Píngjiāng jìshì 平江記事
Recorded Affairs of Píngjiāng (i.e. Sūzhōu) by 高德基 (Gāo Déjī, fl. mid-14th c.) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 1-juan late-Yuán bǐjì on Sūzhōu (Píngjiāng), composed in the Zhìzhèng era (1341–1367) by Gāo Déjī during or after his tenure as Jiàndélù zǒngguǎn. The work is one of the principal late-Yuán continuations of the Sūzhōu bǐjì tradition begun by Gōng Míngzhī’s ZhōngWú jìwén KR2k0114 and Lù Yǒu’s Wúzhōng jiùshì KR2k0122. It treats Sūzhōu antiquities (gǔjì) but also stories of immortals, ghosts, and folk humour. The work contains a notice on Yú Wénzhuàn 干文傳’s compilation of the Liáo, Jīn, and Sòng histories — placing the date of composition in or after the Zhìzhèng era. The Sìkù tíyào criticises some philological lapses (citing the tújīng on Yúshān as “Wū Xián’s residence” without recognising its source in the Yuèjué shū; citing the WúYuè chūnqiū “dàoxiè bù yí zhǒng” without recognising its source in the Chūnqiū wàizhuàn; treating “Sū” 蘇 as a corruption of “Xū” 胥, without recognising the ancient interchangeability of the two characters).
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Píngjiāng jìshì in one juan was composed by Gāo Déjī of Yuán. Déjī was a man of Píngjiāng; once held office as Jiàndélù zǒngguǎn. Within this work there is a notice on Yú Wénzhuàn’s repair of the Liáo, Jīn, and Sòng histories — therefore it must have been completed in the Zhìzhèng era.
What is recorded is all Wújùn antiquities, but also concerns immortals, ghosts-and-strange, jests-and-jokes, and lewd proverbs, useful for supplementing what is missing in the gazetteers. Among these there are unavoidable laxities and errors. For example, citing the Tújīng “Yúshān is Wū Xián’s residence” without recognising that this saying comes from the Yuèjué shū; citing the WúYuè chūnqiū “dàoxiè bù yí zhǒng” without recognising that the saying is from the Chūnqiū wàizhuàn; further, the characters xū 胥 and sū 蘇 were anciently used interchangeably, hence in the Guóyǔ and Shǐjì both write Gū Sū, but he treats it as a transcription error of later persons — all these are failures of kǎozhèng. But the order is detailed-and-rich; the matters are arranged orderly; what may be selected from it is much. It is also second-rank to Gōng Míngzhī’s ZhōngWú jìwén KR2k0114. Respectfully proof-read in the sixth month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778).
Director-General compilers (chén /) Jǐ Yún, (chén /) Lù Xīxióng, (chén /) Sūn Shìyì; Director-General proof-reader (chén /) Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Píngjiāng jìshì is a late-Yuán bǐjì on Sūzhōu (Píngjiāng), composed in the Zhìzhèng era (probably ca. 1340–1350) by Gāo Déjī 高德基 — a Píngjiāng native who held the post of Jiàndélù zǒngguǎn (Prefectural Administrator of Jiàndélù in modern Zhèjiāng). It is one of the principal late-Yuán continuations of the Sūzhōu bǐjì tradition initiated by Gōng Míngzhī KR2k0114 and continued by Lù Yǒurén KR2k0122.
The internal reference to Yú Wénzhuàn 干文傳’s compilation of the three Yuán-period dynastic histories (the Sòngshǐ presentation in 1345, the Liáo and Jīn having been completed in 1344) places the terminus post quem in the mid-1340s. The work treats Sūzhōu antiquities, immortals, ghost-stories, and folk humour, in the same blended bǐjì mode as its predecessors. Despite the philological criticisms by the Sìkù tíyào, the work is commended as a useful supplement to the local gazetteers and ranked as a yà (second-rank) successor to the ZhōngWú jìwén.
The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 590.7).
Translations and research
No comprehensive English translation. See Joseph McDermott, A Social History of the Chinese Book (HKU Press, 2006), and the relevant entries in Hervouet, ed., A Sung Bibliography. For Yuán Sū-zhōu literati culture see Sherman Lee, Chinese Art Under the Mongols (Cleveland, 1968).
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