courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...
Yimin, was a Chinese essayist, philosopher, physician, and politician of the
Western Jin dynasty
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
. He was the cousin of
Jia Nanfeng
Jia Nanfeng (257 – 13 May 300), nicknamed Shi (峕), was a Chinese empress consort. She was the daughter of Jia Chong and first wife of Emperor Hui of the Jin dynasty and also the granddaughter of Jia Kui. She is commonly seen as a villaino ...
and rose to prominence during the reign of her husband, the
Emperor Hui of Jin
Emperor Hui of Jin (; 260 - January 8, 307), personal name Sima Zhong (司馬衷), courtesy name Zhengdu (正度), was the second emperor of the Jin dynasty (266–420). Emperor Hui was a developmentally disabled ruler, and throughout his reign, t ...
. Pei Wei was seen by traditional historian as one of Empress Jia's exemplary supporters along with
Zhang Hua
Zhang Hua (232–7 May 300According to Sima Zhong's biography in ''Book of Jin'', Zhang Hua was killed on the ''guisi'' day of the 4th month of the 1st year of the ''Yongkang'' era of his reign. This corresponds to 7 May 300 永康元年夏四 ...
and Jia Mo. He pushed for a number of significant reforms during his tenure which met with mixed success before his execution by the Prince of Zhao,
Sima Lun
Sima Lun ( sim. ch. 司马伦, trad. ch. 司馬倫, py. Sīmǎ Lún, wg. Ssu-ma Lun) (before 250 - poisoned June 5, 301), courtesy name Ziyi (子彛), was titled the Prince of Zhao (pinyin: zhào wáng, simplified Chinese: 赵王, traditio ...
, in 300 following Sima Lun's coup.
Pei Wei placed great importance in conventional
Confucianist
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...
teachings, and was taken aback by the growing popularity of
Xuanxue
Xuanxue (), sometimes called Neo-Daoism (Neo-Taoism), is a metaphysical post-classical Chinese philosophy from the Six Dynasties (222-589), bringing together Taoist and Confucian beliefs through revision and discussion. The movement found its scrip ...
in the court during the 290s. His essay, the ''Chongyoulun'' (崇有論), was a response to the works of
He Yan
He Yan ( 195 – 9 February 249), courtesy name Pingshu, was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was a grandson of He Jin, a general and regent of the Eastern Han dynasty. His f ...
and
Wang Bi
Wang Bi (226–249), courtesy name Fusi, was a Chinese philosopher and politician, expertise in Yijing and Xuanxue
Life
Wang Bi served as a minor bureaucrat in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. He was married with a daug ...
, particularly on their idea that the universe emerged from the concept of "non-being" (''wu'', 無).
Life
Early life and career
Pei Wei was born into the famous Pei clan of
Hedong Commandery
Hedong Commandery () was a historical region in the Qin and Han dynasties of ancient China.
Hedong was located to the east of the Yellow River in Shanxi (around present-day Yuncheng).
History
Hedong Commandery was established by the Qin state ...
Pei Xiu
Pei Xiu (224–271), courtesy name Jiyan, was a Chinese cartographer, geographer, politician, and writer of the state of Cao Wei during the late Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty of China. He was very much trusted by Sima Zhao, and pa ...
. Through his mother, Pei Wei was also the nephew of Jia Chong's spouse,
Guo Huai
Guo Huai (died 23 February 255), courtesy name Boji, was a military general of the state of Cao Wei (or Wei) during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He started his career towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty under the warlord Cao Cao ...
, thus making him a relative of Chong and his immediate family. He was very popular even at a young age for his insightfulness and personality. After
Pei Xiu
Pei Xiu (224–271), courtesy name Jiyan, was a Chinese cartographer, geographer, politician, and writer of the state of Cao Wei during the late Three Kingdoms period and Jin dynasty of China. He was very much trusted by Sima Zhao, and pa ...
died in 271, Pei Wei was ordered to succeed his father's peerage, the Duke of
Julu Commandery
Julu Commandery () was a historical commandery of China, located in modern-day southern Hebei.
The commandery was established by Qin after it annexed Zhao in 222 BC. In early Western Han dynasty, it was part of the Zhao Kingdom. After the failed ...
. Pei Wei politely declined, but the court insisted that he accepted it.
In 281, he was appointed the ''zhongshuzi'' to the Crown Prince and Cavalier In Regular Attendance. He also married Wang Rong's daughter around this time. Emperor Wu of Jin died in 290 and was succeeded by his developmentally disabled son, Emperor Hui. That year, Pei Wei was made Principal of the Imperial University and General of the Army of the Right.
During Empress Jia's regency
Emperor Hui's wife was Jia Chong's daughter, Jia Nanfeng. In 291, she launched a coup against her husband's regent, Yang Jun. Yang Jun and his partisans were caught by surprise and were disarrayed. One of his partisans, Liu Yu (劉豫) was coming to Yang Jun's aid when he encountered Pei Wei. Liu Yu asked Pei if he had seen Yang Jun, to which Pei lied to him and said, "I saw his carriage pass out through the Xiye Gate (西掖門), so I sent two men to follow him west." Liu Yu further asked him what he should do next, and Pei Wei told him to meet the Minister of Justice. After Liu Yu left, an edict was made giving Pei Wei Liu Yu's positions, and he later camped himself at Wanchun Gate. After a series of events, Yang Jun was arrested and executed by Empress Jia.
That same year, Empress Jia betrayed her ally, the Prince of Chu,
Sima Wei
Sima Wei (司馬瑋) (271 – 26 July 291), courtesy name Yandu (彥度), formally Prince Yin of Chu (楚隱王), was an imperial prince during Jin Dynasty (266–420) and was the second of the eight princes commonly associated with the War of th ...
and had him executed as well. As Empress Jia consolidated her control over the government, she and her nephew
Jia Mi
Jia Mi (died 7 May 300), courtesy name Changyuan, originally named Han Mi, was a Chinese politician of the Jin dynasty (266–420). He was the grandson of the Jin minister Jia Chong and nephew of Jin's ''de facto'' ruler between 291 and 300, J ...
wondered if they should get rid of the minister, Zhang Hua as well. While they acknowledged that he posed no threat and was very talented, they were still undecided, so they consulted Pei Wei's advice. Empress Jia decided to leave Zhang Hua alone after Pei Wei agreed with their assessment. After this, Pei Wei was appointed a Palace Attendant.
During Pei Wei's time in office, he presented an edict calling for the strengthening of scholarly education and for
Confucian Classics
Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucian ...
to be engraved on stone slabs. The Crown Prince,
Sima Yu
Sima or SIMA may refer to:
People
* Sima (Chinese surname)
* Sima (given name), a Persian feminine name in use in Iran and Turkey
* Sima (surname)
Places
* Sima, Comoros, on the island of Anjouan, near Madagascar
* Sima de los Huesos, a caver ...
, was also lectured on how to properly carry out offerings for
Confucius
Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...
and rites for different events. In 293, Pei Wei ordered the son of
Xun Xu
Xun Xu ( – 289), courtesy name Gongzeng was a Chinese musician, painter, politician, and writer who lived during the late Three Kingdoms period and early Jin dynasty of China. Born in the influential Xun family, he was a great-grandson of ...
(who died in 289), Xun Fan, to complete his father's task of restoring the bells and sounding-stones to be used in suburban temples and during court meetings in order to complete the institutional order of rites and music. Pei Wei also attempted to reform the Chinese measuring system, more particularly in the medical field, although his proposal for this was rejected.
Pei Wei knew of Empress Jia's disdain for Sima Yu, who was not the Empress's biological son. To protect him, Pei Wei presented a petition asking to raise the title of Sima Yu's biological mother, Consort Xie Jiu (謝玖). He also asked to have the guards in the Eastern Palace to be increased to 10,000 strong. Pei Wei was transferred to the Masters of Writing, retaining his position as Palace Attendant. He was also appointed as Household Counsellor. Whenever Pei Wei was given a new position, he would always decline, sometimes having to submit more than ten memorials to explain himself in order to prevent offending anyone.
Although Pei Wei was on good terms with Empress Jia, he was increasingly concerned with her deteriorating behaviour. Both Jia Mo and Zhang Hua felt the same as well, and the three men collaborated to deal with the problem. Zhang Hua and Jia Mo were worried that if the Empress remained in power, disaster was bound to happen to them and the court. Pei Wei suggest that they wait for a pretext, as many officials in the palace were comfortable with how the regime was doing. In the end, Zhang Hua suggested that Jia Mo and Pei Wei, being the close to the Empress, attempt to inform the Empress and the others to be wary. Pei Wei did his part by convincing Empress Jia's mother, Guo Huai to advise her daughter to treat Sima Yu kindly, while Jia Mo personally warned Empress Jia. However, the plan failed, as Empress Jia refused to listen to either Guo Huai or Jia Mo, and Jia Mo would die in 299.
In August 299, Pei Wei was made Supervisor of the Masters of Writing. Although Pei Wei often refused new positions, he was also afraid of losing the ones that he had. Due to the death of Jia Mo, Pei Wei was assigned to handle affairs below the gates. Pei Wei tried to refuse this by submitting a petition expressing concern that appointing another family member in place of Jia Mo would appear selfish. However, his petition was rejected. Even so, under his new office, Pei Wei pushed for penal reforms together with
Liu Song
Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. ...
.
Sima Yu affair and death
On February 6, 300, Sima Yu was falsely accused of plotting to go against his father after he was tricked into writing a threatening edict. Both Zhang Hua and Pei Wei were in disbelief when they heard of this. Pei Wei in particular asked for the edict to be verified thoroughly, so Empress Jia presented Sima Yu's letters for the court ministers to compare with. Even after close inspection, many were too afraid to point out the differences in writing (Sima Yu had written the edict in a drunken state, so Empress Jia had to edit some unfinished words). Sima Yu was demoted to a commoner, but on April 27, Empress Jia, at the advice of the Prince of Zhao, Sima Lun, had the former Crown Prince forced to commit suicide.
Empress Jia and her partisans did not know that Sima Lun was actually in a plot to overthrow them. On May 7, Sima Lun launched his coup and had the Empress deposed. Sima Lun and his advisor,
Sun Xiu
Sun Xiu (235 – 3 September 264), courtesy name Zilie, formally known as Emperor Jing of Wu, was the third emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
Early life
Sun Xiu was born in 235 to Wu's founding emper ...
had always hated Pei Wei and Zhang Hua after they refused to give their titles to Lun and Sun in 296. Because of this, Pei Wei and Zhang Hua were among the many ministers that the duo rounded up to be executed. Pei Wei was 34 years old at the time of his death. Following the fall of Sima Lun in 301, Pei Wei was posthumously restored to his positions. He was given the posthumous name of "Cheng (成)".
Philosophy
Pei Wei was well-versed in philosophy, having studied ''
Tao Te Ching
The ''Tao Te Ching'' (, ; ) is a Chinese classic text written around 400 BC and traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship, date of composition and date of compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion d ...
'', ''
I Ching
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
'' and other works. He was a staunch Confucianist and was alarmed by the growth of Xuanxue philosophy among the court ministers. Xuanxue was a movement popularized during the Zhengshi era of
by the likes of He Yan and Wang Bi. It advocated for a reinterpretation of Confucianist social and moral understanding so that it would be more compatible with
Taoist philosophy
Taoist philosophy (Chinese: ; pinyin: '; ) also known as Taology refers to the various philosophical currents of Taoism, a tradition of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in harmony with the '' Dào'' (, also romanized as ''Tao''). The ' is ...
. Xuanxue grew in the 290s thanks to influential ''
qingtan
''Qingtan'' () was a Chinese philosophical movement and social practice among political and intellectual elites which developed during the Wei- Jin () period and continued on through the Southern and Northern dynasties. Originating among Daoist sc ...
Yue Guang
Yue Guang (; died 304), courtesy name Yanfu (彥輔), was a Chinese calligrapher, politician who was one of the pure conversation leaders in the Jin Dynasty, and an individual with a literary reputation by others at that time.
Yue Guang was born ...
. In Pei Wei's view, Xuanxue was causing ministers to become unrestrained in their behaviour and abandon Confucianist values.
Pei Wei was especially critical about He Yan and Wang Bi's concept of "non-being" being the root of all phenomenon, and that "being" (''you'', 有) is a product of said "non-being". He saw this veneration of "non-being" as the cause for Wang Yan and his follower's negligence over government affair, as He Yan and Wang Bi's teachings dissuade taking too much premeditated interference in daily affairs as the best way will naturally take its course. In response, Pei Wei wrote an essay titled the ''Chongyoulun''. In it, he rejects the idea that "non-being" can create "being", and believed that only "being" is capable of creating itself. He also believed that in the beginning, there already existed a myriad of matters, albeit mixed together, and the universe emerged through self-generation as the matters began to separate and differentiate from one another.
Book of Jin
The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, with chancellor Fang X ...
Zizhi Tongjian
''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...