The Wu Father and Son on Date-Selection

The author of Zongjing of Date-Selection is Wu Tianhong, who also wrote the seven-volume Newly Printed Essentials of Geography. He served as magistrate of Chun’an County from the twenty-third to the twenty-eighth year of the Wanli reign. Tradition has it he remitted and returned silk to relieve the people’s hardship, established community granaries against famine, forbade mining, opened waterworks, relieved the poor and honored learning; scholars and people revere him. After his death there was once a Zhunti Pavilion by the stream at Qingxi Temple on the south bank of the county; below the pavilion was the shrine of Lord Wu Tianhong—shrine and pavilion damaged by the nine-year flood.

Chun’an’s Lingyun Pagoda, below the confluence of two waters at the Xun (southeast) direction, was built to form a literary-brush peak and greatly prosper Chun’an’s talent; the Yanzhou Prefectural Gazetteer, continued and completed in the forty-second year of Wanli, carries a diagram of the Lingyun Pagoda.

In the Ding-You year of Wanli (twenty-fifth year, 1597) Magistrate Wu Tianhong first built two stories; in the Ren-Yin year (thirtieth year, 1602) Magistrate Liu Tiyuan rebuilt a third story, with student Wang Shichen as chief supervisor. In the forty-second year of Wanli (1614), juren Xu Pengcheng (grandson of Xu Chu, son of Xu Yinghuang), Wu Mingyan (of Wulongyuan), and merchants Gong Chongxi and Wang Guangguong jointly petitioned Magistrate Li Guangde to donate and complete it—eighteen years in building. Later abandoned in the Qianlong era.

At the confluence of the original Fuxi village and Xin’an River—a village of the Fang and Wang clans—though the terrain is open, it is surrounded by mountains on three sides with the northeast open, and at the water’s tail; the feng shui is inauspicious. So Magistrate Wu Tianhong divined and chose Wuzuiqiu north of Fuxi as the site for building the pagoda, but it was never built until the first year of Chongzhen when Fang Shangxun at age twenty built the Peifeng Pagoda, standing for centuries. Later in 1959 the Xin’an River reservoir filled, and it was inundated and submerged in Thousand Island Lake.

Zhejiang’s Chun’an has produced many jinshi, including: Yun Village, Jinxian Village, Chundong Jinshi Village, Chunbei Wenchang Village, and Fuxi Village in the southeastern corner of Chun’an.

Fuxi Village is mainly of the Fang and Wang surnames. After building the pagoda, in the Fang family Fang Shangxun, Fang Shiying, and Fang Luru—three generations of officials in succession; in the Wang clan were Wang Qi, Wang Shiwei, Wang Shigang and others alike.

The author of Zongming of Creation is Wu Guoshi, actually the son of Wu Tianhong, style name Xiusheng, sobriquet Changgu, of the prefectural city—a jinshi of the thirty-second year of Wanli (1604), appointed Principal Investigator of the Fujian Section in the Ministry of Justice, later magistrate of Jiaxing. History judges him as worrying for the people and fairly adjusting taxes and corvée.

While serving as magistrate of Jiaxing, the Grand Canal’s Old Tang (ancient embankment of the canal) was long ruined; every heavy rain brought fear of drowning. So he restored the Ancient Tang of the canal; later generations fortified the “Golden Waterway” Ancient Tang, all based on the embankment Wu Guoshi rebuilt.

Also according to investigation he was a second-tier jinshi of the thirty-second year of Wanli, a general of both civil and martial arts—his achievements were truly great.

Southern grain transport had long suffered from conscripted delivery; he changed it to official delivery. The ancient seawall often suffered tidal assault; he organized labor to repair it. Because ferry crossings often had people fall in, he built a stone bridge at Wangjiangjing that people called “Lord Wu’s Bridge”; he rose by steps to Provincial Administration Commissioner.

When serving as military commissioner at Chen-Yuan, the chieftain Long Tao rebelled, killing officials, doing as he pleased. Wu Guoshi built 110 li of border walls, 17 watch-forts, 33 artillery towers, added over 900 garrison troops, checked grain stores, and ensured military supply. Long Tao was bound, the rebellion pacified; afterward he wrote one volume of Illustrated Account of the Chu Frontier to record it.

Later transferred to Sichuan East as Administration Commissioner, when the She father and son raised rebellion and Fan Long and others occupied Chongqing city—Wu Guoshi rode alone to Fuzhou, set up water outposts to resist the enemy, captured Fan Long, and recovered Chongqing. Soon ordered to campaign against the Qins, he joined Qian generals in a pincer, pursued and cut down over two thousand, and received surrender of over thirty thousand.

Transferred to Hunan, wealthy households in Changning secretly mined tin and robbed the people; the authorities dared not act. Wu Guoshi held the choke points and established camps, chose elite troops to defend in rotation, and the people found peace.

Promoted to Fujian Provincial Administration Commissioner, when pirates were rampant Wu Guoshi carefully planned island strongpoints, divided territory and posted generals, assisted the Governor’s strategies; the pirate chiefs lost heart and surrendered, and all eight Min were pacified. For merit advanced to Junior Minister of Agriculture, overseeing flowing currency.

Submitted the “Five Deliberations” memorial, of benefit to both merchants and people. Died in office; posthumously granted Minister, full sacrificial burial, and one son yin privilege.