Hóngwǔ zhèngyùn 洪武正韻
The Hóng-wǔ Standardised Rhymes by 樂韶鳳 (Yuè Sháofèng, Hànlín shìjiǎng xuéshì) and 宋濂 (Sòng Lián, 1310–1381, dàizhì) et al., on imperial command of Tàizǔ Zhū Yuánzhāng, Hóngwǔ 8 (1375)
About the work
The official rhyme-book of the Míng dynasty — and the only major rhyme-book that systematically attempted to replace the inherited Qièyùn / Guǎngyùn / Lǐbù yùnlüè tradition with a “Central Plain” (Zhōngyuán) phonological standard. 16 juàn; commissioned by Zhū Yuánzhāng on internal review of received rhyme-books and compiled in the Hànlínyuàn under Yuè Sháofèng 樂韶鳳 and Sòng Lián, with Wáng Sǎn 王僎, Lǐ Shūyǔn 李叔允, Zhū Yòu 朱右, Zhào Xūn 趙壎, Zhū Lián 朱亷, Qú Zhuāng 瞿莊, Zōu Mèngdá 鄒孟達, Sūn Bēn 孫蕡, Dálùyǔquán 荅祿與權 as compilers; Wāng Guǎngyáng, Chén Níng, Liú Jī 劉基, Táo Kǎi 陶凱 as evaluators. Reduces 206 → 76 rhymes (22 píng + 22 shǎng + 22 qù + 10 rù), discarding the píngshàngqù / rù parallelism of the Qièyùn tradition. The gloss-text follows Máo Huǎng’s 毛晃 Zēngyùn KR1j0061 as base. The book’s polemic — set out in Sòng Lián’s preface — vilifies Shěn Yuē 沈約 (Liáng dynasty, 4th–5th c.) as the originator of “Wú dialect rhymes” (Wúyīn) and identifies the Zhōngyuán sound as the proper standard. The Sìkù tíyào finds the polemic riddled with errors of fact (notably: Lù Fǎyán’s 陸法言 Qièyùn — not Shěn Yuē — is the actual ancestor of the rhyme-book tradition, and even Lù’s preface explicitly criticises Wú dialect; Sòng Lián must have known this) and judges Sòng Lián guilty of qūxué ēshì 曲學阿世 (twisting scholarship to flatter the throne). The book itself was issued by imperial command but never adopted in actual examination practice — a fact recorded in Lǐ Dōngyáng’s Huáilùtáng shīhuà and Zhōu Bīn’s Suǒshí biān. In Hóngwǔ 23 (1390) the emperor recognised the book’s defects and commissioned a re-collation by Liú Sānwú 劉三吾, who took Sūn Wúyǔ 孫吾與’s Yuán Yùnhuì zhèngyīn as base and presented it as Hóngwǔ tōngyùn 洪武通韻 — but this revision is now lost.
Tiyao
The Hóngwǔ zhèngyùn in 16 juàn. Composed by imperial command in Hóngwǔ. The participating compilers were Hànlín shìjiǎng xuéshì Yuè Sháofèng, Sòng Lián; dàizhì Wáng Sǎn; xiūzhuàn Lǐ Shūyǔn; biānxiū Zhū Yòu, Zhào Xūn, Zhū Lián; diǎnbù Qú Zhuāng, Zōu Mèngdá; diǎnjí Sūn Bēn, Dálùyǔquán. Evaluators: Zuǒ Yúshǐdàfū Wāng Guǎngyáng, Yòu Yúshǐdàfū Chén Níng, Yúshǐ zhōngchéng Liú Jī, Húguǎng xíngshěng cānzhī zhèngshì Táo Kǎi. Completed Hóngwǔ 8 (1375). Sòng Lián by imperial command wrote the preface, the gist of which is to vilify Shěn Yuē as Wú dialect, and to use Zhōngyuán rhymes to correct his errors; píng / shàng / qù tones each in 22 bù; rù in 10 bù; the inherited 206 rhymes thereby reduced to 76. The gloss text takes Máo Huǎng’s Zēngyùn as base, with selected additions and deletions from other sources. Henceforth the rhyme-book undergoes a great transformation. — Examining the Suíshū jīngjízhì: Shěn Yuē’s Sìshēng in 1 juàn — the new and old Tángshū both fail to record — i.e., the book had already been lost in the Táng. Lù Fǎyán’s Qièyùn xù was written Suí Wéndì Rénshòu 1 (601), but his book began under Kāihuáng (581). The rhyme-books Lù lists are six: Lǚ Jìng, Xiàhóu Gāi, Yáng Xiūzhī, Zhōu Sīyán, Lǐ Jìjié, Dù Táiqīng — Shěn Yuē is entirely absent — i.e., Shěn’s book was already not current in the North in Suí. Examining Shěn Yuē’s surviving poems: across the 57 píngshàng rhymes, 東 / 冬 / 鍾 are tōng; 魚 / 虞 / 模 are tōng; 庚 / 耕 / 清 / 青 are tōng; 蒸 / 登 each stand alone — entirely different from the modern rhyme-book. The 12 corresponding non-píng rhymes also align. Likewise Bāyǒng poem rhymes 葦 in 微 — agreeing with Chén Xièjiào’s reading recorded in the Jīngdiǎn shìwén; Liáng dàzhuàng wǔgē rhymes 震 in 真 — agreeing with the Hànshū xùzhuàn; Zǎofā Dìngshān shī rhymes 山 in 先, Jūnzǐ yǒu suǒ sī xíng rhymes 軒 in 先 — agreeing with Liáng Wǔdì and Jiāng Yān; Guānwén zhùwén rhymes 化 in 麻 — agreeing with the HòuHànshū Féngyǎn zhuàn — none of which match the modern rhyme-book’s coverage. So Sòng Lián’s preface — labelling everything from Lù Fǎyán onward as “Shěn Yuē’s” — is a serious error. Lù Fǎyán’s Qièyùn xù itself says: “In Kāihuáng’s beginning, yítóng Liú Zhēn et al. eight came to my house, discussing rhymes…”, noting that “WúChǔ rhyme is too light, YānZhào too heavy, QínLǒng makes qù into rù, LiángYì makes píng into qù, Jiāngdōng’s rhymes differ from Héběi’s” — already harshly critical of Wú dialect. How could it be re-labelled “Wú dialect”! Down to Táng Lǐ Pèi’s superficial Kānwù, with its undisciplined polemic — sheer slander. Sòng Lián, called a venerable scholar in early Míng, should not have perpetuated this error to such an extent. — Apparently the founder wished to remake the rhyme-book; if not by falsely incriminating the ancients, there would be no name under which to change it; Sòng Lián then twisted the scholarship to flatter the throne — manhandling the source-evidence. But the source-history of antiquity stands clear: how can later generations be made blind to it? — Looking at the Guǎngyùn píngshēng 3 zhōng part, under 恭 the gloss says: “Lù [Fǎyán] put 恭 / 蜙 / 縱 in the dōng rhyme — wrong” — i.e., the ancients had already corrected this mis-pairing. Likewise the shǎngshēng 2 zhǒng part under 湩, the gloss says “this is the shàngshēng of dōng — but the dōng part has only this one shǎngshēng graph and cannot constitute its own rhyme, so it is included under zhǒng — but distinguished by gloss to avoid confusion” — the ancients’ analytical care reaches here. Sòng Lián however, by private impulse, brutalised this — defiantly — is this not perversity? — Lǐ Dōngyáng’s Huáilùtáng shīhuà records: in early Míng, Gù Lù 顧禄 wrote palace-poems for which someone urged action; the court then meant to punish him; but on examining the poems, they used the Hóngwǔ zhèngyùn — and were therefore released. This was during the early issuance of the book, when promoting it was urgent. Yet through the rest of the Míng the book never won general adoption — i.e., the right-and-wrong instinct is not finally to be coerced. Zhōu Bīn’s Suǒshí biān records: in Hóngwǔ 23 (1390) the Zhèngyùn had been promulgated for some time; the emperor finding the readings still many of them not right, commanded the court scholars to re-collate. Xuéshì Liú Sānwú said: “Of all rhyme-books, only the late-Yuán Guózǐjiàn shēng Sūn Wúyǔ’s Yùnhuì zhèngyīn unifies the readings — this can be circulated.” So that book was presented; the emperor approved, re-titled it Hóngwǔ tōngyùn, and ordered its publication — but it does not survive. So the founder himself recognised the original was unsatisfactory. The book in itself does not deserve recording — but as a one-dynasty tóngwén (uniform-script) project, omitting it would leave the rhyme-history incomplete; just as institutional histories of past dynasties record even bad regulations into the record, so too here. Presented Qiánlóng 46 / 10 / 12 (1781). General Editors Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Hóngwǔ zhèngyùn (1375) is the official rhyme-book of the Míng dynasty and the most ambitious imperial attempt to replace the inherited Qièyùn tradition with a Zhōngyuán (Central-Plain) phonological standard. The work is part of the early-Míng tóngwén (uniform-script) project: Zhū Yuánzhāng’s broader effort to standardise script, gloss, and rhyme on northern phonology after the Mongol-Yuán interregnum. The collaborative compilation involved Yuè Sháofèng 樂韶鳳 and Sòng Lián 宋濂 as principals, with c. 10 compilers and 4 evaluators. The Sìkù tíyào — written under the Sìkù compilers’ anti-Míng program — gives the work a particularly hostile review, exposing in detail Sòng Lián’s mis-attribution of the rhyme-book tradition to Shěn Yuē rather than to Lù Fǎyán 陸法言, on the basis of straightforward textual evidence. The book never won general adoption; even the founder commissioned a re-collation in 1390 (the lost Hóngwǔ tōngyùn) on Liú Sānwú’s recommendation, taking Sūn Wúyǔ’s late-Yuán Yùnhuì zhèngyīn as base. notBefore = notAfter = 1375. Modern phonology (Yáng Yàoshēn 楊耀深 1957, Lǐ Sījìng 李思敬 1986) treats the Zhèngyùn as a primary source for early-Míng northern phonology, marking the transition from Late Middle Chinese to Early Mandarin.
Translations and research
- Yáng Yào-shēn 楊耀深. 1957. Hóng-wǔ zhèng-yùn yán-jiū 洪武正韻研究. — Standard tradition history.
- Coblin, W. South. 2000. “A Brief History of Mandarin.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 120.4: 537–552. — Treats the Zhèng-yùn as a primary witness for early-Míng phonology.
- Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1991. Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation in Early Middle Chinese, Late Middle Chinese, and Early Mandarin. Vancouver: UBC.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù tíyào’s extended polemic against Sòng Lián’s preface — accusing him of qūxué ēshì (twisting scholarship to flatter the throne) — is a striking case where the Sìkù compilers, themselves working under Qiánlóng patronage, explicitly criticise an earlier dynasty’s imperial scholarly project for the same fault. The implicit irony is unmistakable.