Xi Zheng was an official of Shu Han known for his writing. The Records of the Three Kingdoms say that his courtesy name was Lingxian, that he came from Yanshi in Henan, and that his original name was Zuan, later changed to Zheng. Wikidata's label is the same, so the title stays as it was. Wikidata records his death in 278.[1][3][2]
Family and youth
The Records say his grandfather Xi Jian was governor of Yi province at the end of Emperor Ling's reign and was killed by bandits, and in the chaos his father Xi Yi stayed in Shu. Xi Yi served under the general Meng Da, surrendered to Wei with him and became a clerk of the secretariat. Xi Zheng lost his father young and his mother remarried, so he stood alone, but he was content in poverty, loved study and read widely in the classics. At twenty he could write well, entered the court as a secretariat clerk, moved up to clerk, then to gentleman, and finally to director.[3][2]
Detachment and writings
He cared little for honors and especially loved literature. He sought out and read nearly everything from the surviving writings of Sima Xiangru, Wang Bao, Yang Xiong, Ban Gu, Fu Yi, Zhang Heng and Cai Yong to the fine books and discussions of his own day that existed in Yi province. He held an inner post and lived next door to the eunuch Huang Hao for thirty years, during which Huang Hao rose from lowly to powerful and abused his authority. Xi Zheng was neither loved nor hated by Huang Hao, and so he never rose above a rank of 600 bushels but escaped trouble. Following the old scholars and borrowing others' phrases to say what he meant, he wrote the Explaining the Reproach, to follow Cui Yin's Reaching the Purpose. The Records say his poems, essays and rhapsodies came to nearly a hundred pieces.[3][2]
The letter of surrender
In 263, Liu Shan followed Qiao Zhou's plan and sent envoys to surrender to Deng Ai, and the letter was written by Xi Zheng. In the first month of the following year Zhong Hui rebelled in Chengdu and Liu Shan was moved east to Luoyang in confusion. None of the great ministers of Shu were willing to go with him except Xi Zheng and the palace commandant Zhang Tong of Runan, who left their families and went alone. Liu Shan, guided correctly by Xi Zheng, made no mistakes in his conduct and sighed that he regretted knowing Xi Zheng so late, and contemporaries approved of Xi Zheng. He was enfeoffed as Marquis within the Passes.[3][2]
Under the Jin
In the Taishi era he became magistrate of Anyang and was then promoted to governor of Baxi. The edict of 272 praised him for having kept to duty in the troubled days in Chengdu, not departing from loyalty, and, once employed, for working with all his heart and showing a record of good governance, and named him governor of Baxi. He died in 278. Chen Shou's verdict is that Xi Zheng's writing is brilliant, with the manner of Zhang Heng and Cai Yong, that his conduct is worth emulating, and that he and Qiao Zhou had little to do in the Jin and much in Shu, so they were placed in the Shu volumes.[3]
Happy and not thinking of Shu
Chinese Wikipedia also records a story. After Liu Shan came to Luoyang, Sima Zhao gave a banquet at which the old Shu ministers wept, but Liu Shan was unmoved and said, "I am happy here and do not think of Shu." Xi Zheng told him, while he was out of the hall, that if asked again he should close his eyes for a moment and then say earnestly, "My ancestors' graves are far away in Shu and not a day passes without my thinking of them." Liu Shan repeated this and Sima Zhao replied that it sounded like something Xi Zheng would say. Liu Shan was astonished, Sima Zhao and his attendants laughed, and he ceased to suspect him. This is the origin of the idiom about being happy and not thinking of Shu. The story does not appear in the biography in the Records of the Three Kingdoms summarized above, and the article gives it only as a tale.[2]
Basic facts
- Name: Xi Zheng, courtesy name Lingxian, originally named Zuan[3]
- Origin: Yanshi in Henan[3]
- Died: 278[1]
- Offices: director of the secretariat in Shu; magistrate of Anyang and governor of Baxi under the Jin[3]
- Dynasty or state: Shu Han[1]
- Birthplace: Yanshi District[1]
- Portrayal: 郤正 (character in Romance of the Three Kingdoms)