•Af SIX R:+ a "Sojourner from Jiangnan": Chen Li and Han-Song Syncretism in Guangzhou

•af SIX r:+ A "Sojourner from Jiangnan": Chen Li and Han-Song Syncretism in Guangzhou Even before my capping, I first met Zhang W eiping. Seeking to inquire about his method of study, I begged him to state the details. He answered, "For the Four Treasuries, The Annotated Catalog raises the chief points. A thousand gates combining ten thousand doors, It is truly like the ancient Jianzhang Palace. 1 From this you'll come to recognize the gates and paths, And gradually be able to ascend its halls." -Chen excerpt from "Moved by My Old Teachers," 1852/53 HAVING RECOVERED FROM a near-fatal illness in the spring of r87r, Chen Li decided to set the record straight on his scholarly vision in the event that he would not survive a recurrence. In his "Self-Narra tion" ("Zishu"), the eminent Xuehaitang co-director recounted the intellectual journey that conducted him from youthful, "reckless" forays into evidential research to a newfound appreciation, in mid dle age, of the Han-dynasty Confucian Zheng Xuan and the Song dynasty N eo-Confucian Zhu Xi.2 Indeed, Chen Li experienced a mid-life crisis of sorts, one that entailed a re-evaluation of the schol arly ideals of the Xuehaitang. Yet he by no means turned his back on evidential research in favor of the Neo-Confucian quest for sage hood. He lived for another decade after writing his "Self-Narration" and, during these years, worked feverishly to develop pedagogical and printing projects essential to the kaozheng enterprise. 202 <i A "SOJOURNER FROM JIANGNAN" This chapter and the one that follows examine the two most influ ential classicists associated with the Xuehaitang, and arguably the most important Cantonese scholars in the middle of the nineteenth century: Chen Li and Zhu Ciqi.3 These two scholars not only had a tremendous influence on local scholarship but also present ideal case studies to illustrate the place of the Xuehaitang in the local cultural landscape. Chen Li and Zhu Ciqi were similar in many ways. In addition to the fact that later scholars have often associated them together with the Xuehaitang, both articulated versions of the most widespread trend in nineteenth-century Confucian scholarship, Hap.-Song syncretism. As participants in an empire-wide discourse of Han-Song syncretism, the statements of one are often easily rec ognizable in the other. Moreover, they both offered critiques of the Xuehaitang and its scholarly agenda. Despite their similarities, Chen Li and Zhu Ciqi inhabited dif ferent spaces within the wider Cantonese cultural landscape. Zhu Ciqi, the subject of Chapter 7, belonged to the most productive branch of a dominant lineage in Jiujiang township, in the heart of the Enclosure district; Chen Li was the grandson of an immigrant from Jiangnan who had settled in urban Guangzhou. Furthermore, in contrast to Zhu Ciqi, Chen Li's imagination was preoccupied by Jiangnan and the scholarly practice of evidential research that it had spawned, and his particular mediation of Han Learning and Song Learning reflected this. By drawing a contrast between Chen Li and Zhu Ciqi, I do not intend to suggest an absolute dichotomy between city and delta determining the scholarly or literary pri orities of scholars resident in either place. Rather, I will argue that the cultural landscape of urban Guangzhou overlapped but was not entirely congruous with that of the delta hinterland. That is to say, despite their shared Cantonese identities, literati in the city and hin terland had access to different combinations of cultural resources. Consequently, they approached Han-Song syncretism from oppo site directions and articulated distinct versions of Cantonese elite identity. Ultimately, the Xuehaitang had a much greater presence among the geographically and socially mobile urban elite, repre sented by Chen Li, than it did among literati from the delta hinter land such as Zhu Ciqi. .

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