Former Residence of Fang Yizhi

Former Residence of Fang Yizhi

The Former Residence of Fang Yizhi is a cultural relic protection unit of Anqing City.

Fang Yizhi (1611–1671), courtesy name Mizi, art names Manyun and Longmian Yuzhe; also known by his Buddhist name Hongzhi and courtesy name Wuke. He was a renowned thinker, scientist, and literary figure in the late Ming Dynasty. A skilled writer from the age of nine, he authored works spanning tens of thousands of words by the age of twenty. He built friendships through literature, maintaining close ties with Chen Zhenhui, Hou Fangyu, Mao Xiang, and others, engaging in political discourse and literary discussions, and was known as one of the “Four Young Masters of the Late Ming.” In the thirteenth year of the Chongzhen era (1640), he passed the imperial examination and was appointed as a reviser in the Hanlin Academy. He had access to the imperial court and read extensively from the imperial libraries, often discussing medicine, astronomy, and other sciences with Johann Adam Schall von Bell. Later, he withdrew from official life, became a monk, wandered across the country, wrote and taught, devoted himself to calligraphy and painting, and found joy in landscapes and nature. In March of the tenth year of the Kangxi era in the Qing Dynasty (1671), he was arrested due to the “Guangdong Incident.” On October 7th, while being escorted from Luling to Lingnan, his boat reached Huangkong Shoal in Wan’an, where he passed away on board.

Fang Yizhi conducted systematic research in fields such as philosophy, literature, calligraphy and painting, phonology, astronomy, geography, legal studies, medicine, and physics. He was the first in Chinese history to categorize knowledge into three major types: natural sciences (physics), social sciences (governance studies), and philosophy (the ultimate principles of things). In philosophy, he proposed the idea that “time (zhou) revolves within space (yu).” He was the first to put forward the proposition of “combining two into one,” revealing the law of the unity and opposition of things, emphasizing the dialectical relationship between philosophy and science, referred to as “embedding general principles within empirical measurements.” His light dispersion experiments predated Newton’s work in this field by over 30 years. In literature, he advocated grounding basics in the classics, refining essentials in history, cultivating rhetoric in the Han style, and analyzing reasoning in the Song style, which had a certain influence on the later formation of the Tongcheng School’s prose theory. He authored more than fifty works totaling over a million characters, including *Tongya*, *The Origins and Development of Qieyun*, *Collected Works of Mount Fushan (Volumes I and II)*, *Five-Character Ancient Poems*, *Essentials of the Book of Changes*, *Commentaries on the Hundred Schools of Thought*, *A Brief Account of Physical Knowledge*, and *Pharmacological Interpretations of Zhuangzi*.

The Former Residence of Fang Yizhi, originally named Tingwei Mansion. During the transition from the Song to the Yuan Dynasty, Fang Yizhi’s earliest ancestor, Fang Deyi, moved from Xiuning and Chikou to Tongcheng. By the sixth generation, Fang Zimian’s descendants rose to prominence, with many becoming jinshi (successful imperial examination candidates), earning the gate plaque “Guilin” inscribed by royal advisor Wang Rui, thus giving rise to the Tongcheng Guilin Fang clan. Fang Yizhi was the fourteenth-generation descendant of the Guilin Fang family. His great-grandfather, Fang Xuejian, was a renowned Neo-Confucian scholar who presided over literary lectures for over 20 years as a commoner, pioneering the tradition of scholarly lectures in Tongcheng, and was posthumously honored by scholars with the title Mingshan. His grandfather, Fang Dazhen, was a jinshi of the Ming Dynasty’s Wanli era, holding positions up to Regional Inspector of the Capital, Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and Director of the Ministry of Revenue. He constructed Tingwei Mansion in Fengyi Li within the city (now the site of the residence). His father, Fang Kongzhao, was also a jinshi of the Wanli era and served as Right Censor-in-Chief. Mr. Fang Shuwen’s *Chronological Biography of Mr. Fang Mizi* cites the *Fang Family Genealogy*, which records: “In the thirty-ninth year of the Wanli era, Xin Hai (1611), he was born. On October 26th of that year, Mizi was born in Tingwei Mansion, Tongcheng, Anhui. At the time, his great-grandfather Mingshan was still alive and named him Donglin. His father, Zhenxu (Kongzhao), wrote in the poem ‘Birth of a Son in Xin Hai, Named Donglin’: ‘The boy has just been born, my ancestor observes his face, names him Donglin, he will one day grind an iron inkstone.’ In the forty-fifth year of the Wanli era, Ding Si (1617), when Fang Yizhi was seven years old, he left Tongcheng for the first time, ‘accompanying his father via the plank road, seeing Mount Emei’ (as recorded in Ren Daobin’s *Chronological Biography of Fang Yizhi*, and similarly below). In the second year of the Tianqi era, Ren Xu (1622), on September 11th, Fang Yizhi’s mother, Wu Lingyi, passed away. His paternal aunt, Fang Weiyi, took him back to their hometown and carefully raised and educated him for eight years. In the third year of the Tianqi era, when he was thirteen, he left home for the second time, accompanying his father on official duties to the capital, traveling through Qi and Lu, and taking in famous mountains and great rivers. At twenty, he compiled what he had learned and completed the manuscript of *A Brief Account of Physical Knowledge* at his home estate. He wrote *Letter from Yang Xiong to Huan Tan* in Ze Garden. At twenty-three, he compiled *Draft Edict for Recruiting Virtuous Officials*, *Draft Petition for Good Governance*, *Literary Discourses*, *Ode to Gathering Guests*, and *Nine Generals*, among others, into *Initial Collection of the Antiquarian Hall*, submitting them to He Rupei and Chen Renxi for review and receiving prefaces from both elders. That autumn, he left his hometown, took the metropolitan examination in Nanjing, led the Guangye Society in Jinling, and built friendships through literature. Later, he resided in Nanjing, wandered through Lingnan, secluded himself in Nanjing, visited the gravesite at Heshan, meditated in Jiangxi—including at Qingyuan Mountain—and passed away at Huangkong Shoal in Wan’an. During this time, he returned to his hometown several times. Amidst his travels, he occasionally expressed homesickness.

Tingwei Mansion, also called Yuansin Hall, is now known as Xiaosa Garden. According to *Records of Literature and Art · Chronological Biography of Mr. Fang Mizi*: “In the twenty-fifth year of the Kangxi era, Bing Yin (1686), a fire destroyed the Yuansin Hall library, and Yuansin Gong (Zhengyuan) renovated it.”

Fang Zhengyuan, the son of Fang Yizhi’s third son Fang Zhonglu, was a successful candidate in the Qing Dynasty’s Kangxi-era imperial examinations and once served as an official in Tongshang Dao, Shaanxi. Tired of officialdom, he indulged in landscapes and lived an unrestrained life, earning the nickname “Yuansun Gong” (Graceful Gentleman). His residence was called “Xiaosa Garden.” Yao Yuanzhi, a local imperial censor, once composed a couplet for Xiaosa Garden: “Fish fly and kites soar above the lacquer garden officer; waters stand and mountains flow past the grand historian.” In the seventh year of the Guangxu era (1881), Peng Yulin of the Qing Dynasty wrote a horizontal inscription “Xiaosa Garden” for the Fang descendants, which is now housed in the Tongcheng Museum.

The Former Residence of Fang Yizhi is located in Fengyi Li, Tongcheng, on the territory of Gongyuan Subdistrict Committee, “situated among the new alleys of Temple Lane,” stretching 49 meters from north to south and 45 meters from east to west, covering an area of 2,200 square meters. From south to north, there are four existing rows of houses, with the western wing consisting of east-west-oriented building units. It is a wooden post-and-lintel construction. The northern two rows face each other across a courtyard, each with eight bays, each bay measuring 7 meters in length and 3.8 meters in width, with an area of 26.6 square meters. Both rows have corridors facing the courtyard, covering an area of 64.4 square meters. The southern two rows face each other across a courtyard, both facing south. A central courtyard is situated between the middle two rows.

In September 1985, the People’s Government of Tongcheng County designated the Former Residence of Fang Yizhi as a county-level key cultural relic protection unit.

Fang Yizhi (1611–1671), courtesy name Mizi, art name Manyun, also known as Fushan Yuzhe; after becoming a monk, his dharma name was Hongzhi, with other names including Wuke, Yaodi, Fulu, and Molü. He was a native of Lüzhuang in present-day Fushan Town.

Fang Yizhi was born into an official family. His grandfather, Fang Dazhen, and father, Fang Kongzhao, both held important positions in the court. Politically, they leaned toward the “Donglin Party,” and academically, they enjoyed discussing “physical principles” (i.e., the rationale behind the development of things), and were knowledgeable in medicine, geography, and military affairs, all of which had a significant influence on Fang Yizhi. As a child, Fang Yizhi displayed extraordinary intelligence, was diligent and inquisitive, could write at the age of nine, read extensively by fifteen, and at twenty-two... [More detailed information about Fang Yizhi]

Wenchang Subdistrict: Located in the southwestern part of Tongcheng City, Wenchang Subdistrict is the seat of the municipal Party committee and government, serving as the political, economic, cultural, and educational center of Tongcheng. To the northeast, it borders Longmian Subdistrict along the Longmian River; to the west, it connects with Huangjia Town; to the south, it neighbors Fangang Town, covering a total area of 55.08 square kilometers, including 16,121 mu of arable land. It administers 7 villages, 4 communities, and 2 neighborhood committees, with a total population of 61,300, including 23,256 agricultural residents. In 2008, its fiscal revenue was 38.83 million yuan, making it one of the economic hubs of Tongcheng City.

Wenchang boasts a concentration of cultural talent... [More detailed information about Wenchang Subdistrict]

Further reading:

· The Seventh Batch of Municipal-Level Cultural Relic Protection Units in Anqing City