Comment by Sarah Schneewind on the biography of Tao An 陶 安 (1312?-1368, NZ Taiping native). Tao was an early (1355) literati supporter of Zhu Yuanzhang, in fact the man who in response to Zhu’s inquiry had recommended the intellectual cohort Song Lian, Liu Ji, and Zhang Yi.[1] The main point of this chapter of biographies is that the early Ming, because of its scholarly supporters, started off on the right foot in terms of ritual. The appraisal says that when the early deliberations on ritual were taking place, Song Lian was living at home, and Tao An made most of the decisions. Tao and each of seven other named experts (five also have biographies here) took the lead in discrete areas. “In each case they were able to adduce classical principles as the basis and to consult traditional standards and later refinements… Where compromises were made, the decisions conformed to the emperor’s will and cannot diminish the accomplishments of the various ministers.”[2] Far from supporting Taizu’s Mandate, this is a fairly direct criticism of the founder’s ritual propriety; if anyone is approved by Heaven it is Tao and his colleagues. Further complicating any interpretation of the Mandate as referring chiefly to the dynasty, Tao An had earned his own minor mandate in office: The Mingshi reports that Tao was well-liked in his first posting in Huangzhou before the conquest was complete, because he did not demand too much in taxes or labor. As prefect of Raozhou he roused the people to defend against bandits, and then protected commoners who had followed the bandits from execution by Ming army officers. This act won him both a poem of praise from the Ming founder, and a living shrine built by the Raozhou people.[3]
Please cite when using.
[1] MS 13/136/3925-6.
[2] MS 13/136/3939. I follow Romeyn Taylor’s translation, DMB 1265, except that he omits the last phrase.
[3] MS 13/136/3925-6. The shrine is also recorded in Zhu Guozhen, Huang Ming Kaiguo chen zhuan 3/31: “The next year, when he went to court, the people missed him and erected a shrine for him”民思之為立祠.