Sui and Tang · Scholar and Writer

Xiao Yingshi 蕭穎士

Attested AD 712 - AD 756

Passages: 7
Chapters: 2
Histories: 2

Overview

Xiao Yingshi was a scholar and Writer.

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 712 to AD 754 友蕭穎士
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 194, passage 43
AD 713 to AD 756 開元、天寶間
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 129, passage 238

Key source chapters

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 129 Volume 125 Biographies 75: Zhang Yi, Liu Congyi, Xiao Fu, Liu Hun 1 passage
New Book of Tang, Chapter 194 Volume 194 Biographies 119: Outstanding Conduct 6 passages

Places and affiliations

Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 129, passage 238

Events and relationships

Faulted Sima Qian biographical form
Scholarly · Critic · With Sima Qian (司馬遷)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 194, passage 54

Assessments and attributes

Assessment restore middle antiquity; unbending integrity at dynastic life-death turns; faulted Zichang's biographical form; flaw was harsh censure and lavish praise · Mode named-person-judgment Speaker Li Hua (李華)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 194, passages 47-48, 51, 54-56

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 129, passage 238; New Book of Tang 194, passage 43

References in the histories

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 129Volume 125 Biographies 75: Zhang Yi, Liu Congyi, Xiao Fu, Liu Hun · 1 passage

渾母兄識，，篤意文章，有重名於開元、天寶間，與蕭穎士、元德秀、劉迅相亞。 Hun's elder maternal brother Shi was devoted to literature and had a great reputation during the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras, ranking alongside Xiao Yingshi, Yuan Dexiu, and Liu Xun.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 194Volume 194 Biographies 119: Outstanding Conduct · 6 passages

李華兄事德秀，而友蕭穎士、劉迅。 Li Hua honored Dexiu as an elder brother and befriended Xiao Yingshi and Liu Xun.

或問所長，華曰：「德秀誌當以道紀天下，迅當以《六經》諧人心，穎士當以中古易今世。 When asked what each excelled at, Hua said: "Dexiu aimed to order the empire by the Way; Xun aimed to harmonize men's hearts with the Six Classics; Yingshi aimed to replace the present age with the middle antiquity.

德秀欲齊愚智，迅感一物不得其正，穎士呼吸折節而獲重祿，不易一刻之安易，於孔子之門，皆達者歟！ Dexiu wished to level the foolish and the wise; Xun was stirred whenever a single thing fell short of its proper place; Yingshi would bend and bow with every breath to win heavy rewards, unwilling to trade a moment's ease—yet are all of these adept men within Confucius's gate?

穎士若百煉之剛，不可屈，使當廢興去就、一生一死間，而後見其節。 Let Yingshi be steel tempered a hundred times, impossible to bend; set him at the turning point between a dynasty's rise and fall, between life and death—then you see his integrity.

穎士尤罪子長不編年而為列傳，後世因之，非典訓也。 Yingshi especially faulted Master Zichang for not compiling year-by-year annals and writing biographical accounts instead, which later generations followed—this was not canonical teaching.

然各有病，元病酒，劉病賞物，蕭病貶惡太亟、獎能太重。 Yet each had a flaw: Yuan's was wine; Liu's was cherishing possessions; Xiao's was condemning evil too harshly and praising talent too lavishly.