Zhao Chongxian (趙崇憲)

Overview

Zhao Chongxian was an official and Administrator.

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 1196 to AD 1224 寧宗朝（崇憲仕履）
Dated from the passage context · History of Song 392, passages 200, 206-207, 214, 227, 239
AD 1190 to AD 1237 洽所交名士
Dated from the passage context · History of Song 430, passages 219, 223

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Descendant of Father of Zhao Ruyu (趙汝愚之父)
grandfather 祖 · paternal line · 2 generations
Strongly inferred · History of Song 392, passage 249
Child of Zhao Ruyu (趙汝愚)
father 父 · paternal line
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passages 239, 249

Key source chapters

Origins and identity

Zhao imperial-clan line through Zhao Ruyu 趙氏（汝愚子）
Strongly inferred · History of Song 392, passages 244, 249

Career and standing

civil official and regional administrator 仕宦、守令、帥臣
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passages 214, 222, 227
acting for Longxing Prefecture and military transport affairs 兼權隆興府及帥漕司事
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 222
acting personnel reviewer 兼權考功郎官
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 208
assistant compiler 著作佐郎
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 208
assistant director of the Directorate of Armaments 軍器監丞
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 207
Auxiliary in the Palace Library 直祕閣
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 227

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Guangxi military commissioner and pacification commissioner 廣西經略安撫
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 227
Jiangxi ever-normal commissioner 提舉江西常平
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 222
prefect of Jiangzhou 知江州
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 214
prefect of Jingjiang 知靜江府
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 227
secretary 祕書郎
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 207
transport commissioner still concurrent with military command 轉運判官仍兼帥事
Appointed
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 222
Department of Seals post 司封
Offered
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 227
director in the Ministry of War 兵部郎中
Offered
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 227
assistant director of the Imperial Treasury 太府監丞
Transferred
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 207
shrines erected by the three counties' people 三縣民立祠
Received
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 230
paid gold and silk to seize He Xiang and his son 捐金繒使繫以來，置之法
Punished · Seized and punished by law · With He Xiang (何向), Son of He Xiang (何向之子)
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 233

Places and affiliations

Polity Song 宋 · Relation Served
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passages 244, 249
At Guangxi 廣西 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 227
At Jiangxi 江西 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 222
At Jiangzhou 江州 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 214
At Jingjiang 靜江府 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passages 227-228
At Longxing 隆興府 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 222

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At Yong 邕 · Relation Administered
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passages 237-238

Works and attributed material

Revised Record of the Dragon's Ascent 重修龍飛事實
Relation Sponsor
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 206
petition to punish Zhao Shizhao, investigate Cai Lian, and condemn Gong Yizheng's work 請正趙師召、究蔡璉、毀龔頤正書
Memorial · Author · Paraphrased
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 200
sealed memorial on renewal without substance 因閔雨求言上封事
Memorial · Author · Direct quotation
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passages 209-212
second remonstrance on falsified history and upright brush 誣史未正復進言
Memorial · Author · Direct quotation
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passages 203-204
sigh on tea-debt distress under new certificates 負茶之民愈困矣
Speech · Speaker · Direct quotation
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 218

Events and relationships

declined secretaryship but was not permitted 辭，弗許
Political · Appointee · Declined office refused
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 207
Enforced settler tribe contact ban and organized border militia
Military · Commander · At Guangxi frontier 廣西邊地
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 234
firmly declined Ministry of War and Department of Seals posts 皆固辭
Political · Appointee · Firmly declined
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 227
Impeached incapable qiongzhou prefect and recruited replacement
Political · Impeacher · At Qiongzhou 瓊
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 231
ate no solid food over a month; no fruit until small felicitation; no wine or meat through mourning; long avoided inner quarters 居父喪月餘始食食，小祥始茹果實，終喪不飲酒食肉，比御猶弗入者久之
Ritual · Mourner · Observed strict mourning for father · With Zhao Ruyu (趙汝愚)
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 239
community granaries 社倉
Administrative · Reformer · Reformed community granaries
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 226

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Repaired irrigation works
Administrative · Prefect · At Jiangzhou 江州 · Quantity several thousand dikes and ponds 陂塘凡數千所
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 221
Requested punishments and historiographical correction
Political · Petitioner · With Zhao Shizhao (趙師召), Cai Lian (蔡璉), Gong Yizheng (龔頤正)
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 200
restored hospice; rewards by recoveries; took in abandoned children 修復養濟院並收棄兒
Charitable · Restorer · Restored hospice and set regulations
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passages 224-225
Secured further tax reductions
Administrative · Memorialist · At Yangshuo, Xiuren, and Lipu 陽朔、修仁、荔浦 · Outcome people erected shrines and carved monuments 三縣民立祠刻石
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 230
Secured one new certificate for two old
Administrative · Prefect · At Ruichang 瑞昌 · Outcome more than a thousand households benefited; stone monument carved 受賜者千餘家，刻石
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passages 217-220
Revised Record of the Dragon's Ascent presented at his request 重修龍飛事實進呈
Political · Petitioner · Secured presentation of revised dragon ascent record
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 206
hearers were ashamed 聞者愧之
Political · Remonstrator · Shamed hearers over historiography
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 205
Stationed local garrisons and recalled roaming detachments
Military · Commander · At Yizhou and Guxian 宜州、古縣
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passages 235-236
Stored grain from neighboring prefectures against famine
Administrative · Prefect · At Jiangzhou 江州
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 216
Submitted defense proposals for Yong
Military · Planner · At Yong 邕 · Outcome court largely adopted but did not fully implement 朝廷頗采其言，然未及盡用
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passages 237-238
earnest counsel to the throne 懇懇爲上言之
Political · Remonstrator · Urged imperial learning heir training and faction watch
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 213
Won permanent exemption from harmonized purchase
Administrative · Prefect · At Jiangzhou 江州
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 215

Assessments and attributes

Assessment benevolent-government-wherever-posted-upheld-family-tradition · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 249
Assessment deeply-filial-by-nature · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 239

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · History of Song 392, passage 206

References in the histories

Search passages

History

14 passages

History of Song, Chapter 392Volume 392 Biographies 151: Zhao Ruyu and Son: Chongxian · 13 passages

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已而吏部尚書兼修國史樓鑰等請施行如章，從之。 Soon Minister of Personnel and national history compiler Lou Yue and others asked that Chongxian's requests be implemented as written, and the court agreed.

其後玉牒、日曆所卒以《重修龍飛事實》進呈，因崇憲請也。 Later the Jade Register and Calendar Office presented the Revised Record of the Dragon's Ascent at Chongxian's request.

未幾，贈汝愚太師，封沂國公，擢崇憲軍器監丞，改太府監丞，遷祕書郎，辭，弗許。 Soon Ruyu was posthumously made Grand Preceptor and enfeoffed as Duke of Yi. Chongxian was promoted to assistant director of the Directorate of Armaments, then assistant director of the Imperial Treasury, then made secretary. He declined but was not allowed to.

郡民歲苦和糴，崇憲疏於朝，永蠲之。 The people yearly suffered from government grain purchases. Chongxian memorialized the court and won permanent exemption.

會新券行，視舊價幾倍蓰，崇憲歎曰：「負茶之民愈困矣。」 When new certificates were issued at several times the old price, Chongxian sighed, "The tea debtors will be crushed still further."

崇憲至，尋修復，立規約數十條，以愈疾之多寡爲賞罰。 When Chongxian arrived he soon restored it, drew up dozens of regulations, and rewarded staff by how many patients recovered.

崇憲請再加蠲減，詔遞損有差，三縣民立祠刻石。 Chongxian asked for further reductions. An edict ordered staged cuts by degree, and the people of the three counties erected shrines and carved monuments.

瓊守非才，激黎峒之變，乃劾去之，改辟能者代其任。 The Qiongzhou prefect lacked ability and provoked unrest among the Li stockades. Chongxian impeached him and recruited a capable replacement.

崇憲捐金繒付小校使繫以來，置之法。 Chongxian paid gold and silk to a petty officer to seize them and bring them in, then punished them by law.

崇憲謂根本單虛，非所以窒姦萌，乃於其地各置兵如戍兵之數，而斂戍者以歸。 Chongxian said leaving the interior bare was no way to stop trouble at its root. He posted permanent garrisons in each place and recalled the roaming detachments.

崇憲條上其議，朝廷頗采其言，然未及盡用也。 Chongxian submitted detailed proposals. The court largely adopted them but did not fully implement them.

崇憲天性篤孝，居父喪，月餘始食食，小祥始茹果實，終喪不飲酒食肉，比御猶弗入者久之。 Chongxian was deeply filial by nature. During his father's mourning he ate no solid food for more than a month, tasted no fruit until the small felicitation, drank no wine and ate no meat through the full mourning period, and for a long time would not even enter the inner quarters.

汝愚父以純孝聞，而子崇憲能守家法，所至有惠政，亦可謂世濟其美者已。 Ruyu's father was famed for pure filial piety. His son Chongxian upheld the family tradition and brought benevolent government wherever he served—a true heir to that excellence through the generations.

History of Song, Chapter 430Volume 430 Biographies 189: Taoist Scholars 4: Zhu Shimenren, Huang Gan, Li Fan, Zhang Qia, Chen Chun, Li Fangzi, Huang Hao · 1 passage

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所交皆名士，如呂祖儉、黃榦、趙崇憲、蔡淵、吳必大、輔廣、李道傳、李燔、葉味道、李閎祖、李方子、柴中行、真德秀、魏了翁、李埴、趙汝讜、陳貴誼、杜孝嚴、度正、張嗣古，皆敬慕之。 His friends were famous men—Lü Zujian, Huang Gan, Zhao Chongxian, Cai Yuan, Wu Bida, Fu Guang, Li Daochuan, Li Fan, Ye Weidao, Li Hongzu, Li Fangzi, Chai Zhongxing, Zhen Dexiu, Wei Liaoweng, Li Zhi, Zhao Rujing, Chen Guiyi, Du Xiaoyan, Du Zheng, Zhang Sigu—all revered him.