Jottings from the Granite Studio

Zhou Dynasty founded 557
On this date in 557, Yuwen Hu, a general in the court of the Western Wei Dynasty (535-557), forced the emperor to cede the throne to a cousin, Yuwen Jue, and so began the Zhou Dynasty (557-581). If you’re thinking this sounds familiar, it’s because February 13th marked the founding of another Zhou Dynasty (950-960). Neither of these two decidedly average Zhou’s should be confused with the original Zhou dynasty, founded in 1046 B.C. or with Zhou Enlai, born in 1898. The Zhou Dynasty founded in 557 sputtered along with three different emperors under the regency of Yuwen Hu, until the latter was poisoned in 578. In 581, one of the Zhou generals, Yang Jian, rose up against the court and founded his own dynasty, the Sui.  It was the Sui who would reunify China under a single ruler for the first time in over three centuries.

(And if you’re wondering why we’ve had so many ‘on this date such and such a dynasty was founded’ this month, it’s because it was customary to announce the founding of a new political regime on the first day of their lunar calendar.)

Gu Yanwu passes away, 1682
Today marks the anniversary of the death of the scholar Gu Yanwu (1613-1682), noted for his philological studies and as a leading figure in the kaozheng(’evidential learning’) movement. Evidential learning meant the application of systematic methods to evaluating the authenticity and accuracy of classical texts, eventually concluding that many versions thought to be ‘ancient’ were in fact written ata much later date or were, in some cases, forgeries. Not content with stopping at philology (a word I love to type since it sounds vaguely sketchy, doesn’t it?), Gu Yanwu traveled the North China Plain filling his notebooks with geological, geographic, biological, linguistic, and other observations. Gu was also ardently anti-Manchu (his mother starved herself to death rather than submit to the Manchus and made Gu promise at her death bed not to serve the new rulers) and a staunch opponent of the teachings of Wang Yangming, whose philosophy, Gu believed, had led to a disastrous moral laxity in late Ming politics and society and a weakening of the social order which resulted in the fall of China to the Manchu invaders.

Li Hongzhang born, 1823
Today is the birthday of Li Hongzhang (1823-1901), arguably 19th century China’s greatest diplomat and statesman. Li was a dominant figure in the late-Qing self-strengthening movement, and managed the opening of coal mines, railways, schools, shipyards, arsenals, factories, and evena steamship company. He was responsible for negotiating the treaties that ended the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) and the Boxer Uprising (1900), and was the point person for the Qing court on diplomatic matters, turning his office in Tianjin into a de facto foreign affairs bureau. Li was criticized by early Han nationalists such as Zou Rong as well as in later PRC historiography for capitulating to foreign powers in treaty negotiations, his role in putting down ‘peasant’ rebellions such as the Nian and Taiping, and for…how to say this…his way of turning a profit, and not always through the most legitimate of means. When he died in 1901, Li Hongzhang’s calculated fortune reportedly placed him among the richest men in the world.

Yuan Shikai proclaimed president, 1912
On this date in 1912, Yuan Shikai (1859-1916) was officially sworn in as provisional president of the Republic of China. Generally speaking, if you want to encourage constitutional reform in a country, don’t make your first president a power-hungry walrus with an army at his disposal. I’m just saying…

The Last Word
From Gu Yanwu, in a letter to a friend:

“What then do I consider to be the way of the sage? I would say “extensively studying all learning” and “in your conduct having a sense of shame.” Everything from your own person up to the whole nation should be a matter of study. In everything from your personal position as a son, a subject, a brother, and a friend, to all your comings and goings, your giving and taking, you should have things of which you would be ashamed. This sense of shame before others isa vital matter. It does not mean being ashamed of your clothing or the food you eat, but ashamed that there should be a single humble man or woman who does not enjoy that blessings that are his due.”*

——–
**Translation from Sources of Chinese Tradition, Volume II. Wm. Theodore de Bary and Richard Lufrano, eds. (Columbia Univ. Press, 2000), p. 37.