Ni Si

Life

His father was 倪稱 and his elder brother 倪恕; his father-in-law was 沈虛中, and his wife was 沈氏. His six sons were 倪祖仁, 倪祖義, 倪祖禮, 倪祖智, 倪祖信, and 倪祖常; his grandsons were 倪興公 and 倪承公, while his sons-in-law were 沈鐸 and 周侗. A later direct descendant listed for the family was 倪宗正, born in 1471.

He passed the jinshi examination in 1166 and was appointed military command clerk at Suian. In 1177 he served a Ruizhou judge; in 1178 he passed the Boxue Hongci examination. He was then appointed Guozi zheng and successively served as Taichang boshi, Jiaoshulang, and Mishu lang; he also held the posts of Taixue boshi and Jiangzuo jian shaojian.

During Guangzong's Shaoxi era, he became a Zhongshu sheren (中書舍人), concurrently serving in the Zhixue shiyuan (直學士院); he soon also served as a lecturer, rose to Vice Minister of Rites, and was appointed prefect of Shaoxing. His career also included supervising the Ministry of Rites examination, compiling the Veritable Records, and revising the national history.

After Ningzong's accession, he was recalled as Vice Minister of Personnel, concurrently serving in the Zhixue shiyuan. His arguments were pointed, but he was impeached by remonstrance officials and dismissed; he then served successively as prefect of Taiping, Quanzhou, and Jianning. He was recalled to serve as acting Vice Minister of Rites concurrently in the Zhixue shiyuan, but offended Han Tuozhou and was assigned to a shrine post. In 1207, after Han Tuozhou was executed, Ni Si was recalled as acting Minister of War concurrently as Reader-in-Waiting, and was then transferred to Minister of Rites. Because he criticized Shi Miyuan's concentration of power, he was sent as prefect of Zhenjiang and transferred to Fuzhou, where he also served as pacification commissioner. He retired with the title Xianmo ge xueshi (顯謨閣學士); another office list gives the title as Baomo ge xueshi (寶謨閣學士). He died in the thirteenth year of Jiading (1220), in the tenth month, aged seventy-four, and received the posthumous name Wenjie.

His local appointments included Shaoxing, Wuzhou, the Nanping Army, Quanzhou, Jianning, and Fuzhou; the listed terms place Shaoxing and Wuzhou in 1194, the Nanping Army in 1196–1198, Quanzhou in 1201–1202, Jianning in 1204–1205, and Fuzhou in 1208. Other titles included Chaosan dafu (朝散大夫), Qidu wei (騎都尉), Qijulang (起居郎), Taizhong dafu (太中大夫), and Zhongfeng dafu (中奉大夫).

Associations and literary activity

Ni Si and the Hanlin Academician Lou Yue jointly recommended Lin Yi, whose writings were presented and who was appointed to posts in the Offices of Punishments and Works. Wei Liaoweng wrote Ni Si's epitaph; Lou Yue, Liu Zai, and Du Fan wrote postscripts for his books, while Zhen Dexiu, Yuan Xie, and Cheng Gongxu wrote sacrificial texts for him. Liu Zai also composed a mourning poem and ci lyric. His literary exchanges included a reply by Ni Si to Yang Wanli, an academy record by Yuan Xie, a shrine record by Zhen Dexiu, and an academy record that Ni Si wrote for Zhu Xiyan; Wei Qi was associated with inscriptions, records, or names given to buildings.

Works

Ni Si's writings were extensive; works attributed to him include 《齊齋甲乙稿》 (also 《齊山甲乙稿》), 《兼山集》, 《經鉏堂雜誌》 (also 《經鉏堂雜志》), 《班馬異同》, and 《承明集》. The preservation notices differ: 《兼山集》 and other works are said to have been lost, whereas 《班馬異同》, in thirty juan, and 《經鉏堂雜誌》, in ten juan, are listed as extant. He also wrote 《遷史刪改古書異辭》 in twelve juan, 《合宮嚴父書》 in one juan, 《齊齋臺諫論》 in two juan, and 《北徵錄》 in seven juan, as well as more than four hundred juan of memorials, poetry and ci, and miscellaneous writings on the classics and histories.