Zēngbǔ Wǔlín jiùshì 增補武林舊事
Supplemented Wǔlín jiùshì by 周密 (Zhōu Mì, 1232–1298, original) — zhuàn 撰; with supplements by 朱廷煥 (Zhū Tínghuàn, jìnshì 1634) — bǔ 補
About the work
A late-Míng 8-juan supplemented edition of Zhōu Mì’s KR2k0119 Wǔlín jiùshì, expanded by Zhū Tínghuàn 朱廷煥 (zì Zhōngbái 中白, native of Shànxiàn 單縣 in Shāndōng, Chóngzhēn jiǎxū / 1634 jìnshì) during his service as Gōngbù zhǔshì in charge of the Hángzhōu transit-tax station. Zhū took Zhōu Mì’s 6-juan recension of the Wǔlín jiùshì and supplemented it with material drawn from the Xīhú zhì, the Hèlín yùlù of Luó Dàjīng, the Róngzhāi suíbǐ of Hóng Mài, the Chuōgēng lù of Táo Zōngyí, and Zhōu Mì’s own Guǐxīn záshí — adding 154 new entries and re-organising the material into 8 juan. The Sìkù tíyào notes that Zhū’s preface claims “several dozen” supplementary entries, but the actual count is 154 — presumably “100” has been lost from the preface text.
The Sìkù copy is preceded by an imperial title-poem (yùzhì shī) by the Qiánlóng emperor, mocking the late-Sòng court’s celebration of West-Lake prosperity at a time when (1162 onwards) the Sòng emperor was a “nephew” to the Jīn court and Huīzōng’s coffin had not been returned from the Wǔguó chéng. The Qiánlóng prologue accuses both the original work and Zhū’s supplementation of complacent celebration in defiance of the actual historical situation.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Zēngbǔ Wǔlín jiùshì in eight juan was edited by Zhū Tínghuàn of Míng. Zhōu Mì of Sòng formerly recorded the institutions, customs, and entertainments of 150-some years after the Crossing-South into a book named Wǔlín jiùshì. Tínghuàn, on the basis of Mì’s old text, further selected from the Xīhú zhì, the Hèlín yùlù, the Róngzhāi suíbǐ, the Chuōgēng lù, and Mì’s own Guǐxīn záshí, and made supplementary additions, dividing into eight juan. The autograph preface says he supplemented “several dozen” items; presently the work supplements 154 items in all, not matching the preface’s number — presumably the preface has dropped the character “bǎi èr” (one hundred and twenty-some).
The work’s organising principle is rather diffusive; it does not match the precision and elegant orderliness of Zhōu Mì’s original. But on lost Sòng-period Línān events, it gathers without omission, and is rather useful as ancillary to those investigating antiquity. Mì, as a Sòng loyalist, was driven by feeling for prosperity-and-decline, mostly modelled on Mèng Yuánlǎo’s Dōngjīng mènghuá lù; but Tínghuàn focuses exclusively on collecting old facts, picking up what is missing — taking it as a dìzhì (gazetteer)-supplement, similar to Lǐ Lián’s Biànjīng yíjì zhì. Although it bears the name of “supplementary editing,” its underlying purpose differs. We therefore record both [the original Wǔlín jiùshì and this supplemented edition] in our catalogue, to provide for cross-reference. Tínghuàn, zì Zhōngbái, native of Shànxiàn, Chóngzhēn jiǎxū jìnshì. When he made this work, he was Gōngbù zhǔshì in charge of the Hángzhōu transit station. Respectfully proof-read in the eighth month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777).
(Zhū Tínghuàn’s autograph preface notes that the Sìshuǐ qiánfū — under whose pen-name Zhōu Mì originally circulated the Wǔlín jiùshì — was identified by Láng Rénbǎo 郎仁寶 with the Cǎochuāng of the Guǐxīn záshí, i.e. with Zhōu Mì himself; Zhū therefore restored Zhōu’s name on the title-page rather than allow it to remain anonymous.)
Abstract
The Zēngbǔ Wǔlín jiùshì is a late-Míng (early-Chóngzhēn) supplemented edition of Zhōu Mì’s Wǔlín jiùshì KR2k0119, compiled by Zhū Tínghuàn 朱廷煥 (zì Zhōngbái 中白; Chóngzhēn jiǎxū = 1634 jìnshì; native of Shànxiàn 單縣 in Shāndōng) during his service as a Ministry-of-Works officer in charge of the Hángzhōu transit-tax station, ca. 1634–1644. The work expands Zhōu Mì’s six-juan recension to eight juan, adding 154 entries drawn from the Xīhú zhì, the Hèlín yùlù of Luó Dàjīng, the Róngzhāi suíbǐ of Hóng Mài, the Chuōgēng lù of Táo Zōngyí, and Zhōu Mì’s own Guǐxīn záshí.
The Sìkù tíyào notes that Zhū’s compilation differs in spirit from Zhōu Mì’s original: Zhōu, as a Sòng loyalist, wrote in elegiac mode; Zhū wrote as a Míng official compiling a gazetteer-supplement, comparable to Lǐ Lián 李濂’s Biànjīng yíjì zhì on Kāifēng. The Qiánlóng emperor’s prefatory poem (yùzhì shī) sharply criticises both the original and the supplemented edition for their tone of urban self-celebration in disregard of the late-Sòng strategic position.
The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 590.4) as a separate item from the original Wǔlín jiùshì KR2k0119, and is principally valuable for the supplementary 154 entries — which preserve material from the Xīhú zhì, the Hèlín yùlù, and the Róngzhāi suíbǐ on Sòng-period Hángzhōu that supplements the original Wǔlín jiùshì.
Translations and research
No comprehensive English translation. The work is regularly cited in studies of Hángzhōu historical topography and the late-Míng compilation tradition. See Joseph McDermott, A Social History of the Chinese Book (HKU Press, 2006). For the Hángzhōu sub-genre see Stephen H. West, “The Interpretation of a Dream,” T’oung Pao 71 (1985): 63–108.
Other points of interest
The Qiánlóng emperor’s yùzhì prefatory poems to Dūchéng jìshèng KR2k0117, Wǔlín jiùshì KR2k0119, and the present Zēngbǔ Wǔlín jiùshì together form a small late-eighteenth-century imperial commentary on the moral failure of Sòng strategic complacency — read by the Qīng court as a cautionary precedent.
Links
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14953093 (Zhōu Mì)
- West, T’oung Pao 71 (1985)