Interplay between Official Careers and Local Identity among Puyang Literati during the Late Southern Song

Bibliographic Data

ID7324065
AuthorsChang Weiling (0000-0003-2626-6774, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume48
Issue1
Pages103-137
Publication date2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Sung-Yuan studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2154-6665 • E-ISSN: 1059-3152
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/sys.2019.0001
OpenAlexW2984558760
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

Interplay between Official Careers and Local Identity among Puyang Literati during the Late Southern Song Chang Weiling Introduction Historians of the Song dynasty have long recognized that the paucity of positions in both local and central government forced many literati to remain in their hometowns. This phenomenon of localization was more acute in the Southern Song than in the Northern Song. For example, Liu Kezhuang 劉克 莊 (1187–1269), one of the most famous scholar-officials of the late Southern Song, spent more than half of his life in his native place of Xinghua commandery 興化軍 in Fujian circuit 福建路, otherwise known as Puyang 莆陽, except when he served four tours at court and several times as a local official.1 Given this shortage of available positions, an identification with locality had greater significance for Southern Song than for Northern Song literati; yet, when offered official positions, they still accepted the appointments and left their hometowns. How, then, did these stronger local connections affect the political behavior of literati during the Southern Song? Literati localism has been a focus of scholarly research in Song social history for the past three decades. Robert Hartwell and Robert Hymes pointed [End Page 103] out that the development strategies of literati families underwent a significant change between the Northern and the Southern Song: elites shifted their attention from pursuit of high office in the government to investment in their home bases. Compared to their Northern Song counterparts, Southern Song elites married local natives more frequently and participated in institution- and infrastructure-building in their home counties or prefectures.2 Robert Hymes has recently elaborated upon his interpretation to explain how the state retreated from society and simultaneously "the shih-oriented" culture had strengthened from the Northern Song to the Southern Song.3 The HartwellHymes hypothesis has invited scholars to study how localism influenced other fields of elite life. For example, Peter Bol has illustrated that during the Southern Song, literati who had identified with Neo-Confucianism voluntarily participated in public works and opposed government intervention in their own activities.4 Linda Walton's scholarship on local academies (shuyuan 書院) and Valerie Hansen's research on folk religion have also made contributions to our understanding of literati localism.5 Generally speaking, these scholars have argued that during the Southern Song, locality played a more significant role in literati lives and the role played by the state diminished. Nevertheless, many studies have stressed the continuing importance of the state, which includes both the central and local levels of government, in Southern Song literati careers. Richard Davis' study of the Shi 史 family has shown the family's high interest in pursuing official careers and the significant impact of politics on this family.6 Yu Yingshi's research illustrates that [End Page 104] Zhu Xi and his fellows participated actively at court.7 Huang Kuan-chung's study of several literati families indicates that examination degrees and official positions benefited family development.8 Liang Ken-yao's and Richard von Glahn's studies of community granaries (shecang 社倉) both reveal that although Neo-Confucians did privately invest in local public works, official management and investment of official capital in these construction projects increased significantly during the late Song.9 Chen Wenyi's study of academies also indicates that the government control over these local educational institutions increased toward the end of the Southern Song.10 Beverly Bossler has argued that local orientation and interest in an official career were not mutually exclusive, and that political status mattered even in the context of local society.11 Sukhee Lee has demonstrated that the relationship between the elite and local government was not a zero-sum competition but rather mutually negotiated.12 By analyzing the thirteenth-century colophons on a manuscript by Chen Dong 陳東 (1086–1127), Charles Hartman and Li Choying have shown that literati even at the strictly local level were concerned with, and attempted to influence, state policy.13 Most recently, Hilde De Weerdt has argued that literati were eager to access information about current court affairs during the Southern Song and points out that their commitment to the imperial state did not decrease.14 As these studies have shown, in spite of [End Page 105

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