Du Zheng

Life

Du Zheng studied under Zhu Xi in his early years and was counted as a member of Zhu Xi’s school; his fellow student Ye Weidao called him “Du Zheng, the foremost among our circle.” He passed the Presented Scholar examination in the first year of Shaoxi (1190), served as an instructor at Yichang during the Qingyuan era, and became an instructor at the Chengdu Prefectural School in the early Jiading era. In Jiading 3 (1210) he became magistrate of Huayang in Chengdu; in Jiading 5 he served as military prefectural assistant at Jiading, also rendered Jiading Prefecture, in Jiading 9 he was acting prefect of Huai’an Army, in Jiading 12 prefect of Chongqing, and in Jiading 14 acting surveillance commissioner of Kuizhou. During the Shaoding era he entered court service as Assistant Director of the Imperial Academy, then served as Vice Director of the Directorate of Imperial Armaments and Palace Court Grand Master of Court Ceremonials; he was promoted to Acting Vice Minister of Rites concurrently serving as Attendant Right Palace Aide, concurrently helped compile the History of the State and the Veritable Records, later became Vice Minister of Rites, and retired. Other recorded positions include an assistant in the Household Tax Office (司戶參軍), an instructor (教授), a county magistrate (知縣), an assistant prefect (通判), a prefect (知府), a judicial commissioner (提刑), an assistant director of the Directorate of Imperial Armaments (軍器監丞), an assistant judge in the Court of Judicial Review (大理寺丞), a school instructor (學教諭), and a route judicial commissioner (路提點刑獄公事). The official-title list also includes Chaosan lang (朝散郎), Qiju lang (起居郎), an official of the Ministry of Personnel (吏部郎官), Shidu (侍讀), Shijiang (侍講), Chaoyi dafu (朝議大夫), Tongyi dafu (通議大夫), and the post recorded as 知某府軍府事. While serving as Assistant Director of the Imperial Academy, he argued forcefully that Li Quan would rebel, proposed measures to suppress and capture him, and advocated Li Quan’s execution. Cao Yanyue recommended him.

Scholarship and associations

He received a reply from Zhu Xi and composed a eulogy for Zhu Xi’s portrait; he also sent letters to Ren Xiyi and Wang Shu and received farewell words from Cheng Gongxu.

Works

His works included the one-volume 《周子年譜》, a chronology of Zhou Dunyi, the fifteen-volume 《性善堂稿》, and 《夷白齋詩話》. The earlier 《性善堂文集》 has been lost; Qing editors used the 《永樂大典》 to reconstruct it as the fifteen-volume 《性善堂稿》, including four volumes of poetry. He also composed epitaphs for Liu Shenxi and Chen Yonggeng, funeral texts for Liu Guangzu and Wu Lie, and a school record for Yuwen Dong.