Former Residence of Fang Yizhi

　　Fang Yizhi (1611–1671), courtesy name Mizi, art names Manyong and Longmian Yuzhe; Buddhist name Hongzhi, also known as Wuke. He was a celebrated philosopher, scientist, and writer of the late Ming period. A literary prodigy who could compose essays at the age of nine and authored tens of thousands of words by twenty, he built friendships through literary gatherings with figures such as Chen Zhenhui, Hou Fangyu, and Mao Xiang, engaging in political discourse and literary criticism. Together, they were known as the “Four Eminent Gentlemen of the Late Ming.” In the 13th year of the Chongzhen reign (1640), he passed the imperial examination and was appointed as a reviser in the Hanlin Academy. He had access to the imperial court and studied extensively from the imperial archives, often discussing medicine and astronomy with the Jesuit missionary Johann Adam Schall von Bell. Later, he withdrew from official life, became a monk, traveled across the country, wrote extensively, devoted himself to calligraphy and painting, and found joy in landscapes and nature. In March of the 10th year of the Kangxi reign (1671), he was arrested due to the “Guangdong Incident.” On October 7, 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 philosophy, literature, calligraphy and painting, phonology, astronomy, geography, music theory, medicine, physics, and more. He was the first in Chinese history to categorize knowledge into three major domains: natural sciences (physics), social sciences (political science), and philosophy (the ultimate principles of things). Philosophically, he proposed the idea that “time (zhou) revolves within space (yu).” He was the first to put forth 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 metaphysics within empirical studies.” His experiments in light dispersion predated Newton’s work by over 30 years. In literature, he advocated grounding writing in the classics, refining essentials through history, honing rhetoric with the Han style, and analyzing reasoning with Song scholarship, exerting some influence on the later formation of Tongcheng School prose theory. He authored over fifty works totaling more than a million characters, including Tongya, Qieyun Yuanliu, Fushan Wenji Qianhoubian, Wuyan Gushi, Yixue Gangzong, Zhuzi Panyou, Wuli Xiaoshi, and Yaodi Baoguang.

　　The former residence of Fang Yizhi, originally named Tingwei Mansion. During the transition from the Song to the Yuan dynasties, Fang Yizhi’s earliest ancestor, Fang Deyi, moved from Xiuning and Chikou to Tongcheng. By the sixth generation, Fang Zimian rose to prominence, with many descendants becoming jinshi (successful imperial examination candidates), earning the gate plaque “Guilin” bestowed by the censor Wang Rui, thus giving rise to the Guilin Fang clan of Tongcheng. Fang Yizhi was the 14th-generation descendant of the Guilin Fangs. 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 teaching in Tongcheng, and was respectfully called Master Mingshan by students. His grandfather, Fang Dazhen, achieved jinshi status in the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, served as an imperial censor in the capital region, president of the Court of Judicial Review, and director of the Ministry of Revenue, and constructed Tingwei Mansion in Fengyi Li within the city (now the site). His father, Fang Kongxian, was a noted scholar-official. As recorded in the biography of Fang Kongxian in the book Fang Yizhi Chuan written by Ren Daobin: “In the 49th year of the Wanli reign (1611), the master was born. On the 26th day of the tenth month of that year, Mizi was born in Tingwei Mansion, Tongcheng, Anhui. At the time, his great-grandfather, Master Mingshan, was still alive and named him Donglin. The master’s father, Zhenxu (Kongxian), wrote in the preface to the Dingyou edition: ‘A child of noble spirit, with bright eyes and red cheeks, full of vitality and intelligence.’ In the 7th year of the Tianqi reign (1627), when Fang Yizhi was seven, he left his hometown for the first time, ‘following his father through the mountain passes and seeing Mount Emei’ (as recorded in the Chronicle of Fang Yizhi compiled by Ren Daobin, and similarly below). In the 2nd year of the Tianqi reign, the renxu year (1622), on September 11, Fang Yizhi’s mother, Wu Lingyi, passed away. His second aunt, Fang Weiyi, took him back to their native place and carefully raised and educated him for eight years. In the 3rd year of the Tianqi reign, 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 rivers. At the age of twenty, he compiled what he had learned and completed the manuscript of Wuli Xiaoshi at his hometown residence. He wrote Wei Yangxiong yu Huan Tan Shu at Ze Garden. At the age of twenty-three, he compiled various essays including Ni Qiu Xian Zhao, Ni Shang Qiu Zhi Shu, Wenlun, Jieke Fu, and Jiujiang into the first collection of Jigutang Chuji, which he submitted to He Ruochong and Chen Renxi for review, receiving prefaces from both elders. In the autumn of the same year, he left his hometown, took the metropolitan examination in Nanjing, led the Guangye Society in Jinling, and made literary friends. Later, he resided in Nanjing, wandered through Lingnan, secluded himself in Nanjing, stayed at the tomb site in Heshan, practiced Zen in Jiangxi — at Qingyuan Mountain — and passed away at Huangkong Shoal in Wan’an. During this time, he returned to his hometown several times. Amid his travels, he often expressed nostalgia for home.

　　Tingwei Mansion, also known as Yuanshin Hall, is today’s Xiaosa Garden. According to the “Yiwen Zhi · Fang Mizi Xiansheng Nianpu”: “In the 25th year of the Kangxi reign, the bingyin year (1686), a fire destroyed the Yuanshin Hall library building, which was later restored by Yuanshuai (Zhengyuan).”

　　Fang Zhengyuan, the grandson of Fang Yizhi and son of Fang Zhonglu, was a successful candidate in the provincial imperial examinations of the Kangxi reign and once served as an official in Tongshang Dao, Shaanxi. Disillusioned with officialdom, he indulged in landscapes and lived an unrestrained life, earning the nickname “the Unrestrained Gentleman,” and referred to his residence as “Xiaosa Garden.” Yao Yuanzhi, a local grand coordinator, once composed a couplet for Xiaosa Garden: “Fish fly and kites soar above the Painted Yard Official; waters stand and mountains flow like the Grand Historian.” In the 7th year of the Guangxu reign (1881), Peng Yulin of the Qing Dynasty inscribed a horizontal plaque reading “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 Neighborhood Committee, “situated among the alleys of Sisih Xinxiang.” It stretches 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 surviving rows of buildings, with the western wing consisting of east-west oriented units. The structure features a wooden frame with raised beams. The northern two rows face each other across a courtyard, each with eight bays, each bay 7 meters long and 3.8 meters wide, covering 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 lies 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)　　Fang Yizhi (1611–1671), courtesy name Mizi, art names Manyong and Fushan Yuzhe; after becoming a monk, his dharma name was Hongzhi, also known as Wuke, Yaodi, Fulu, and Molü. A native of Lüzhuang in present-day Fushan Town. Born into an official family, his grandfather Fang Dazhen and father Fang Kongxian were both well-versed in the “principles of things” and knowledgeable in medicine, geography, and military affairs, all of which had considerable influence on Fang Yizhi. Fang Yizhi showed exceptional intelligence from childhood, was diligent and inquisitive, could write at age nine, read extensively by fifteen, and began authoring works by twenty-two. He was described as “following in the footsteps of the Donglin Party” and “leading the Fu She...” More+