Wúzhōng jiùshì 吳中舊事
Old Affairs of Wúzhōng (i.e. Sūzhōu) by 陸友仁 (Lù Yǒurén, fl. 1330–1338) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 1-juan Yuán-period anecdotal-topographical bǐjì on Sūzhōu (Wúzhōng), composed by Lù Yǒurén 陸友仁 (zì Fǔzhī 輔之, native of Píngjiāng) — better known under his shorter name Lù Yǒu 陸友, the YuánYuántǒng / Zhìzhèng era bibliophile, art-historian, and jīnshí scholar, friend of Kē Jiǔsī 柯九思 and Wú Quánjié 吳權節, and author of the Mò shǐ 墨史 KR3j0034 (treatise on ink). The work supplements the local dìzhì (gazetteer) tradition with material drawn from oral tradition and stray written sources, in xiǎoshuō-school bǐjì mode. Notable entries include philological discussions of the names “Wúhuì” 吳會 and “Wúxià” 吳下, the location of Lù Zhì’s 陸贄 tomb, the Zhāng Hàn residence, the Hélìngfāng, and the Gāo Biāo bēi. Important records on the Sòng officials Chén Chángfāng and Pān Duì, and on the notorious flower-and-stone-collector Zhū Miǎn 朱勔 (Sòng Huīzōng’s favourite). The Sìkù tíyào notes one error in the work — the Lùyuàntái míngjì claims a stele of Yǒnghé 7 (351) was inscribed by Lù Jī 陸機 with calligraphy by Wáng Xīzhī, but Lù Jī died in 303 and Wáng Xīzhī was born ca. 303 — a chronological impossibility.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Wúzhōng jiùshì in one juan was composed by Lù Yǒurén of Yuán. Yǒurén, zì Fǔzhī, native of Píngjiāng. This work records the lost reports and old traces of his region, to supplement the gazetteer’s lacunae; its format is that of the xiǎoshuō school. Such items as: distinguishing the names Wúhuì and Wúxià; the tomb of Lù Zhì; Zhāng Hàn’s residence; Hélìngfāng; the Gāo Biāo bēi — all are useful for kǎozhèng. The records of Chén Chángfāng and Pān Duì’s affairs, and of Zhū Miǎn’s affairs, also serve to provide cautionary models. As for items like Fàn Chúnyòu’s affair and Mùróng Yánqīng’s affair — they are rather unorthodox; the Lǐ Zhāng affair is also rather sordid; but zájì writings recording supernatural strangeness for laughter-and-amusement was already so from the Táng — not something for which one should reproach Yǒurén.
Only the recorded Lùyuàntái míngjì says: “Yǒnghé 7 (351) Lù Jī erected the stele, calligraphy by Wáng Xīzhī” — but the two persons in time do not even meet — this is rather a failure of kǎozhèng. This work’s printed edition has many corruptions; we have used the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn citations to cross-verify and supply corrections. As one variety of Yuán-period shuōbù literature, although the volume is not large, it is essentially distinct from baseless tales. Respectfully proof-read in the ninth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Director-General compilers (chén /) Jǐ Yún, (chén /) Lù Xīxióng, (chén /) Sūn Shìyì; Director-General proof-reader (chén /) Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Wúzhōng jiùshì is one of the principal Yuán-period anecdotal-historical bǐjì on Sūzhōu, composed by Lù Yǒurén 陸友仁 (CBDB 108389; better known as Lù Yǒu 陸友, zì Fǔzhī 輔之, native of Sūzhōu / Píngjiāng) — the Yuántǒng / Zhìzhèng era (ca. 1333–1340) bibliophile, art-historian, and jīnshí-and-ink scholar, friend of Kē Jiǔsī 柯九思, Wú Quánjié 吳權節, and other major figures of the late-Yuán Sūzhōu literati. Lù is also the author of the influential Mò shǐ 墨史 KR3j0034 (treatise on Chinese ink), the Yánběi zázhì 研北雜志 (KR3j0021?), and several other important Yuán-period works. He died young; his biography is in Yuánshǐ 199.
The work supplements the Sūzhōu dìzhì tradition with anecdotes, philological clarifications, and topographical notices that the gazetteers had omitted, in the same pre-existing bǐjì tradition that produced Gōng Míngzhī’s ZhōngWú jìwén KR2k0114. It is principally valuable for: (i) the philological discussions of Wú regional toponyms (Wúhuì, Wúxià); (ii) the topographical entries on Lù Zhì’s tomb, Zhāng Hàn’s residence, and the Hélìngfāng district; (iii) the moral-historical notices on Chén Chángfāng, Pān Duì, and Zhū Miǎn — the last especially valuable as a Sūzhōu local memory of the SòngHuīzōng era flower-and-stone confiscation campaigns; (iv) the Sìkù-flagged chronological error in the Lùyuàntái míngjì (assigning calligraphy by Wáng Xīzhī to a stele erected by the long-dead Lù Jī).
The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 590.6) on the basis of the printed text cross-collated with the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn citations.
Translations and research
No comprehensive English translation. See Joseph McDermott, A Social History of the Chinese Book (HKU Press, 2006), and the entry on Lù Yǒu in Yuán-rén zhuàn-jì zī-liào suǒyǐn. For the broader context of Yuán Sū-zhōu literati culture see Sherman Lee, Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368) (Cleveland, 1968).
Links
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11228107 (Lù Yǒu)