Zhao Mingcheng

Zhao Mingcheng (1081-1129), an outstand antiquarian, with courtesy name of Depu, was born in Mizhou (today`s Zhucheng) in Song Dynasty. His father, Zhao Tingzhi, was a vice minister in Ministry for Personnel. In the 4th year of Chongning, his mother, with surname of Guo, was born in Yidu (Qing Zhou). Zhao Mingcheng was a student in the Imperial Academy. Before marriage, he had showed his great interest in collecting antiquities. After marrying Li Qingzhao, they once lived in Qingzhou for more than ten years. During this time, Li Qingzhao had written a lot of well-known literary works. With the increase of their collection of antiques, they had to buy big shelves, and build storage rooms. They sorted out the pieces and put them into 10 big rooms. They often spent the whole night examining and researching. Finally in 1117, with the help of Li, Zhao Mingcheng completed the first draft of Jin Shi Lu (Record of Metal and Stone). The 30-volume tome included 2,000 rubbings of inscriptions Zhao had copied and 500 essays, with the preface written by Liu Zhi. Li Qingzhao was very satisfied with this period of life, and ``she would have been glad to grow old in such a world``. She called her room as ``Yi`an Room``, with the meaning of easy and relaxing living, and called herself as ``Yi`an Jushi``. They called the room where they used to store the books and study as ``Returning Room``. Li had someone draw a portrait of her and put it in the room. Zhao Mingcheng wrote a poem on it, ``Outstanding in ci, praiseworthy in virtue. Leaving and returning, nothing better than living with her``. In 1120, Zhao Mingcheng was posted to Laizhou by the imperial court. In 1126, the Tartars, or Jin, invaded the Northern Song region of China. As the fighting reached the Shandong province, Li and Zhao were forced to flee their home, knowing they could not take all of their vast collection of antiquities with them. A lot of their items were burned. In 1129, Zhao received an assignment to govern the city of Hu Zhou. But on the trip for his new post, he took ill very suddenly and died in JianKang (today`s Nanjing) on 18th August.