Life

Hong was born in the year of 1123 in Poyang. His father Hong Hao was a Song official who participated the negotiations between Song and Jin during the wars of Jingkang era. He also had two elder brothers whose name were Hong Kuo and Hong Zun respectively.

In 1145, with the favor of Emperor Gaozong of Song, Hong Mai was given a government post in the department of transportation (Zhuanyun Si).

In 1162, Hong Mai was sent to Jurchen Empire; which ruled the northern half of China at the time; as a diplomat. During his stay in the north, he tried to establish a truce in Shandong but the Jurchens were not ready to accommodate. Mai did not receive any response from the north and returned south by autumn.

In 1166, Hong was appointed the magistrate of Jizhou. In the following years, he also governed Ganzhou and Wuzhou in turn.

In 1175, Hong became a member of the national archive and participated in the compiling of Chronicles.

In 1190, Hong was appointed the magistrate of Shaoxing. In Shaoxing, he rectified the population registry and petitioned a tax cut for the people of Shaoxing.

Hong died in the year of 1202, aged 80. He was posthumously given the name "Wenmin" (文敏).

Works

Yijianzhi was one of Hong's major contribution to the Chinese Yaoguai mythology tradition that dates back to the time of Gan Bao. The record spoke widely about incidents that are mythical, fantastic, and supernatural during Song dynasty. More importantly, the record depicts the daily life of Song dynasty Chinese in detail which otherwise would remain unknown to modern time researchers.

Hong Mai was an advocate of Chinese colloquial fiction writing. He elevated the writing of fiction to the same level of poetry. Especially, Hong praised the Tang dynasty fiction writers for their touching renditions of common people's day-to-day emotions.

In 1180, Hong Mai initiated his project of compiling ten thousand Tang dynasty poems. The compiling was completed in the year of 1190. The publication is known as "Ten thousand quatrains of Tang".

Sources

生平

宣和五年（1123年）生，南宋名臣洪皓第三子。洪皓使金，遭金人扣留，洪邁年僅七歲，隨兄洪适、洪遵攻讀，「幼讀書日數千言，一過目輒不忘，博極載籍，雖稗官虞初，釋老傍行，靡不涉獵」。趙和仲有言「知古者莫如洪景盧」。十歲時，隨兄洪适避亂，嘗往返于秀（今浙江嘉興）、饒二州之間。紹興十五年（1145年）進士，授兩浙轉運司。受秦檜排擠，出京為福州教授。累遷吏部郎兼禮部。紹興三十一年（1161年），遷左司員外郎。 紹興三十二年春（1162年），金世宗遣左監軍高忠建來告登位且議和，洪邁為接伴使，充賀登位使，出使金國，「自旦及暮，不給飲食，三日乃得見」，洪邁熬不過，屈節稱臣。金大都督懷中提議將洪邁扣留，左丞相張浩以為不可，乃遣還。殿中御史張震彈劾邁「使金辱命」，罷歸家居。

隆興元年（1163年），知泉州。乾道二年（1166年），知吉州（今江西吉安），入京為起居舍人。乾道三年（1167年），遷起居郎，拜中書舍人兼侍讀、直學士院。乾道六年（1170年），知贛州（今江西贛州）。淳熙二年（1175年），知婺州，興修水利 。特遷敷文閣待制。淳熙三年（1176年）建議許浦開河三十六里，梅里築二大堰；又建議建造多槳底平船，召募瀕海富商入船予爵，招善操舟者以補水軍。同年以提舉佑神觀兼侍講、同修國史。淳熙四年（1177年）九月，拜翰林學士。紹熙元年（1190年），進煥章閣學士，知紹興府。紹熙二年，上章告老，進龍圖閣學士。不久以端明殿學士致仕。嘉泰二年（1202年）卒，年八十。贈光祿大夫，謚文敏。

著作

洪邁二十歲即潛心於《夷堅志》之編撰，至死方休。其他著作包括《容齋隨筆》五集、《四朝國史記》、《欽宗紀》等。編有《萬首唐人絕句》。洪邁著作《經義考》，其中的觀點之一堅持看不起《逸周書》的偏見：「周書今七十篇，殊與尚書體不相類，所載事物亦多過實，無所質信。」

注釋

參考

• 《宋史‧列傳第一百三十二》

• 王德毅：《洪容齋先生年譜》，載《幼獅學報》第三卷第二期