Liang official who served Emperor Yuan as Minister of Personnel, was taken to Northern Zhou after Jiangling fell, and wrote the Jingchu suishi ji on the seasonal customs of Jingchu.
Mural guide
In a study at night, a desk holds a brush pot, a porcelain vase with a plum branch, a lit red lantern, a folded fan and an unrolled blank scroll, with no one seated there, while through a round window the moon rises over a lake with a sailboat.
Zong Lin, courtesy name Yuanlin, came from Nieyang in Nanyang, though his family had lived in Jiangling for eight generations. Nominated xiucai in 525, he joined the staff of Xiao Yi, Prince of Xiangdong, as a secretary and later governed several counties. When Xiao Yi took the throne as Emperor Yuan of Liang, Zong rose to Minister of War and then Minister of Personnel and was made Marquis of Xin'an. After Western Wei took Jiangling in 554 he was carried to Guanzhong with Wang Bao; Northern Zhou gave him honorary generalship and set him to collate books in the Linzhi Hall, and he died in the Baoding era aged 64. His Jingchu suishi ji records the festivals and customs of the Jingchu region month by month, from New Year's Day to New Year's Eve; Du Gongzhan of Sui wrote its commentary.
Life and times
UnknownBornNorthern and Southernnominated xiucai in 525, died aged 64 in the Baoding era of Northern Zhou (561–565)
UnknownDied
Works
Literature · Prose1
Annual Customs of Jing-ChuNorthern and SouthernZong Lin's record of the festival year in Jing-Chu, with Du Gongzhan's Sui commentary
Records
Zong Lin Writes a Temple Stele Overnight
From Putong 6 of Liang (525)
In the sixth year of Putong of Liang (525) Zong Lin was recommended as a Flourishing Talent. Once, summoned to stay the night in the palace secretariat to compose the stele text for the Longchuan Temple, he finished it in a single night and presented it at dawn, and Emperor Yuan of Liang sighed in admiration. He left a collection in twenty scrolls.
When Emperor Yuan of Liang took the throne, Zong Lin was raised to Gentleman of the Secretariat and made Marquis of Xin'an with a thousand households. He rose through Director of Personnel and Minister of the Five Armies to Minister of Personnel, and after Emperor Min took the throne he was named General of Chariots and Cavalry with the rank of Equal to the Three Excellencies.