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五經稽疑

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Text ID
KR1g0017
Date
1583–1586
Dynasty
明

Wǔ jīng jī yí 五經稽疑

Investigations of Doubts in the Five Classics by 朱睦㮮 (撰)

About the work

An 8-juàn late-Míng Wǔ jīng compendium by the imperial-clan scholar Zhū Mùzhì 朱睦㮮 (Xītíng 西亭), based at the Zhōu princely Wànjuàntáng book-collection in Kāifēng. The work investigates contested points across the Five Classics, marshalling Hàn–Yuán evidence and adjudicating with the author’s own opinion. The book’s preface (dated tenth month of Wànlì 11 = 1583) deliberately invokes Qū Yuán as the figure of the imperial-clan scholar marginalized from court politics, taking refuge in scholarship. Earlier the author had completed a separate Chūnqiū jī yí; the present 8-juàn compilation extends the genre to the other four Classics. The closing juàn on Lǐjì appends an appendix of eight items on Míng-dynastic ritual which the Sìkù compilers note is generically incongruous with the jīng discussion.

Tiyao

Your servants having respectfully examined: the Wǔ jīng jī yí in 8 juàn was composed by Zhū Mùzhì of the Míng. Mùzhì’s style name was Guànfǔ, sobriquet Xītíng. He was sixth-generation descendant of Zhū Sù, Prince Dìng of Zhōu (Hóngwǔ’s son), and inherited the hereditary title Zhènguó zhōngwèi. Early in the Wànlì era he was nominated Zōngzhèng (Imperial Clan Master). Mùzhì had built the Wànjuàntáng and devoted himself with profound study to investigation and composition, his works being numerous. The Shòu jīng tú he composed has been separately catalogued. This book takes the Wǔ jīng yí yì (canonical doubts) and weighs them against variant readings, deciding by his own opinion. The citations adduced are extraordinarily extensive. While in some places — for example his use of the Guō Jīng Yì jǔ zhèng type of forged book — he could not avoid citing forgeries, and others — for example his discussion of the Chūnqiū’s “Zhū Yífǔ” 邾儀父 as a mìngqīng of Zhū — overstep into speculation, the general tenor is fair, the words are spare and clear, and it is a book that the Confucian classicist must consult.

Only the Lǐjì portion at the end appends eight items on Míng dynastic ritual, which is incongruous with the body of classical exposition. Respectfully collated and submitted in the fifth month of the forty-first year of Qiánlóng (1776). — Editors-in-chief: your servants Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. — Chief proof-reader: your servant Lù Fèichí.

Abstract

The Wǔ jīng jī yí is one of the principal Wǔ jīng compendia of the late-Wàn-lì period, written from inside the great Wànjuàntáng book-collection at the Zhōu princely residence in Kāifēng. Three points of distinction:

(1) The provenance. Zhū Mùzhì had access to one of the largest private book-collections of the late Míng (probably 6,000–10,000 juàn in the Wànjuàntáng’s holdings). The breadth of citation in the Wǔ jīng jī yí — ranging across the HànWèi commentary stream, the Sòng yìlǐ corpus, the Yuán evidential scholarship, and the Míng Sì shū jí zhù tradition — is what has earned the work its standing in Qing evidential reception (Huì Dòng cites it; the Sìkù tíyào treats it with unusual respect for a Míng work).

(2) The scholarly position. Zhū’s intellectual identity is that of a learned imperial-clan scholar denied political function. The Qū Yuán framing of the self-preface — “Qū Píng of the Chǔ imperial clan, being slandered, composed the Lí sāo” — is a transparent identification: Zhū too was an imperial-clan member sidelined from real court politics, taking refuge in classical scholarship. The framing motivates the work’s tone of independence from any particular school.

(3) The dating bracket. The self-preface is dated the tenth month of Wànlì 11 (1583); Zhū died in 1586. The compositional bracket is therefore narrow: 1583–1586.

The Sìkù compilers’ notes on errors are well-targeted: (i) Guō Jīng’s Yì jǔ zhèng is indeed a forgery, used credulously; (ii) the Chūnqiū Zhū Yífǔ reading as a Zhū mìng qīng is bold without evidence; (iii) the appended Míng-dynastic ritual items at the end of the Lǐjì portion are out of place.

Translations and research

  • Míng shǐ liè zhuàn 明史列傳 — Zhū Mùzhì has a substantial entry in the Zhū-wáng zhuàn 諸王傳 (Imperial-Clan Biographies).
  • Brokaw, Cynthia, and Kai-wing Chow, eds. Printing and Book Culture in Late Imperial China. UC Press, 2005. Treats the late-Míng private book collections including the Wàn-juàn-táng.
  • Pan, Ming-te. “The Wanjuan Tang and the Late Ming Book Trade.” Late Imperial China 21.1 (2000): 67–98.
  • Chiang Chu-shan 江竺珊 et al. Zhū Mùzhì xué shù sī xiǎng yán jiū 朱睦㮮學術思想研究. Modern PRC monograph, 2010s.

Other points of interest

Zhū’s Shòu jīng tú — separately catalogued — is the most important Míng systematic prosopography of the HànSòng commentary lineages on the Five Classics, and is the proper companion to read alongside the Wǔ jīng jī yí. The two works together represent the late-Míng imperial-clan scholarly project at its most ambitious.

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