Dōngchéng zájì 東城雜記
Miscellaneous Notes on the Eastern City (of Hángzhōu) by 厲鶚 (Lì È, 1692–1752) — zhuàn 撰
(Catalog meta gives the surname-name as 厲鄂 — a transcription error for 厲鶚, as confirmed by the Sìkù tíyào, the autograph preface, and CBDB id 33481.)
About the work
A 2-juan early-Qīng bǐjì on the Dōngyuán 東園 quarter east of Hángzhōu’s city wall — the Sòng-period imperial Dōngyuán recorded in Sòngshǐ — composed in Yōngzhèng 6 (1728) by Lì È during his life-long residence in this neighbourhood. Recorded in 85 entries divided across upper and lower juan; mostly elegantly brief, with substantial kǎozhèng on Sòng-period sites of the area, such as the Jiǔgōng guìshén tán (the Nine-Palace Honoured-Spirit altar), Hóngtíng cùkù (the Red Pavilion vinegar warehouse), the Gāoyún gé, the Lánjú cǎotáng, the Zhúshēn tíng, and the Cíyún sì jiànshí míng (Sòng stele inscription on the Sword Stone at the Cíyún Monastery) — all of which are not detailed in the Zhèjiāng tōngzhì or in any of the Wǔlín (Hángzhōu) gazetteers. The work also gives short biographies of “Guànyuán shēng” 灌園生 and others, providing reference material for future gazetteer-compilers.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Dōngchéng zájì in two juan is by Lì È of our state. È’s Liáo shǐ shíyí has already been catalogued. East of the Hángzhōu city is a place called Dōngyuán — the old garden of the Sòng; the name is in the Sòngshǐ. È’s family resided here. To investigate the village’s old reports and bequeathed events not reached by the yújì — 85 items in all — he arranged them into upper and lower juan. Generally brief on antiquity but detailed on the present.
But the items he records on the Jiǔgōng guìshén tán, Hóngtíng cùkù and the like are rather typical-and-substantive. Further, his record of the Gāoyún gé, Lánjú cǎotáng, Zhúshēn tíng, and among jīnshí the Cíyún sì Sòngkè jiànshí míng — these are old traces not detailed in the Zhèjiāng tōngzhì and the various Wǔlín gazetteers. Others such as Guànyuán shēng — the various persons all have small biographies appended, so that future gazetteer-compilers have material to draw on; his diligence may indeed be called diligent.
È was always broadly read and skilled in poetry-and-cí; therefore although this work is a corner-record, the narration is dignified-and-elegant; bīnbīn hū yǒu gǔfēng yān (it has the bearing of an ancient style). Respectfully proof-read in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
(Lì È’s autograph preface dates the work to Yōngzhèng liùnián chūn sānyuè shíyǒuèrrì — i.e. 12 March 1728. Signed Fánxiè shānmín Lì È on the Yěrénzhōu.)
Abstract
The Dōngchéng zájì is one of the most highly regarded Qīng bǐjì on a single Hángzhōu neighbourhood, by the great early-Qīng poet, cí-anthologist, and philologist Lì È 厲鶚 (1692–1752; CBDB 33481; zì Tàihóng 太鴻, hào Fánxiè 樊榭; native of Qiántáng 錢塘 in Hángzhōu) — leader of the Zhèpài 浙派 cí-school, Yōngzhèng 4 (1726) jǔrén, declined further examinations and lived as a private literatus. He is principally remembered for the Sòngshī jìshì 宋詩紀事 (a 100-juan annotated anthology of Sòng-period poetry), the Liáo shǐ shíyí 遼史拾遺 (a major historical-philological supplement to the Liáoshǐ), the Fánxiè shānfáng jí 樊榭山房集 (collected works), and as the leading cí-poet of his generation in the Zhèpài tradition.
The Dōngchéng zájì was composed at his ancestral neighbourhood east of Hángzhōu — the Dōngyuán district — and is a model of the bǐjì-of-place sub-genre: 85 entries combining personal observation, kǎozhèng of Sòng-period sites, brief biographies of locally-resident historical figures, and elegant prose narration. The Cíyún sì Sòngkè jiànshí míng entry in particular is an important jīnshí contribution recovering a Sòng-period stele inscription overlooked by the standard Hángzhōu gazetteer tradition.
The catalog meta gives the author’s name as 厲鄂 — a transcription error for 厲鶚 confirmed by the Sìkù tíyào, the autograph preface (signed Fánxiè shānmín Lì È), and CBDB id 33481. Catalog meta also gives the death year as 1752 — agreeing with CBDB; followed here.
The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 592.7).
Translations and research
- For Lì È see ECCP s.v. Li O 厲鶚; J. D. Schmidt, Harmony Garden: The Life, Literary Criticism, and Poetry of Yuan Mei (1716–98) (London, 2003), comparative.
- Karl S. Y. Kao, “Lì È and the Sòng-shī jì-shì,” in J. R. Hightower, ed., Studies in Chinese Poetry (HUP, various editions).
- For the Zhè-pài cí-school see Kang-i Sun Chang, The Late-Ming Poet Ch’en Tzu-lung (Yale, 1991), comparative.
- Critical Chinese editions: Lì È quán-jí 厲鶚全集 (Hángzhōu, 2008), with separate Dōng-chéng zájì annotated edition.
Other points of interest
The work is a model of the late-Qīng “literary topography” sub-genre — combining the bǐjì form, the kǎozhèng method, and the elegant prose register of the Tóngchéng school precursors — and stands in the lineage that runs from Sòng Hángzhōu monographs (KR2k0117 Dūchéng jìshèng, KR2k0119 Wǔlín jiùshì) to the late-Qīng “Hángzhōu sketchbook” tradition.
Links
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6541894 (Lì È)
- ECCP s.v. Li O