Fang Bao

Fang Bao (Chinese: 方苞; pinyin: Fāng Bāo; Wade–Giles: Fang Pao; 25 May 1668 – 29 September 1749), courtesy names Fengjiu (鳳九), Linggao (靈皋), and Wangxi (望溪), was a Chinese nobleman, courtier, orator, philosopher, poet, scholar, author and government official in the service of the Qing dynasty. He is best known as an icon of the Tongcheng school of literary prose which was influential during the mid-Qing dynasty.

Fang Bao was born in Tongcheng, Zongyang County, Anhui Province in 1668 during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor. He was the second son in a family of the Qing nobility with landed interests at Jiangning, Liuhe County and at Tongcheng, an area in the southern vicinity of Nanjing.

His father was Fang Zhongshu (方仲舒), an imperial official and second son of Fang's grandfather. His paternal grandfather was Fang Zhi (方帜), a Xinghua County didactic and noted scholar of the Wuhe discipline. Fang Bao was the middle son of three boys, his elder brother was Fang Zhou (方舟; 1665-1701), a scholar of the Five Classics, and his younger brother was Fang Lin (方林).

At the time of Fang Bao's birth, the Kangxi Emperor had not yet fully assumed power and the real dominance over the throne was in the hands of two of the Four Regents, Ebilun and Oboi. In 1669, as the Kangxi Emperor consolidated power, Oboi was also brought up on imperial charges and put to death.

Fang Bao studied literature at a school which followed the teachings of Gui Youguang. He would go on to invent the concept of Yi Fa where Yi refers to the ideas or concept of an article and Fa to the structure and literary form. This concept is considered one of the basic theories of the Tongcheng School form of writing, which gained its name due to Tongcheng being Fang Bao's hometown.

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