Hu Quan

Life

In 1128, he passed the jinshi examination and was appointed military judge of Fuzhou. When Jin forces crossed the Yangtze and moved south, he recruited local men to assist the government army in its defense. In 1136, on Lü Zhi's recommendation, he took the examination for men of outstanding talent and uprightness who could speak frankly and remonstrate, and was appointed a compiler in the Privy Council.

In 1138, when Qin Hui advocated peace, Hu Quan submitted a memorial denouncing the peace policy and asked that Qin Hui, Vice Councillor Sun Jin, and envoy Wang Lun be executed; he was consequently removed from office, placed under supervision at Zhaozhou, and later exiled to Jiyang Commandery. In 1142 he was again removed from office and placed under supervision at Xinzhou, and in 1148 was banished to Jiyang; while he was at Xinzhou, Zhang Di, acting on Qin Hui's wishes, impeached him for “disrespectful language” and had him sent to Hainan under confinement. After Qin Hui's death, Hu Quan was transferred to Hengzhou; his reputation for loyalty and uprightness spread throughout the realm.

After Emperor Xiaozong's accession, he was restored as Fengyi lang and made prefect of Raozhou; he subsequently served as a langguan in the Ministry of Personnel, a compiler in the National History Office, a shaojian in the Palace Library, Qiju lang, and lecturer, while concurrently holding posts as acting Secretariat drafter, junior superintendent of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, and acting Vice Minister of War. During the second year of the Longxing era (1164), he concurrently served as Director of the Directorate of Education and acting Vice Minister of War, with responsibility for arrangements along the western Zhejiang and eastern Huai routes; early in the Qiandao era he was prefect of Zhangzhou, then of Quanzhou, and entered the court as Vice Minister of Works. He served as Direct Academician of the Fu-wen Pavilion while holding a temple sinecure; the year is given variously as the sixth year of Qiandao (1170) and the seventh (1171). In the sixth year of Chunxi (1179), he was summoned back to the Classics Mat, but declined on grounds of illness; in the seventh year (1180), he retired as Academician of the Zizheng Hall and died at the age of seventy-nine.

Family and associations

His father was Hu Zai, his wife Liu (1105–1158), and his elder brother Hu Zhu; he had three sons, Hu Yong, Hu Xie, and Hu Jia. Among his political and scholarly associates, Lü Zhi recommended him for the examination for men of outstanding talent and uprightness who could remonstrate frankly, Yu Yunwen also recommended him, and Zhu Xi and Wang Tinggui admired and valued him. Yang Wanli is listed among his students. Shi Jun studied the Da Li under him on an island for three years, while a Xinzhou man's younger brother studied the Spring and Autumn from him and later passed the jinshi examination.

Works and scholarship

His works include 《澹庵集》 (also called 《澹庵文集》), 《易拾遺》, 《書解》, 《春秋集善》, 《周禮解》 (also written 《周官解》), 《禮記解》, memorials, 《詩話》, and the lyrics collection 《澹庵詞》. 《禮記解》 is represented by a fourteen-juan version, while 《春秋解》 is in sixteen juan.

《澹庵集》 is described as one hundred juan, while Yang Wanli's preface calls it 《澹庵文集》 in seventy juan; the original collection is lost, and six juan survive. His poems are preserved chiefly in the Guangxu edition of 《廬陵詩存》; additional poems appear in surviving portions of 《永樂大典》 and scattered texts, and they have been arranged in three juan.