Xun Xu and the Politics of Precision in Third-Century AD China

427 Pages·2010·2.141 MB·English

by  Howard L. Goodman

Xun Xu and the Politics of Precision in
Third-Century AD China
Sinica Leidensia
Edited by
Barend J. ter Haar
Maghiel van Crevel
In co-operation with
P.K. Bol, D.R. Knechtges, E.S. Rawski,
W.L. Idema, H.T. Zurndorfer
VOLUME 95
Xun Xu and the Politics of
Precision in Third-Century
AD China
By
Howard L. Goodman
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2010
On the cover: The author’s own cover design shows a third-century figurine of a di-flute
player (adapted from Wu Zhao, Zhuixian shiqu de yinyue zongji; cited Figure 9, p. 227). We
can imagine this as Lie He, the flute expert and ensemble leader from whom Xun Xu gained
technical knowledge. Yet Xun also remeasured and refashioned Lie’s way of making flutes and
playing modal music by imposing his ideal of Zhou standards. (The E. Zhou bronze rule is
adapted from photograph supplied by Nanjing University; cited Figure 4, p. 176.)
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Goodman, Howard L.
Xun Xu and the politics of precision in third-century AD China / by Howard L. Goodman.
p. cm. — (Sinica leidensia, ISSN 0169-9563 ; v. 95)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-18337-7 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Xun, Xu, d. 289. 2. Historians—China—Biography. 3. Scholars—China—Biography.
4. China—Intellectual life—221 B.C.-960 A.D. 5. China—Politics and government—220-589.
6. China—History—Chin dynasty, 265-419. 7. China—History—Three kingdoms, 220-265.
I. Title. II. Series.
DS748.44.X86G66 2010
931.0072’02—dc22
[B]
2009053995
ISSN 0169-9563
ISBN 978 90 04 18337 7
Copyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
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Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
contents v
DEDICATION
To the spirit of learning and antiquity imparted by my father
Mortimer Goodman (1917–1981), and the support toward that of my
mother Sophia. Also to the spirit of sinology imparted by Hellmut
Wilhelm, Frederick W. Mote, and Denis Twitchett, as well as their
unforgotten friendship and that of their families.

CONTENTS
Dedication .............................................................................. v
List of Maps, Figures, and Tables .............................................. xi
introduction: the zhengsheng 正聲 mode ........................ 1
Showing Up in Shishuo xinyu .............................................. 1
Biography Large and Small ................................................. 5
A More Real Xuan ............................................................. 12
Directions Toward a More Real Xuanxue ............................... 17
Conclusions, Findings, and Suggestions ............................... 22
Xun Xu’s Use of Zhou Antiquity ........................................ 22
Politics of Precision ......................................................... 23
Archeology, Historiography, and the History of Sciences
and Technologies ........................................................ 25
The Earliest Sources for Xun Xu’s Life ................................ 27
The Seven Chapters and Acknowledgments ......................... 29
1. the xuns of yingyin and luoyang ................................. 35
Commemorating Kin and Supporting Learning:
Yingchuan to about 212 ad ............................................. 38
The Lay of the Land ...................................................... 40
Xun Leadership In and Around Yingyin ............................ 43
The “Commemorative Tablet 碑 for Prefect of Palace Writers
Xun Yu” ........................................................................ 50
Xun Yijing Scholarship ..................................................... 52
The Xuns in Luoyang to about 282: Sorting Out Zhengshi
Styles and Establishing Jin Imperial Ties .......................... 57
Xun Can, a Prototype of the Zhengshi-era Mavericks ........... 59
Xun Yi and the Traditional Path Followed by Can’s
Older Siblings ............................................................. 62
The Impact of Xun Scholarship in Luoyang ......................... 65
Xun Musicologists and Legists ........................................... 69
Xun Xu’s Foothold onto a New Career ................................ 72
Xun-Family Pathos in an Entombed Epitaph of 295 ad ........ 75
“Commemoration for Xun Yue of Yingchuan Yingyin,
Jin-[Era] Late Gentleman-in-Attendance of the
Palace Writers” ............................................................... 78
viii contents
Xun Wives and Daughters ................................................ 80
Material and Evocative Aspects of Xun Burials .................... 82
Memory and Counter-Memory ........................................... 84
2. xun xu’s first posts, ca. 248–265 ................................. 91
The Political Taint of Cao Shuang’s Regime, 240–249 .......... 94
Former Cao-Wei Men as Ethically Correct Jin Stalwarts ........ 100
The Cooperative Exegete ..................................................... 103
Factions ........................................................................... 107
Anti-Xun Xu Roots in the Wu War Factionalism ................. 109
The Tone of Xun Xu’s Early Career ..................................... 111
Factions as Cooperative Struggle ......................................... 118
3. aesthetics and precision in court ritual songs,
ca. 266–272 ........................................................................ 121
Wealth and Collecting; Design and Construction ................ 123
A Coterie of Lyric-Writers for Court Music .......................... 125
Higher and Lower Music; Court Music and Party Music ........ 127
A Lyric-Writing Competition .............................................. 133
The Song-Writers as Political Actors ................................... 136
Competing Lyrics for the Dance-Song Performances ............. 140
A Turn toward an Aesthetic of Precision ............................... 150
The Aesthetic and Philosophic Thrust of Xun’s Lyrics ............ 153
Who Was the Xun Balladeer? ............................................. 155
4. commandeering staff and proclaiming precision,
ca. 273–274 ........................................................................ 161
High-Stepping into Bureaus and Imperial Holdings ............. 163
Problems in the Bureaucratic Structure of the Palace
Writers Office ............................................................. 164
An Archival Project with Zhang Hua .................................. 168
The Wider World of Metrology ........................................... 171
Xun Xu’s Metrology ............................................................ 175
Xun Xu the Hypersentient “Metrosophist” .......................... 177
Xun Chuo, Writing For and About Family .......................... 179
The Earliest Descriptions of the Process behind
Xun’s Metrology ........................................................... 180
The Inner Story of Xun’s Metrology ..................................... 183
The Antiquarian Flurry ....................................................... 187
Xun Xu’s 274 ad Colophon Stating Seven Old Devices as
Metrological Witnesses ................................................. 191
Tracing Ghosts of the Official Bronze Foot-Rule of Jin ......... 194
Li Chunfeng’s Antiquarian Jury .......................................... 197
Li Chunfeng Throws Solvent on Legend and Evidence .......... 203
contents ix
Ritual Mensuration, Music, and Early Sciences .................... 207
The Prisca Zhou ............................................................. 208
Habits of Science in the Third Century: Status, Sites,
Techniques ................................................................. 212
5. a martinet of melody, ca. 274–277 .................................. 215
Problems of Pipes and Pitches ............................................. 217
Flutes, Regulated Pitch, and Musical Scales ......................... 217
Xun Xu’s Regulators and Di-Flutes .................................... 225
Xun Xu’s Flutes Versus Lie He’s Mode ................................. 228
Songshu’s Bundle of Documents On Xun Xu’s Musicology ..... 228
Annotated Translation of Xun Xu’s Memorial of 274 ad
and Xun’s Dialog with Lie He ........................................ 232
Songshu Part 17: Xun Xu’s Flute Temperament and the
Impact of New Modes .................................................... 256
The Pitch Distortions That Xun Xu’s New Flute Indirectly
Attempted to Solve ...................................................... 259
The Modal Variety That Xun Xu Attempted to Thwart ......... 263
Proto-Sage Versus Martinet ................................................. 265
Ruan Xian’s Complaint: The Flutes Are Shrill and
Laden with Grief ......................................................... 266
Ruan Xian in Mundane Terms .......................................... 269
The Ruan Xian and Shan Tao Legends as Framed by
Western Jin Politics ...................................................... 272
6. a new day, new antiquities, new factions, ca. 277–284 .. 279
Policies That Shooed Off the Princes and Promoted the
Rank-and-File ................................................................ 281
A New Day: Victory Celebrations ....................................... 286
First Reactions to the Ji Tomb ............................................. 290
Antiquities Emerge as Victory Is Celebrated ........................ 292
Translation of the“Mu Tianzi Zhuan” Preface by
Xun Xu’s Official Team, Written 282–83 ........................... 295
The Team Members ........................................................ 301
The Ji-Tomb Texts Are Folded into Ongoing Work on
the Jin Palace Classics Register (Jin Zhongjing Bu) .............. 305
The Rest of the World Weighs In ........................................ 312
Calligraphy and Access .................................................... 313
The Zhang Hua Ambit .................................................... 320
Xun Xu and Zhang Hua as Forces in the Jin
Offices for Historiography .............................................. 325
Changes in Methods of Historiography ............................... 334
Chronology as Theory and Practice .................................... 334
Xun Xu’s Attempt to Impose a Zhou Chronology in
the “First” Annals Edition ............................................. 336