Chūnzhǔ jì wén 春渚紀聞
Things Heard at the Spring Islet
by 何薳 (Hé Yuǎn, 1077–1145; self-styled Hánqīng lǎonóng 韓青老農 “the Old Farmer of Hánqīng”).
About the work
A 10-juàn Sòng bǐjì by Hé Yuǎn 何薳 of Pǔchéng 浦城 (modern Fújiàn). The book is divided thematically into seven sections: miscellaneous records (5 juàn); facts of [Sū] Dōngpō (1 juàn); poetry-and-cí affairs (1 juàn); zither matters with an appended discussion of ink; records of inkstones; and records of cinnabar drugs. Hé Yuǎn’s father Hé Qùfēi 何去非 was a Sū Shì client (recommended for office by Sū) — hence the prominent and unusually detailed Sū Shì dossier here, a key Northern Sòng witness for Sū Shì anecdote. The book also exhibits Hé Yuǎn’s hereditary scholarly interest in connoisseurship — ink, inkstones, the zither — and a strong taste for cinnabar-alchemical lore, much of which it preserves. The book’s Buddhist-Daoist bàoyìng tales are blended with the kǎozhèng and connoisseurship material.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that Chūnzhǔ jì wén in ten juan was compiled by Hé Yuǎn of the Sòng. Yuǎn was of Pǔchéng, self-styled Hánqīng lǎonóng “the Old Farmer of Hánqīng.” The book divides into: miscellaneous records — 5 juan; facts of Dōngpō — 1 juan; poetry-and-cí matters in brief — 1 juan; miscellaneous record of zither matters with an appended discussion of ink — 1 juan; records of inkstones — 1 juan; records of cinnabar drugs — 1 juan.
Chén Jìrú’s Bìjí of the Míng prints only the first 5 juan; the exemplar came from Yáo Shìlín, who got it from Shěn Hǔchén. Máo Jìn later acquired an older recension and supplemented the Bìjí edition’s lacunae; the present edition is the result.
Yuǎn’s father Qùfēi was once recommended for office by Sū Shì; hence the book records Sū’s affairs in particular detail. The miscellaneous records draw heavily on tales of immortals, ghosts, bàoyìng (karmic retribution), and trivial affairs.
It says, for instance, that Liú Zhòngfǔ was without equal at yì (Go); yet it also records that Zhù Bùyí defeated Liú Zhòngfǔ — the two entries contradict each other; carelessness. Likewise Cài Tāo’s Tiěwéishān cóng tán records that the man who defeated Liú Zhòngfǔ at yì was first Wáng Hānzǐ and later Jìn Shìmíng — neither of which matches the Zhù Bùyí account. Perhaps these are differing reports.
The Fù gǔ biān — composed by Zhāng Yǒu, grandson of Zhāng Xiān — is still transmitted today; yet this book writes “Zhāng Yǒu” as “Zhāng Yǒu” again — possibly a scribal error in transmission, not Yuǎn’s original.
Respectfully revised and submitted, sixth month of the forty-second year of Qiánlóng (1777).
Abstract
Hé Yuǎn 何薳 (1077–1145; CBDB id 30305), zì Zǐyuǎn 子遠 (var.), self-styled Hánqīng lǎonóng 韓青老農, native of Pǔchéng 浦城 (modern Fújiàn), was the son of Hé Qùfēi 何去非 (1077, jìnshì; a military strategist; client of Sū Shì who recommended him to the imperial commission). Hé Yuǎn inherited his father’s literary connections; the Chūnzhǔ jì wén contains the most concentrated witness to Hé Qùfēi’s circle’s perspective on Sū Shì and on the Yuányòu literati and is one of the principal Northern Sòng “Sū Shì memorabilia” bǐjì. The jìwén genre is distinctive: 10 juàn divided thematically rather than chronologically.
Subject-wise, the seven-section organisation is: (i) zá jì — anecdotal and bǐjì-jottings, much of it Buddhist-Daoist bàoyìng tales; (ii) Dōngpō shì shí — Sū Shì memorabilia; (iii) shī cí shì lüè — bǐjì-poetics on Sū Shì, Huáng Tíngjiān, and others; (iv) qín shì with attached mò shuō — zither-lore and connoisseurial discussion of ink; (v) jì yàn — record of inkstones; (vi) jì dānyào — record of cinnabar-alchemical drugs. The cinnabar-drug section is itself substantial and is one of the more important Sòng witnesses to literati alchemical interest.
Dating. Hé Yuǎn died in 1145. The bulk of the work was composed in the post-Jìngkāng period (after 1126), but it draws on materials assembled from his father’s circle in the Yuányòu / Yuánfú years. NotBefore 1094 (his father’s active period under Yuányòu / Yuánfú); notAfter 1145 (his death).
Recension: the SKQS text is the complete 10-juàn recension restored by Máo Jìn from his old block-print exemplar, supplementing the truncated 5-juàn version Chén Jìrú had printed in his Mìjí from Yáo Shìlín’s exemplar.
Translations and research
No complete Western-language translation. The book is regularly cited in modern scholarship on Sū Shì biography (especially Wáng Shuǐ-zhào 王水照, Sū Shì zhuàn and related works) and on Northern Sòng ink/inkstone/zither connoisseurship. The cinnabar-drug section is cited in scholarship on Sòng literati alchemy. A modern punctuated edition by Zhāng Mín-shèn 張明慎 is in the Zhōnghuá shū-jú Tángsòng shǐliào bǐjì series (1983).
Other points of interest
The Chūnzhǔ jì wén is, together with KR3j0080 Lěng zhāi yè huà of 釋惠洪 (Huìhóng) and a small handful of contemporaries, one of the principal Northern Sòng bǐjì loci for the Sū Shì literary cult. The cinnabar-drug juàn is an important early witness for the alchemical strand of Northern Sòng literati culture and is unusual among záshuō-class bǐjì in carrying a substantial corpus of technical material.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Chūnzhǔ jì wén entry.
- Wikipedia: 春渚紀聞.