Eccentricity and Dissent: The Case of Kung Tzu-chen

-50ECCENTRICITY AND DISSENT: THE CASE OF KUNG TZU-CHEN Dorothy V. Borei Haverford College The tendency of traditional Chinese historiography to stereotype individuals according to certain familial and societal "roles" has hindered our appreciation of the diversity and complexity of China's past. Perhaps this is due as much to our own cultural shortsightedness as it is to the deficiencies inherent in the Chinese biographical approach. It may be that the significance some of these roles had for the historian has been overlooked. This would seem to be the case for the role of "eccentrics", those individuals whose behavior and/or thought were categorized as abnormal and unacceptable. Eccentricity connoted something more than simply odd behavior. Because unusual conduct and ideas constituted a threat to rigid social and ideological conventions, they were interpreted as forms of dissent. Eccentricity, like remonstrance and eremitism, may thus be decoded as one mode of protest. Eccentrics have appeared in various periods of Chinese history , particularly in times of serious crises. The most famous were the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove who revolted against the sterility and meanin^lessness of the mid-third century A.D. by Intentionally acting like "madmen." The Mad Ch' an philosophers o£ the late Ming, also noted for their unconventional behavior, have been characterized as iconoclastic in their approach to philosophy and as "zealous reformers." This same correlation between eccentricity and dissent is evident in the traditional biography and works of Kung Tzu-chen (1792-1841). This paper will attempt to explore the nature of Kung's eccentricity and the extent to which, it can be considered dissent in Ch'ing history. -51In many ways Kung Tzu-chen was an orthodox member of the Chinese elite. He was born in Hangchow, the cultural center of the Ch'ing, to a well-established family with connections among both the political and intellectual circles of Peking. In addition to his fame as a poet, Kung earned his chln-shih degree and served in the capital for some twenty years as a minor official. Yet both contemporaries and later historians 3 found him odd, irrational, even mad. Kung's eccentricity manifested itself in various forms—his personal behavior was erratic, his prose style was bizarre, his essays protested the sterile conventions and values of his day, and his classical studies deviated from the mainstream. An unusually short man with a misshapen head, Kung compensated for such physical deficiencies with a forceful personality. His artistic temperament accounts for some of his eccentricities, but political impotence was probably equally important in explaining his unconventional behavior and ideas. Despite his reputation as a poet, Kung remained until his death dissatisfied and frustrated by his failure to achieve a high position in the bureaucracy. He considered himself a superior man whose exceptional talents were unappreciated by his contemporaries. Ego and circus tsnccs thi.£ üli¿i.aíxd hin· îï'ûuî thé majority of officials whom he considered to be his intellectual inferiors. His activist spirit, unfulfilled in govsrnuerit service, found au outlet in eccentric behavior which not only attracted attention to himself but also to the evils of his day. Examples of the unconventionality of Kung's personality are found in 4 various collections of anecdotes. He took great pleasure in associating with all classes of society, becoming friends with nobles, eminent government officials, merchants, Buddhist priests, as ','ill as prostitutes. Ke was totally unconcerned with such social amenities as proper dress and -52cleanliness . When he felt tired, he would simply fall asleep in his court dress and cap. Several days would pass before he would remember to wash even his face. Frugality, one of the traditional Confucian virtues, was spurned by Kung who spent money carelessly and eventually bankrupted his family with his excessive gambling. Kung often acted irrationally. During a vieit to a Buddhist temple to pray for a son, he became delirious and imagined seeing a human form with dragon's head. Kung further refused to respect an individual simply on the basis of age and position. He was extremely critical of his uncle, who served as president of the Board of Rites from 1838 to 1844. In one instance Kung is reported to...