Gong Shitai

Life

He was the son of Gong Kui; his elder brother was Gong Shiqian, and Gong Xingzhi was a nephew. He studied at the National Academy and passed the Jiangzhe provincial examination; an examination entry also classifies him broadly as a jinshi.

In the fourth year of the Taiding era, he was appointed Congshilang and made panguan of Taihe Prefecture. He later served as judicial officer of the Shaoxing Route General Administration Office, where he reviewed difficult cases; his administrative record was ranked first. He then entered the Hanlin Academy as an Yingfeng Hanlin wenzi, participating in the compilation of biographies of empresses and consorts and meritorious officials, and was successively promoted to Instructor of the Xuanwen Pavilion and Censor.

In the fourteenth year of the Zhizheng era, he was promoted to Vice Minister of Personnel. When war broke out in Jianghuai and the capital faced a grain shortage, he was ordered to procure one million shi of grain in western Zhejiang for the capital; he was then made Vice Minister of War, Commissioner for Water Conservancy and Agricultural Fields in western Zhejiang, and soon Minister of Rites. He was transferred to General Administrator of the Pingjiang Route. In the fifteenth year of Zhizheng, Zhang Shicheng captured Pingjiang, and Gong Shitai fled to the coast; after Zhang surrendered to the Yuan, Gong became Commissioner of Salt Transport for the Two Zhejiang.

In the twentieth year of Zhizheng, he was made Minister of Revenue and assigned to the Fujian region, where he exchanged Fujian salt for grain and transported it by sea to the capital. In the twenty-second year, he was summoned to serve as Secretary Supervisor; he died at Haining while travelling to take up the appointment, aged sixty-five. Other offices included Surveillance Commissioner in the Fujian Branch Secretariat, Assistant Magistrate of She County, Hanlin Academician-in-Attendance, and Vice Director of the National Academy.

Literary work and associations

Imposing in appearance, he became known for poetry and prose and was particularly capable in government, with conspicuous results wherever he served. His poetry and prose were extensive; he left manuscripts entitled 《友迂》, 《玩齋》, 《奊奊》, 《東軒》, and 《閩南》, which his disciples Liu Zhong, Zhu Sui, and others compiled into a single collection entitled 《玩齋集》.

The preface to 《玩齋集》 places Shitai after the writers represented by Yu, Jie, Ma, and Song, says that he alone enjoyed literary renown after the Yuantong and Zhiyuan eras, and associates him with his father Gong Kui as evidence of the flourishing of late Yuan literature. He had a relationship of appreciation and esteem with Xie Su, while Gao Xunzhi was his student; he also wrote prefaces for Zhang Yanghao’s 《牧民忠告》, Liu Renben’s 《羽庭詩集》, and Zheng Qian’s 《樗菴類稿》.

The opening of 《玩齋集》 also carried prefaces by 沈性、楊維楨、趙贄、錢用壬、謝肅、李國鳳、王褘、余闕, and 程文.