Gallery of Philologists
Sung Lyen
1310 - 1381

Sung Lyen was born in the late years of the Mongol (Ywæn) Dynasty, and studied under a series of different teachers. His reputation for learning gained him the offer of a position as Compiler in the Hanlin Academy, but he was able to decline due to the advanced age of his parents, and to devote himself instead to writing in retirement. In 1368, not having served the previous dynasty, he was available for employment under the newly founded native Ming dynasty. He was summoned to a position as classical advisor to the Heir Apparent, and was also put to work in compiling the History of the Ywæn Dynasty. He rose in office to be, after all, a Scholar of the Hanlin Academy, in charge of Imperial edicts. He eventually resigned due to age. He was later implicated in a legal case involving his grandson Shvn, and died on the way to exile.

Besides his prominence as a historian, he is esteemed by posterity as a poet. His collected personal writings include, besides poetry, a blizzard of letters, travel notes, essays, and small miscellanea, totalling about a million words overall. A handful of those notes are called byen or "distinctions," in which ancient controversies are examined and a solution given. One of these byen is a note on the year and month in which Confucius died. Another, the Ju-dz Byen or "Distinctions Concerning the Philosophers,", is a set of pronouncements on a total of 40 more or less rare texts, arranged in chronological order, beginning with some claimed Jou dynasty works and ending with several writings attributed to the Sung Neo-Confucian masters Jou Dun-yi and Chvng Yi. The stance throughout is orthodox Confucian.

This set of judgements dates from the chaotic last years of the Mongol dynasty. It was written in 1358, during a period of enforced idleness while in hiding, with many other Puyang refugees, from military disturbances in the adjoining district. His exodus from Puyang corresponds to the Western date 26 April; the refugees returned on 16 July. Sung Lyen's postface to the Ju-dz Byen is dated 5 August (the first day of the lunar 7th month). The work, though slight in extent, has been esteemed by Gu Jye-gang and other modern critical scholars as one of the monuments, or at least one of the major way stations, of Chinese critical thinking. The later and longer series of notes by Yau Ji-hvng traverses much of the same ground, and it is of interest for the history of critical thought to compare their comments.

1 Dec 2005 / Contact The Project / Exit to Gallery Index Page