. He was a bibliographer and book collector during the
. Born in Juye (present-day Juye County, Shandong Province), he came from an official family. His seventh-generation ancestor, Zhāo Jiǒng, served as the Minister of Rites. His second cousin,
, were both renowned scholars. He was the son of Zhāo Chōngzhī.
Biography
Zhāo Gōngwu was born in 1101 during the reign of Emperor Huizong. When the Jurchens invaded from the north, his family fled to Sichuan and settled in Jiading (present-day Leshan), where they had a significant collection of books that were almost entirely lost during the war. In 1132, during the Shaoxing era, he passed the imperial examinations and became a Jinshi degree holder. Later, he served as an official under Jǐng Dù, the Sichuan Transport Commissioner. In 1147, he was appointed as the governor of Gongzhou (present-day Chongqing), followed by positions as the governor of Rongzhou (present-day Rong County, Sichuan), Hezhou (present-day Héchuān District, Chongqing), and Luzhou (present-day Luzhou, Sichuan). In 1163, at the beginning of the Longxing era, he entered central government service as a Langzhong in the Ministry of Personnel and a Censor. In 1164, during the second year of the Longxing era, he concurrently served as a Secretary to the Chancellery and an Imperial Censor. In 1178, he was appointed as a待制 (a high-ranking official) at the Fucheng Pavilion and became the Sichuan Pacification Commissioner. In 1169, during his tenure in Sichuan, he rebuilt the Guanghui Granary to provide relief for famine victims. He eventually rose to the position of Deputy Minister of Personnel.
Zhāo Gōngwu actively assisted Nanyang's Jǐng Dù in writing, engraving, and proofreading books. Jǐng Dù was a great collector of books, and after twenty years, his collection had become very rich. In his later years, he gifted fifty chests of books to Zhāo Gōngwu. Combined with the family's collection and removing duplicates, they amounted to over 24,500 volumes. In 1151, while serving as governor of Rongzhou, he used his leisure time to carefully proofread the texts, correct errors, and summarize their main points, completing the initial draft of "The Catalogue of Books in the Prefecture Study". In his later years, he settled in Fúwén Township, Jiading Prefecture, Sichuan, where he built a "Prefecture Study" to house his collection and continued to revise and supplement it. The bibliographer Chén Zhènshū praised the book for its insightful revelations.
In addition to his cataloging work, Zhāo Gōngwu also authored numerous works, including "Yì Gǔxùn Zhuàn" (18 volumes), "Shàngshū Gǔxùn Zhuàn" (46 volumes), "Máo Shī Gǔxùn Zhuàn" (20 volumes), "Zhōngyōng Dà Zhuàn" (1 volume), "Chūnqiū Gǔxùn Zhuăn" (30 volumes), "Shíjīng Kǎoyì" (1 volume), "Jīgǔ Hòulù" (35 volumes), "Tōngjiān Píng" (10 volumes), "Lǎozi Tōngshù" (2 volumes), "Zhāodé Tang Gǎo" (60 volumes), and "Sōnggāo Qiáo chàng" (2 volumes).
Notes
References
• 晁公武 (Chinese)
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Zhāo Gōngwǔ (1101–1180), courtesy name Zǐzhǐ, style name Zhāodé Xiānshēng. He was a bibliographer and book collector during the Southern Song dynasty. Born in Juye (present-day Juye County, Shandong Province), he came from an official family. His seventh-generation ancestor, Zhāo Jiǒng, served as the Minister of Rites. His second cousin, Zhāo Bǔzhī, and his uncle, Zhāo Yuèzhī, were both renowned scholars. He was the son of Zhāo Chōngzhī.