jia 沈佳 (jinshi degree 1718).

It consists of two parts, namely the Zhenglu 正錄 with a length of 10 juan, and the supplement Xulu 續錄 with a length of 2 juan. Shen Jia also wrote the books Liyue quanshu 禮樂全書, Mingdai renwu kao 明代人物考 and Fuzhai yiji 復齋遺集.

The Mingru yanxing lu imitates the structure of the collection Wuchao mingchen yanxing lu 五朝名臣言行錄 from the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279). The first part includes 75 biographies, with an appendix containing biographic information to 74 persons, the second part includes the biographies of 59 persons, with an appendix of 9 biographies. Each biography is enriched by quotations from the teachings and writings of the Confucian scholars.

Shen Jia's intention was to provide additional information to that presented in Huang Zongxi's 黄宗羲 history of philosophy Mingru xue'an 明儒學案, especially such about representatives of the School of the Mind (xinxue pai 心學派) like Chen Xianzhang 陳獻章 (1428-1500) or Wang Shouren 王守仁 (Wang Yangming 王陽明, 1472-1529), about which Huang Zongxi, preferring the school of the brothers Cheng Hao 程顥 (1032-1085) and Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033-1107), and Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200), does not say a lot.

The book is included in the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書.

Sources:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 974.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. (1987). Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe), 500.