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Zhou Bida
Southern Song chief councillor and writer who rose to Left Chief Councillor and oversaw printing of the Wenyuan Yinghua and Ouyang Xiu's collected works.
In a council hall, a long table holds an unrolled map scroll, a brass-cornered chest and a brush pot, with tall-backed chairs around it and a bronze lamp at the left; a figure stands with their back turned on the balcony at the right, with palace roofs beyond.
Also known as Zi Zichong · Hao Pingyuan Laosou
Zhou Bida, courtesy name Zichong and late sobriquet Pingyuan Laosou, came from Luling (modern Ji'an, Jiangxi) and was born in 1126. He took the jinshi in 1151, served as recorder at the Imperial University and drafting official, became Right Chief Councillor under Xiaozong, was promoted to Left Chief Councillor in 1189 and dismissed that summer, and retired in 1195. He died in 1204 with the posthumous name Wenzhong. He directed the printing of the Wenyuan Yinghua and the collected works of Ouyang Xiu, the latter a model of private publishing; his own writings were gathered as the Yiguo Zhou Wenzhong Gong Quanji.
Life and times
Dates 1126 CE–1204 CE