12 Facts About Zhao Mingcheng

Zhao Mingcheng was born in Zhucheng, Shandong, in an affluent scholar-official family.

Zhao Mingcheng was the third son of civil servant Zhao Tingzhi, who served as a prime minister during the reign of Song Huizong.

Zhao Mingcheng started his civil service career in 1103, but was quickly involved in an imperial court power struggle between his father and the infamous politician Cai Jing.

Zhao Mingcheng assumed a series of local governmental jobs in different areas.

Zhao Mingcheng was appointed in late 1128 as the magistrate for Huzhou and decided to go by himself first, leaving Li to take care of their surviving collection.

Zhao Mingcheng was fascinated by ancient art and artifacts in his early years, partly influenced by the academic interests of leading scholars such as Ouyang Xiu.

Thanks to his family background, Zhao Mingcheng was able to visit the antique collections of famous intellectuals of that time.

Zhao Mingcheng started to compose Jin Shi Lu with the help of his intellectual wife, Li Qingzhao.

Zhao Mingcheng stressed the importance of using ancient inscriptions to correct discrepancies and errors in later texts discussing details in ancient history, such as dates, geographical locations of historical events, genealogies, and official titles.

Zhao Mingcheng cast doubt on the reliability of historical works, because they were composed after the actual event.

Zhao Mingcheng scrutinized epigraphy scholarship of his time and corrected many mistakes and textual errors of received texts.

Zhao Mingcheng died before the publication of Jin Shi Lu.