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Sima Guang 司馬光 | |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 November 1019 |
| Died | October 11, 1086(1086-10-11) (aged 66) Kaifeng, Song Empire |
| Spouse | Lady Zhang |
| Children | Sima Kang |
| Parent |
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| Occupation | Historian, politician, writer |
| Courtesy name | Junshi (君實) |
| Art name | Yusou (迂叟) |
| Posthumous name | Wenzheng (文正) |
| Other names | Sushui Xiansheng (涑水先生) |
| Sima Guang | |||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 司馬光 | ||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 司马光 | ||||||||||||||||
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Sima Guang (17 November 1019 – 11 October 1086),courtesy nameJunshi, was a Chinese historian, politician, and writer. He was a high-rankingSong dynastyscholar-official who authored theZizhi Tongjian, a monumental work of history.
Born into a family of officials, Sima Guang displayed remarkable intelligence from a young age and quickly rose through the ranks of the Song bureaucracy. His early career was marked by his work in government administration, where he gained a reputation for his meticulous scholarship and principled stance on state affairs. As a prominent official, he strongly opposedWang Anshi’s New Policies, arguing that they disrupted social stability and traditional governance. His criticisms led to his removal from political office when reformists held power.
After retiring from active politics, Sima devoted himself to historical research and writing. He spent years compiling and editing theZizhi Tongjian, which he presented toEmperor Shenzong in 1084. In addition to his historical work, he advocated for the repeal of certain feudal institutions, promoting policies he believed would restore order and moral integrity to the empire. His legacy as ahistorian andpolitical thinker had a lasting impact on Chinese historiography and conservative political thought.
Sima Guang was named afterGuang Prefecture, his birthplace, and where his father Sima Chi (司馬池) served as acounty magistrate. The Sima family were originally fromXia County inShǎn Prefecture, and claimed descent from the 3rd century Cao Wei officialSima Fu. A famous anecdote relates the young Sima Guang saving a playmate who had fallen into an enormous vat full of water. As other children scattered in panic, Sima calmly picked up a rock and smashed a hole in the base of the pot. Water leaked out, and his friend was saved.[1]
At the age of 6, Sima heard a lecture concerning theZuo Zhuan, a work of history dating to the 4th century BC. Fascinated, he was able to retell the stories to his family when he returned home. He became an avid reader, "to the point of not recognizing hunger, thirst, coldness or heat".[1]
Sima obtained early success as a scholar and officer. When he was barely twenty, he passed theImperial examination with the highest rank ofjìnshì (進士; 'metropolitan graduate'), and spent the next several years in official positions.
Sima believed that civilization was created when thesage kings transformed humans from their original animal state using hierarchical order, property rights, moral instruction, and penal law. He believed that the problem with government was not in its structure, but rather in the people that ran it. He wrote multiple memorials detailing how to make the government more effective and argued that his views were in accord with history (in contrast withWang Anshi's emphasis on theClassics) andHeaven-and-Earth. A static and well-maintained country would, according to him, last forever.[2] Accordingly, he disliked commercial growth (which he believed encouraged social change) and preferred a recommendation-basedimperial examination system.[3]
Rulers were supposed to only determine official assignments, reward achievement, punish failure, care about their servants, have good morals, and be immune to outside influence. On a wider level, a society with clear inferior-superior roles would be stable.[4] His deeply anti-change perspective made him a political conservative (in contrast with Wang Anshi's reformism).[5] For Sima, to be ethical was to accept one's social status, and personal cultivation meant exercising restraint; indeed Sima interpreted the "investigation of things", a fundamental tenet of theCheng-Zhu school ofNeo-confucianism, as "restraining things". He also agreed withXunzi's postulation that humans were inherently evil and wrote a work called "DoubtingMencius" that criticized Mencius' encouraging of the overthrow of hierarchy.[6]
After the failure of theQingli Reforms under an unenthusiasticEmperor Renzong, the future reformistWang Anshi submitted a 10,000-word memorial in 1058 detailing a system of comprehensive reform. Sima Guang did the same thing in 1061, but his proposals were more conservative.[7]
In 1064, Sima, then just a policy critic, raised the issue between performing rituals forZhao Yurang,Emperor Yingzong's biological father, and Emperor Renzong. This issue would dominate Yingzong's reign and cause political gridlock. Sima himself believed that priority should be given to Renzong since he was the emperor's ritual father. Yingzong overruled this belief and, partly due to personal affection for his biological father, gave Zhao Yurang high ritual honors in 1066.[8] In the same year, Sima sponsoredSu Zhe for a special decreeexamination.[9]
Emperor Shenzong promoted Sima tochief censor in late 1067. He opposed Shenzong'sirridentism and favored a defensive stance towards theUyghurs,Tibetans,Western Xia, andLiao dynasty.[10] Sima hoped that the "barbarians" would commend the Song dynasty's good government.[11] Since the end of theQingli Reforms in 1045 did not end the Song dynasty's problems, factions developed around how to solve these issues. Conservatives like Sima Guang advocated for a smaller government budget and gradual reform. As such, Sima opposed theNew Policies ofWang Anshi, which increased government authority and spending. Sima argued that more state revenue would mean less money for farmers and that the government was immoral for competing with merchants.[12] Somewhat counterintuitively, he emphasized the unifying role of the emperor more than the reformists; he wanted the emperor to manage the bureaucracy and control officials with rewards and punishments, while the reformists wanted to implement new policies for new problems.[13] In response toEmperor Shenzong of Song appointing him as head of the new Office of Expenditure Reduction, Sima released a scathing report that criticized the oversized bureaucracy, imperial extravagance, and an inefficient army and which called for imperial discussion rather than offering specific solutions. Shenzong quickly dissolved the office[14] but continued to accept Sima's counsel.[15]
By 1070, Sima was part of theHanlin Academy, theBureau of Military Affairs, and theCouncil of State. Frustrated with Wang Anshi's dominance over court and despite Shenzong's urging for him to stay, Sima retired toLuoyang in 1071, which would become the center of the conservative opposition. This made Wang largely unopposed in government.[16] Sima was disturbed by the New Policy's control over the dynasty's people and resources.[17]
Sima had multiple objections to the New Policies. He believed that:
Sima retired inLuoyang from 1071 to 1085. While there, he wrote theZizhi Tongjian and cultivated friendships withShao Yong,Cheng Yi, andCheng Hao.[6] Massive famines and droughts fueled resentment towards Wang Anshi and garnered support for Sima, contributing to the conservative restoration of 1085.[20] However, Sima was not restored to power following the unpopular Wang's retirement in 1076 since Shenzong took personal control over the New Policies.[21]Cai Que, a semi-reformist leader, blocked Sima's re-appointment to power despite the failure of thewar against the Western Xia. Cai nonetheless ingratiated him to the influential Sima by appointing Sima's disciple,Xing Shu, as a scholar.[22]
For 40 years following the death of Shenzong, the reformist and conservative factions alternated control over the Song government. Both factions engaged in "ethical factionalism" as they engaged in ruthless purges against each other.[12] An attempted coup by the reformist faction (includingCai Que,Zhang Dun,Xing Shu, andCai Jing) intended to dethroneEmperor Zhezong failed and aggravated the conservative faction.[23] Sima was an old and tired man in Luoyang and was reluctant to return to the capital, butCheng Hao convinced him to do so. When Sima arrived inKaifeng, a large crowd swarmed to touch his horse, and palace guardsmen saluted him as "Prime Minister Sima". He encouraged people to openly express their grievances about the New Policies.[24]
Sima was soon madechief councilor byEmpress Dowager Gao, the regent forEmperor Zhezong and herself a staunch conservative. He and other recalled conservatives likeSu Shi,Su Che,Cheng Yi,Cheng Hao,Wang Yansou,Fan Chunren,Wen Yanbo, andLü Gongzhu formed the Yuanyou faction, named after the currentera.[25] Sima madead hominem denunciations against Wang Anshi, saying: "[Wang] was self-satisfied and self-righteous, and considered himself to be unparalleled by figures past and present."[24] Sima also blamed the Song dynasty's defeat at Yongle City during the war with theWestern Xia on poor, glory-oriented leadership, while presenting himself as the "savior of the dynasty".[26] As the conservative leader, he headed his coalition to demote reformist leaders to lowlyprefectural-level posts (while promoting conservatives into high positions and, one by one, abolished many of the New Policies.[27] He also wanted to combine theSecretariat and theChancellery, arguing that the latter was redundant: "[The Chancellery] serves no purpose except to double the number of clerks and multiply paperwork."[28] The two departments would be combined in 1129.[28]Cai Que andZhang Dun would lead the reformist opposition against the conservative restoration.[29]
The compulsory Baojia village defense system trained and enrolled nearly 7 million men across the dynasty. Sima criticized the system's detracting from agricultural productivity and its potential for creating bandits. Wang Yansou criticized the unnecessary brutality of the system. In mid-1085, an imperial edict abolished the system in the capital and its surrounding areas, with more restrictions imposed on this system in the following months. Reformist opposition to the system's abolition was weak and primarily logistical rather than ideological. Zhang Dun's call for moderate abolition was reasonable considering the shock that followed the rapid abolishment of the Baojia system.[30]
The equal tax law was a system of land evaluation and taxation that was probably the most successful of the New Policies. The law was removed with little opposition in late 1085.
The market exchange law established government monopolies that were intended to buy cheap products and sell dear products. However, the established agencies cornered the market in staple goods and became focused on generating revenue. Throughout 1085, executive orders forgave debt owed to the agencies and abolished loan bureaus before abolishing the law altogether. This signaled the turning point for the reformist-conservative conflict.[31]
The labor recruitment law replacedcorvée labor with professional laborers funded by service exemption fees paid by the richest rural households. Similar to the market exchange law, this law primarily became a method for revenue extraction. Sima argued that the law was simply another tax imposed on the commoners. Cai Que's refusal to remove the labor recruitment law led to hischaracter assassination by the conservativesLiu Chi and Su Che; this pushed him to resign as chancellor of the right and he was reappointed as the administrator ofChenzhou. Zhang Dun continued to resist and pointed out Sima's hypocrisy regarding the law: in early 1086, Sima said that rich households were harmed by the law, while just 14 days later he said that rich households benefitted from their preferential treatment under the law. Zhang also criticized Sima's demand to abolish the law country-wide in a mere 5 days.[32] Indeed, Sima was impressed whenCai Jing, the mayor ofKaifeng, was the only one who abolished the law in under 5 days.[33] 21 days after Cai Que resigned, Zhang Dun was demoted to aprefectural-level post after offending Empress Gao during a debate. In spring 1086, Wang Anshi died. The conservative restoration was complete.[32]
Nonetheless, the debate over how to remove the labor recruitment law revealed cracks in the conservative coalition. For example, Su Che (and many other conservatives who were typically closely aligned with Sima) argued that "an entire system could not be abolished overnight without serious repercussions" and that a framework for the replacement system should be formulated first. Su Shi, Su Che's older brother, formed a third faction and proposed that the funds from the labor recruitment law should be used to buy up public lands to grant to volunteer laborers in addition to their wages. Sima did not accept dissent from either group.[34]
The green sprouts law was intended to give low-interest loans to farmers but, like many of the aforementioned policies, became a method of revenue extraction. Conservative opposition to this policy was unified and Fan Chunren, the son ofFan Zhongyan, was the only dissenter. His argument that the law could boost the dynasty's base revenue annoyed Sima Guang and he was only saved by Wang Yansou's intervention. This incident revealed the deepening divisions within Sima's coalition that would exacerbate after his death.[35]
Following the protracted, expensive, and ultimately disappointingwar against the Western Xia, the conservatives wanted toappease theWestern Xia for peace. The concession ofLanzhou to the Xia was highly controversial and, along with 4 fortresses that were ostensibly ceded to Xia, remained a source of border tension for the following decades. The official truce was signed in 1089 and was broken by a 1096 invasion by the restored Zhang Dun.[36]
Sima Guang is best remembered for his masterwork,Zizhi Tongjian, and the Australian sinologistRafe de Crespigny describes him as "perhaps the greatest of all Chinese historians" (de Crespigny 1973:65).
In 1064, Sima presented toEmperor Yingzong of Song the five-volumeLiniantu ("Chart of Successive Years"). It chronologically summarized events in Chinese history from 403 BCE to 959 CE and served as a prospectus for sponsorship of his ambitious project inhistoriography. These dates were chosen because 403 BCE was the beginning of theWarring States period, when the ancientState of Jin was subdivided, which eventually led to the establishment of theQin dynasty—959 CE was the end of theFive Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and the beginning of the Song dynasty.
In 1066, he presented a more detailed eight-volumeTongzhi (通志; 'Comprehensive Records'), which chronicled Chinese history from 403 BCE to 207 BCE (the end of the Qin dynasty). The emperor issued an edict for the compilation of a groundbreakinguniversal history of China, granting full access to imperial libraries, and allocating funds for the costs of compilation, including research assistance by experienced historians such as Liu Ban (劉攽, 1022–88), Liu Shu (劉恕, 1032–78), and Fan Zuyu (范祖禹, 1041–98). After Yingzong died in 1067, Sima was invited to the palace to introduce his work-in-progress toEmperor Shenzong of Song. The new emperor not only confirmed the interest his father had shown, but showed his favor by bestowing an imperial preface in which he changed the title fromTongzhi ("Comprehensive Records") toZizhi Tongjian ("Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government"). Scholars interpret the "Mirror" of the title to denote a work of reference and guidance, indicating that Shenzong accepted Sima as his guide in the study of history and its application to government. The emperor maintained his support for the compilation of this comprehensive history until its completion in 1084.
From the late 1060s, Sima came to assume a role as leader of what has been identified as a conservative faction at court, resolutely opposed to theNew Policies of ChancellorWang Anshi. Sima presented increasingly criticalmemorials to the throne until 1070, when he refused further appointment and withdrew from court. In 1071, he took up residence inLuoyang, where he remained with an official sinecure, providing sufficient time and resources to continue the compilation ofZizhi Tongjian. Though the historian and the emperor continued to disagree on policies, Sima's enforced retirement proved essential for him to complete his chronological history over the following one and a half decades. Contemporary accounts relate that, in order to work more and sleep less when he was writing his great opus, the Zizhi Tongjian, he had a wooden pillow made from a log that was designed to slip from under his head whenever he rolled over. He called this Jingzhen 警枕 (Alert Pillow), and used it throughout the period ofZizhi Tongjian's compilation.[37]
Sima rejected the roles of thedynastic cycle andFive Phases in legitimizing dynastic succession. For Sima, dynastic succession was instead a result of power struggles; dynasties rose and fell according to consistent factors. He believed that history was a "mirror" for the present and could provide the government with historical context for their current situation.Literati could thus use history as an aid to governance. His histories are structured in a way that promotes these theories.[38]
Sima and the other Yuanyou faction conservatives (except forSu Shi, who had an unorthodox interpretation of theTao) would be positively associated withNeo-confucianism.[39]Liu Anshi, an important Neoconfucian, was Sima's disciple.[40]
Emperor Shenzong died in 1085, shortly after Sima had submittedZizhi Tongjian to the throne. Sima was recalled to court and appointed to lead the government underEmperor Zhezong of Song. He used this time in power to repeal many of theNew Policies, but he died the following year, in 1086. His death fractured the conservative coalition, which split into the Shuo (Hebei) faction, the Luo (Henan) faction, and the Shu (Sichuan) faction. This ushered in a period of political gridlock from 1086 to 1093.[41]
As well as his achievements as a statesman and historian, Sima Guang was also alexicographer (who perhaps edited theJiyun), and spent decades compiling his 1066Leipian ("Classified Chapters", cf. theYupian) dictionary. It was based on theShuowen Jiezi, and included 31,319Chinese characters, many of which were coined in the Song andTang dynasty. HisFamily Precepts of Sima Guang (司馬溫公家訓) is also widely known and studied in China and Japan.[42]
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