Han Qi and the Hall of Daytime Elegance

Today, we’ll introduce a statesman from the Northern Song Dynasty and a stone stele from his personal study that records his political achievements. Infused with marvelous literary and artistic value, the stele and the study have become a “spiritual home” pursued by literati of future generations.

The second Saturday of every month of June is China’s Cultural and Natural Heritage Day. This year, it happened on June 8, and a series of events were held across the country to recognize significant achievements in cultural relic protection at some 4,296 national key cultural relic protection sites and 5,354 museums.

China first established Cultural Heritage Day in 2006 and expanded the observance to encompass natural heritage in 2017, making it the current Cultural and Natural Heritage Day. Since 2009, the National Cultural Heritage Administration has designated one city each year to host the main event.

This year, the host city was Shenyang in northeast China’s Liaoning Province. The key exhibition, The Light of Civilization: Hongshan, Liangzhu and Chinese Civilization, kicked off on June 8, offering visitors an opportunity to experience the distinctive charm and enduring legacy of early-stage Chinese civilization, dating back more than 5,000 years. As part of the celebratory events, academic forums and a symposium were held to delve into innovative strategies and approaches for cultural heritage preservation.

More local activities combining regional characteristics were rolled out, leveraging innovative communication methods to deliver the benefit of the achievements in cultural relics protection and utilization to the general public.

For instance, in central China’s Hunan Province, an immersive digital exhibition was held at the Hunan Museum to showcase the glamor of the Mawangdui Tombs of the Han Dynasty.

And in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a photo exhibition was held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the successful UNESCO listing of Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang’an-Tianshan Corridor.

To date, China has 57 sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, ranking second globally. Many of these sites are located in ancient capitals such as Beijing, Xi’an, Shenyang and others. Among those ancient cities, Anyang in central China’s Henan Province is one that cannot be ignored, and that’s where we’ll focus our attention today.

Anyang has a history of more than 3,000 years. Since the Shang Dynasty, which dates back to 1600 BCE, moved its capital to Anyang, seven regimes established their capital there, leaving a plethora of historical sites and cultural relics.

For instance, oracle bone inscriptions with the earliest Chinese characters and Houmuwu Square Cauldron, the largest bronze ware in the world, were both unearthed in Anyang. The Yin Ruins, which are the archaeological remains of the capital of the Shang Dynasty, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2006.

Among the historical sites in Anyang, most of which are characterized by their historical grandeur, there is a relatively low-profile site called the Temple of Duke Han and Hall of Daytime Elegance. The temple is dedicated to Han Qi, one of the most revered political and literary figures of the Northern Song Dynasty, which existed from the year 960 to 1127. 

Han served as prime minister through the reigns of three emperors – Renzong, Yingzong and Shenzong. Despite the devastating political factions within the Song court, he still managed to hold this post for 10 consecutive years – the only person throughout the dynasty who was able to make it.

Other than that, he was also a talented writer and calligrapher. His poetry reflected the real life of his time and demonstrated his unique insights. Profoundly influenced by Tang calligrapher Yan Zhenqing, his calligraphy was structurally rigorous and powerful. One of his letters to his long-time friend Fan Zhongyan was so favored by Qing Emperor Qianlong that he stamped six seals upon it to show his appreciation of it as a calligraphic work.

The Temple of Duke Han was first built in the late Northern Song Dynasty. And though it was later destroyed in war, it was rebuilt on its original site during the Yuan Dynasty, which lasted from 1271 to 1368. 

The Hall of Daytime Elegance was constructed when Han Qi was serving as governor of Anyang. But for the convenience of commemoration, it was relocated to its current site during the Ming Dynasty, which existed from year 1368 to 1644.

The site excels from its counterparts especially for a stone stele with inscriptions of the record of its owner’s life. The stele presents “marvels” in four aspects – the achievements of its owner, the writings inscribed, and the calligraphy of its text and its head, which is the intricately carved upper portion of the stele.

Its owner Han Qi was born into a scholar-official family in the year 1008. His mother was a maid servant to his father when he was serving a position in southeast China’s Fujian Province, and was later married to him as a concubine. Han Qi’s father died when he was only five years old. Following that, his mother took him back to his father’s hometown in Anyang where he was educated under the guidance of his elder brothers.

At the age of 20, he succeeded in the highest level of the imperial examination. As a literati official recruited through the imperial examination, Han Qi surprisingly established his reputation in the battlefield, but this mostly had to do with the larger picture of Song’s governance strategy and civil service system.

Song’s founding emperor Taizu, who used to be a military general and ascended the throne through a coup, was determined to make sure that no rival general would become powerful enough to take his throne, in the same way he had done. So, he introduced a system of rotation for military leaders to sweep away any potential threats. Moreover, he ensured that the civil service enjoyed a higher status than the army by acting as its supervisory body, thus leading to the domination of literati over military officials in the administration of the dynasty, and further a surplus of literati officials and a shortage of military officials.

On the other front, from the inception of its establishment, the Song alternated between war and truce with the Khitans of the Liao Dynasty in the northeast. Emperor Taizu conquered much of central China, but neither he nor his successors managed to conquer the Khitan Liao Dynasty in the north. In fact, the Song emperors were compelled to recognize the Khitan ruler as an emperor in his own right and pay an annual tribute in the form of silver and silk. 

A similar situation arose with the Tanguts of the Western Xia in the northwest. In the year 1040, when the Tanguts attacked Song and Emperor Renzong, who reigned from 1022 to 1063, he entrusted the defense against the Tanguts to literati officials Fan Zhongyan and Han Qi. The Song managed to win a few military victories over the Tanguts at first. However, the campaign was ultimately a failure due to a military officer who disobeyed orders. Following his defeat in 1044, Emperor Renzong agreed to pay tributes to the Tanguts in order to maintain a peaceful border and concentrate on consolidating his rule of central China.

The period when Han and Fan were co-commanders in the Song-Xia war also witnessed one of the greatest moments in their long-time friendship. Shortly afterwards, they collaborated again in an important, although short-lived reform campaign called the Qingli Reform.

The reform was so named because it took place in year 1043, the third year of the reign of Qingli under Emperor Renzong. As the primary advocate of the reform, Fan Zhongyan attempted to reform the traditional way of conducting governmental affairs. He outlined three sets of reform objectives, including improving administrative efficiency, empowering local governments, and strengthening defense. 

Han Qi firmly supported Fan Zhongyan’s proposals and exerted significant influence in their implementation. During his tenure in local governments, Han implemented what could be called a pilot program of Fan’s reform measures and achieved remarkable results, thus providing solid evidence for the wider promotion of these new policies.

However, without the full support of the emperor, these policies were never completely implemented. And what was worse, the Song court was so plagued with political factions that backlash from the conservative officials at the court started not long after. The reforms failed after about a year, and Fan Zhongyan was forced to step down from his position as prime minister.

And for his championship of the reforms, Han Qi was expelled out of the inner power circle and made to serve in several local positions including Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei and Henan. Han and Fan last saw each other in the year 1044, but they always maintained their friendship by exchanging letters and through their literary works.

In the year 1055, when Han was serving as governor of his hometown Anyang, he decided to expand his residence and named his study the Hall of Daytime Elegance.

The name derived from Xiang Yu, the military leader who overthrew the Qin Dynasty in year 207 BCE. He once commented that “if you possess wealth and honor but do not return home, it’s like you are wearing elegant robes while traveling at night”. Han Qi turned Xiang Yu’s comments the other way around to demonstrate his caution and modesty.

In the year 1058, Han Qi was promoted to the position of prime minister for his contribution in orchestrating the selection of Emperor Renzong’s heir–Emperor Yingzong. He served in that capacity for 10 consecutive years through the reign of Emperor Yingzong and his successor Emperor Shenzong. In 1067, Han resigned because of political factions at the court. He passed away in year 1075 at the age of 68.

Ouyang Xiu, Han Qi’s friend and a revered statesman and writer in his own right, penned an essay entitled Record of the Hall of Daytime Elegance to explain his interpretation of Han’s aspirations. He remarked that high titles and elegant robes were not what Han Qi really wanted; instead, benevolence to the people, achievements to the state, praises spread across the world, and glories passed down to future generations were what Han Qi truly aspired to achieve.

The calligraphy inscribed upon the stele is from Cai Xiang, one of the four best calligraphers of the Song Dynasty and the world’s best in the regular script. His calligraphy is characterized by its dignity and vigor with a quiet beauty. Cai was a modest man and seldom wrote for others – he even once declined Emperor Renzong’s request to write for a deceased imperial concubine. But he more than readily agreed to write for Han Qi. In fact, he even wrote several versions for each character and then selected the best to be inscribed.

It is precisely these combined “marvels” that makes the stele of the Hall of Daytime Elegance so precious. The sincere care for the people and for the state recorded in the stele has been constantly recalled, imitated, and commemorated over thousands of years. Because of this, the Hall of Daytime Elegance has been a “spiritual home” pursued by literati of countless generations.

Well, that’s the end of our podcast. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Song Yimin, translator Yang Guang, and copy editor Pu Ren. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.