Yùtáng zájì 玉堂雜記
Miscellany of the Jade Hall by 周必大 (Zhōu Bìdà, 撰)
About the work
The Yùtáng zájì in 3 juǎn is a Southern Sòng monograph on the Hànlín Academy (“Yùtáng” 玉堂, “Jade Hall,” being a polite designation for that institution) by Zhōu Bìdà 周必大 (1126–1206). His own preface, dated the twelfth day of the eighth month of Chúnxī 9 (壬寅, 1182), explains the genesis: Bìdà served twice in the Hànlín during a span of roughly ten years (Lóngxīng 1, 1163, to Chúnxī 7, 1180), passing through every grade from Acting Director of the Inner Court (權直院) up to Hànlín Academician Recipient of Edicts (學士承旨). When he ascended to the Two Bureaus (二府, the Bureau of Military Affairs and the Department of State Affairs) in Chúnxī 7 (1180), the recollection of the Yùtáng came back to him so strongly — as Sū Yìjiǎn 蘇易簡’s earlier work had done for the Northern Sòng — that he ordered his son Zhōu Lún 周綸 to gather his Hànlín memoranda; some fifty-odd were retained, edited into three juǎn, and offered as a continuation of Hóng Zūn’s Hànyuàn qúnshū 翰苑羣書 (KR2l0004). The work was later folded into Bìdà’s collected works (Wénzhōng jí 文忠集); the present recension is the separately circulating extract.
Tiyao
The editors respectfully submit that the Yùtáng zájì in 3 juǎn was authored by Zhōu Bìdà of the Sòng. Bìdà, zì Zǐchōng 子充, also styled Hóngdào 洪道, was a native of Lúlíng 廬陵 (modern Jí’ān 吉安, Jiāngxī). He took the jìnshì in Shàoxīng 21 (1151), entered the Court Examination of the Hóngcí Academy, and was acting Drafter at the Bureau of Foreign Imperial Edicts (權中書舍人); under Xiàozōng’s reign he reached Right Grand Councillor, was raised to Junior Tutor and Duke of Yìguó 益國公; under Níngzōng he retired with the rank of Junior Mentor; he died with the posthumous title Wénzhōng 文忠. His biography is in the Sòngshǐ. The book records Hànlín precedents; it was later folded into Bìdà’s collected works, this being the separately circulating recension.
In the Sòng, the position of imperial drafter was the most highly regarded, often a stepping-stone to the Two Bureaus. Bìdà was favoured by Xiàozōng and entered the Hànlín twice; from acting Director of the Inner Court up to Academician Recipient of Edicts, he held every position there. All institutional precedents of the Hànlín, the changes therein, and the events of summons and audiences he recorded as he encountered them, gathering them into this volume. What he records — items such as the format for memorials at Démù 德壽, signatures on edicts of accession to the Annamese throne — all draw upon ancient principles in keeping with the proper rites; the other miscellaneous notes and surviving anecdotes are also full of conversational interest.
Hóng Zūn’s Hànyuàn qúnshū records material from the Tang and the Northern Capital; Chéng Jù’s Líntái gùshì was also completed in the Shàoxīng era. For the Hànlín precedents from Lóngxīng 隆興 onwards, only the Guǎngé xùlù 館閣續錄 and Hóng Mài’s Róngzhāi suíbǐ 容齋隨筆 give occasional notice; with Bìdà’s book to set against them, the post-Restoration Yùtáng’s old protocols are now almost completely traced out. Respectfully collated, tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Abstract
The Yùtáng zájì is the principal documentary source on the Hànlín Academy in the early Southern Sòng, and the natural complement to Hóng Zūn’s collection (KR2l0004) and Chén Kuí’s Nán Sòng guǎngé lù (KR2l0005). Zhōu Bìdà’s account is unusual among administrative monographs in its strongly first-person texture: anchored in his preface to specific dates of audience and named imperial conversations, it is closer to a court-life journal than to an impersonal zhíguān compilation. Bìdà — three-time Grand Councillor, principal patron of Lú Yóu 陸游 and other Southern Sòng literary luminaries, and the editor of the standard Southern Sòng edition of the Wénxuǎn 文選 — was one of the dominant cultural figures of the Chúnxī court, and his preserved notes from the inner drafting bureau give exceptional insight into the texture of imperial business under Xiàozōng.
Translations and research
- Wáng Ruìlái 王瑞來, ed. (multiple articles, esp. Sòng Gāozōng cháo Hànlín kǎo and related). 2000s. (Treats the early Southern Sòng Hànlín; draws on Yùtáng zájì.)
- Yáng Guǒ 楊果. 2002. Zhōngguó Hànlín zhìdù yánjiū 中國翰林制度研究. Wuhan daxue. (Synthesis of Tang–Sòng Hànlín studies; Yùtáng zájì a principal Southern Sòng source.)
- Bischoff, F. A. 1963. La forêt des pinceaux. Paris: PUF. (Background on Hànlín literature.)
Other points of interest
Zhōu Bìdà’s massive collected works Wénzhōng jí 文忠集 (200 juǎn) is one of the largest surviving Southern Sòng bié jí; the Yùtáng zájì is one of several sub-collections he allowed to circulate separately, alongside the Sī líng kǎo 思陵考 (court memoranda from Gāozōng’s reign) and others. The deliberate detachment of administratively oriented notebooks from the literary collection proper is a distinctive feature of his editorial practice.