Cáng yī huà yú 藏一話腴
Cáng-yī’s Plump Talk
by 陳郁 (Chén Yù, d. c. 1275; zì Zhòngwén 仲文, hào Cángyī 藏一), of Línchuān.
About the work
A 4-juàn late-Southern-Sòng bǐjì by 陳郁 (Chén Yù), Línchuān literatus and Dōnggōng jiǎngtáng zhǎngshū under Lǐzōng / Dùzōng. The book is divided into jiǎ jí and yǐ jí (the first and second collections), each further divided into shàng and xià — a four-fascicle arrangement. The book records primarily Northern and Southern Sòng anecdote, occasionally shī huà-style poetic comment, and occasional personal yì lùn (discussion). The book carries a preface by 岳珂 (Yuè Kē, hào Tánghú wēng) praising Chén Yù as “shut-door all-day, exhaustively studying books and registers; foot never trod the threshold of slander-or-praise; body never entered the gates of power” and the book’s argumentation as well-grounded; with three more elder-mens’ affirmation (Zhēn Xīshān 真希山 = 真德秀 (Zhēn Déxiù), Liú Màntáng 劉漫塘 = 劉宰 (Liú Zǎi), Chén Xíān 陳習庵 = 陳沂). The book has been criticised in the Sìkù tíyào for several preposterous zhūjì (commentary) readings — the Zhōu Zǐyǒu / Lúshān / Dàlínsì couplet reading, the Dù Fǔ Lǎo qī huà zhǐ reading, the assessment of Shǐ jì shǎozhèng (the Lǐ Xūzhōng reading) — but retained for its substantial yí wén (remaining old-hearing) content.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that Cáng yī huà yú in four juan was compiled by Chén Yù of the Sòng. Yù’s zì was Zhòngwén; hào Cángyī; a Línchuān man; under Lǐzōng’s court he was Jíxīdiàn yìngzhì, also Dōnggōng jiǎngtáng zhǎngshū; his career is briefly recorded in the Suí yǐn màn lù by his son [Chén] Shìchóng. Shìchóng records that Dùzōng once composed a zàn on Yù’s portrait with the lines “his prose peers into Western Hàn; his poetry reaches High Táng” — extraordinary imperial recognition. Yuè Kē’s preface to the book says Yù “shut his gate all day, exhaustively studying books and registers; his foot never trod the threshold of slander-or-praise; his body never entered the gates of power.”
Yet Liú Xūn’s Yǐn jū tōng yì preserves an imperial-handwritten bá (annotation) by Dùzōng regretting his having descended to visit Chén Yù and his son in their bēilòu (lowly-coarseness) (the matter is detailed under the Yǐn jū tōng yì entry, KR3j0136). And Zhōu Mì’s Wǔ lín jiù shì — listing the various yùqián yìngzhì (court-entertainers) — heads with Jiāng Tèlì 姜特立 and lists Yù as the fourth — so Yù is also of Jiāng Tèlì’s class. Jiāng Tèlì is listed in the Sòng shǐ Nìng xìng zhuàn (the Sycophants Biography); Yù does not feature there — apparently not quite to be spoken of in the same breath.
The book is divided into the jiǎ and yǐ two collections, each further divided into shàng and xià. Records mostly Northern and Southern Sòng miscellaneous affairs; occasional shī huà-style entries; occasional personal yì lùn. Yuè Kē’s preface further says: “his entries enter-and-exit the classics and histories, research them root-and-branch; the fēngyuè mèng guài cháo xì é dàn yín lì (wind-and-moon, dream-and-marvelous, mocking-and-playing, false-and-decadent, beautiful-but-debased) habits are completely cleansed from him.”
Now examining what is recorded: the Zhōu Zǐyǒu Yóu Lúshān Dàlínsì shī — “shuǐ sè hán yún bái, qín shēng yìng gǔ qīng” — saying the former line is míng (clear-light) and the latter is chéng (sincere) — preposterously forced; nearly laughable. Huìhóng’s reading of Dù Fǔ’s “lǎo qī huà zhǐ wéi qí jú, zhì zǐ qiāo zhēn zuò diào gōu” couplet — taking lǎo qī as “the minister” and zhì zǐ as “the prince” — was already wild. Yù maintains the upper-line is “the prince’s-virtue: straight-Way serving the prince”; the lower-line “the petty-man’s: taking-straight-as-bent” — equally forced and unreasonable.
The poems recorded are also not finely crafted. His evaluations — saying Confucius should not be placed in the Shǐ jì Shìjiā (Hereditary Houses); Yú Ràng should not be entered in the Cìkè zhuàn (Assassins’ Biography); the Shǐ jì is not chún — somewhat slipshod-and-bland. The discussion of Lǐ Xūzhōng’s ruling fortune by year, month, day, hour — but not realising Hán Yù’s epitaph for Xūzhōng says his fortune-telling did not in fact use the hour — especially weak in kǎozhèng.
Yet what is recorded of yí wén (old hearings) much aids quànjiè (admonition and warning); not without some adoptable points.
Respectfully revised and submitted, tenth month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng (1781).
Abstract
The Cáng yī huà yú is one of the late-Southern-Sòng bǐjì most aligned with the Lǐzōng / Dùzōng court — Chén Yù was a yìngzhì (court-entertainer) and Dōnggōng jiǎngtáng zhǎngshū (Lecture-Hall Secretary to the Crown Prince). The book records principally Sòng anecdote with some shī huà and kǎozhèng. The book’s reception is divided: Yuè Kē’s preface and three other senior literati (Zhēn Déxiù, Liú Zǎi, Chén Xíān) gave laudatory testimonials; but Liú Xūn preserves a Dùzōng imperial annotation that suggests the emperor came to regret his own patronage of Chén; and Zhōu Mì’s Wǔ lín jiù shì groups Chén with Jiāng Tèlì — who is in the Sòng shǐ Nìng xìng zhuàn (Sycophants).
The Sìkù editors retain the book for the yí wén it preserves while flagging substantive weaknesses in its zhūjì commentary: the Zhōu Zǐyǒu / Lúshān / Dàlínsì míng / chéng reading; the Dù Fǔ couplet jūnzǐ / xiǎorén reading; the Shǐ jì methodological complaints; the Lǐ Xūzhōng fortune-telling argument.
Dating. Chén Yù’s principal court-period was under Lǐzōng (1224–1264) and Dùzōng (1264–1274). NotBefore 1260 (the latest plausible compilation start) / notAfter 1275. The standard text is the SKQS recension; the four-fascicle jiǎ / yǐ arrangement is preserved.
Translations and research
No complete Western-language translation. The book is cited in modern Chinese-language scholarship on Lǐ-zōng / Dù-zōng court culture, on the late-Southern-Sòng yìng-zhì class of literati-entertainers, and on the broader phenomenon of bēi-lòu literati patronised by the court.
Other points of interest
The Yuè Kē preface (which is reproduced in the SKQS recension’s front matter) is a significant late-Sòng literary document — it represents Yuè Kē’s reading of Chén Yù as the antithesis of the jiānghú (poetic-Jianghu) school’s chān ér dàn (boastful and absurd) tendency, while protecting Chén from the same charge of court-patronage that his contemporaries would direct at him.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Cáng yī huà yú entry.