Meng Zong was a senior minister of late Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period who rose to minister of works. Both Wikidata and the Chinese Wikipedia article are titled Meng Zong. Wikidata also lists the alias Meng Ren, a name he took later to avoid the courtesy name of Sun Hao, the last emperor of Wu, so the heading stays Meng Zong. This entry records his death as 271, with no known birth year.[1][2]
Origins and career
The Chinese Wikipedia article says he was styled Gongwu and was from Jiangxia. As a young man he studied under Li Su of Nanyang, working hard day and night, and Li Su praised him as having the talent of a chancellor. After joining Wu, he first served as a military clerk under the general Zhu Ju, then as marshal at the salt pond and magistrate of Wu. While he was magistrate of Wu his mother died. Under the law of Wu, a local magistrate who left his post for the funeral without leave could be put to death. He ignored the danger and went home to mourn, then reported himself at Wuchang to await judgment, and Lu Xun saved him from execution. He later became grand administrator of Yuzhang and rose to minister of the imperial household. After Sun Chen took power he attached himself to Sun Chen. In 258 he was sent by Sun Chen to announce the deposition of Sun Liang at the ancestral temple. After Sun Xiu took the throne, Sun Chen planned a revolt and had Meng Zong ask Sun Xiu to let him station troops at Wuchang, and soon Sun Chen was put to death by Sun Xiu. In the winter of 262 Sun Xiu appointed him right censor-in-chief.[2]
Change of name and last years
The article says that in 264, when Sun Hao succeeded, Meng Zong changed his name to Meng Ren because Sun Hao's courtesy name was Yuanzong. In 267 Sun Hao ordered him, with the minister of ceremonies Yao Xin, to lead a ceremonial party to Mingling to invite the spirit of Sun Hao's father Sun He, and saw them off in person. In the second month of 268 he became minister of works, and in the ninth month of 271 he died and was buried at Wuchang.[2]
Filial conduct
The article relates that while serving as a military clerk under Zhu Ju he brought his mother to live in the camp. He often felt his ambitions thwarted, and on a rainy night when the roof leaked he wept and apologized to his mother, who told him to work hard and said there was nothing to cry about. As marshal of the Leichi fishery he wove a net himself, caught fish and sent them to his mother, who sent them back to avoid suspicion and never ate fish again. As grand administrator of Yuzhang he benefited the people, and many in the area gave their children the name Meng out of gratitude. The article also says that as minister of the imperial household he once vomited barley rice after getting drunk at a banquet. The emperor decreed to ask whether his household was short of rice, and he answered that there was enough, but that he was more content eating barley.[2]
Weeping in the bamboo grove
The article says Meng Zong's mother liked bamboo shoots and wanted some near the winter solstice, when shoots do not grow. Unable to find any, he wept in a bamboo grove, and shoots suddenly sprang up so that he could bring them home. People held that his great filial piety moved Heaven. A kind of bamboo is called Meng Zong bamboo after him and is one of the important winter shoots. The tale was later adapted into the Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety.[2]
Assessment
The article quotes Lu Ji's Discourse on the Fall of Wu, which names him with Ding Gu and others among the ministers, and a comment by He Zhuo that, in the matter of announcing Sun Liang's deposition at the temple, he had no great integrity to his credit.[2]