游宦紀聞

Yóu huàn jì wén 游宦紀聞

Things Heard in Roving Office

by 張世南 (Zhāng Shìnán, fl. 1214–1233; zì Guāngshū 光叔).

About the work

A 10-juàn late-Southern-Sòng bǐjì by 張世南 (Zhāng Shìnán). Chén Zhènsūn’s Shū lù jiě tí identifies him as zì Guāngshū, Póyáng man; the meta-catalog gives his name as 張士南 — uncertainty over the shì graph. The book is dated by internal references — Jiādìng jiǎxū (1214) and Shàodìng guǐsì (1233) — to Níngzōng / Lǐzōng reigns. Zhāng was an official at Yǒngfú county in Fújiàn (the office is unrecorded); he associated with 劉過 (Liú Guò), Gāo Zhú 高翥, Zhào Fán 趙蕃, and 韓淲 (Hán Biāo), and is one of the principal channels of 程迥 (Chéng Jiǒng)‘s transmitted teaching — Zhāng’s brother having been Dǒng Wěi 董煟’s son-in-law, and Dǒng Wěi having been Chéng Jiǒng’s son-in-law. The book is bǐjì in the jì wén (things-heard) style — sober, kǎozhèng-rich, with no political commentary. The Sìkù editors regard it as “one of the better shuōbù of the late Sòng.”

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Yóu huàn jì wén in ten juan was compiled by Zhāng Shìnán of the Sòng. Chén Zhènsūn’s Shū lù jiě tí gives his zì as Guāngshū, a Póyáng man; but writes his name Shìnán with shì “scholar” not shì “generation” — which is correct is unknown. The chronology cites Jiādìng jiǎxū (1214) and Shàodìng guǐsì (1233) — clearly a Níngzōng / Lǐ-zōng-period man. He self-records having served at Fúzhōng (Fújiàn), with many entries on Yǒngfúxiàn affairs — but which office at Yǒngfú is also unknown.

Shìnán associated with Liú Guò, Gāo Zhú, Zhào Fán, and Hán Biāo; he transmits a particular abundance of Chéng Jiǒng’s sayings, because his older brother was Dǒng Wěi’s son-in-law, and Dǒng Wěi was Chéng Jiǒng’s son-in-law — Shìnán thus heard these things through the kin-connection.

The book records mainly miscellaneous affairs and old hearings, with not a word touching the politics of his day. Among the entries: the record of Qín Guān’s Yuányòu cì zì (the Yuányòu faction tattooing); the record of Huáng Shīyǐn’s explanation of the dǎ character’s meaning; the record of Zhāng Sōngxiān’s jiè zǐ (loan-purple-robe); the record of taboos on míng (name) and zì (style); the record of Sū and Huáng’s use of the single chī (owl) character; the record of gǔ shū dāo (ancient book-knives); the record of Hé Zhìchū’s first taking the rubbing of the Gǒulóu bēi; all contribute substantively to kǎozhèng. His refutation of the Huáng Bósī Bā shí yī shǒu (81 imperial-portraits) doctrine; his deduction of the Wáng Shì bǎi liù (Wáng Shì’s hundred-and-six [calendrical doctrine]) — both especially precise. Other discussions: of xī jiǎo (rhinoceros horn), of lóng xián (ambergris), of Duān yàn (Duān inkstones), of antiquarian implements — also contribute to learned acquaintance. One of the better shuōbù of the late Sòng.

Respectfully revised and submitted, seventh month of the forty-third year of Qiánlóng (1778).

Abstract

The Yóu huàn jì wén — “things heard while roving from office to office” — is one of the principal substantive bǐjì of the late Southern Sòng. The book is doubly notable. First, as a witness to the transmitted teaching of 程迥 (Chéng Jiǒng, fl. 1163–1175): Zhāng’s account, received through the Dǒng-shi family kin-connection, includes Chéng’s positions on classical exegesis and historical evaluation not recorded elsewhere. Second, as a substantive late-Sòng kǎozhèng monument:

1. Bā shí yī shǒu: refutation of Huáng Bósī’s calendrical-cosmological doctrine of the 81 imperial-portraits.
2. Bǎi liù: derivation/elaboration of Wáng Shì’s Bǎi liù doctrine — a Northern-Sòng calendrical technicality.
3. Yuányòu cì zì: documentation of the practice of branding Yuányòu-faction officials.
4. Connoisseurship: substantial entries on rhinoceros-horn, ambergris (lóng xián), and Duān inkstones — important to Sòng connoisseurial history.
5. Gǒulóu bēi: the first surviving record of Hé Zhìchū’s rubbing of the Gǒulóu inscription.

The book is among the most cited late-Southern-Sòng bǐjì by later editors of Sū Shì, Huáng Tíngjiān, and Qín Guān — particularly for the literary-historical observations on the Yuányòu tattooing and the single-chī (owl) character anecdote.

Dating. Internal datable references span Jiādìng jiǎxū (1214) to Shàodìng guǐsì (1233) — a 19-year arc of Zhāng’s career. NotBefore 1214 / notAfter 1233. The standard text is the SKQS recension, in 10 juàn; Chén Zhènsūn’s Shū lù jiě tí also records 10 juàn.

Translations and research

No substantial Western-language translation. The book is widely cited in modern Chinese-language scholarship — on Sòng-period Yuán-yòu factional history (especially the cì zì practice), on Northern-Sòng connoisseurship, on Sòng calendrical scholarship, and on the Chéng Jiǒng school’s transmission to Lǐ-zōng-period literati. Modern punctuated edition in Tángsòng shǐliào bǐjì cóngkān (Zhōnghuá shū-jú, 1981; collated with the Jiù wén zhèng wù fragment of the lost Xù biān).

Other points of interest

The book’s record of the Yuányòu faction’s cì zì (tattooing) practice is one of the principal Sòng witnesses to this Cài Jīng-era political-punitive procedure and is regularly cited in Sòng political history.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Yóu huàn jì wén entry.