玉堂嘉話

Yù táng jiā huà 玉堂嘉話

Excellent Talk from the Jade Hall

by 王惲 (Wáng Yùn, 1227–1304; zì Zhòngmóu 仲謀, hào Qiūjiàn 秋澗), foundational Khubilai-era Hàn-Confucian.

About the work

An 8-juàn Yuán bǐjì by 王惲 (Wáng Yùn), composed in Zhìyuán wùzǐ (1288, the closing year of Zhìyuán) — recording the institutional history of the Yuán Hànlín yuàn (Academy) from its establishment in Zhōngtǒng 2 xīnyǒu (1261, the 5th month) through Zhìyuán 14 (1277) and after, when Wáng served as Hànlín xiūzhuàn (compiler) and zhī zhì gào (Imperial Edicts Drafter) — a 34-year arc of the institution. The book is a primary source for early-Yuán Hànlín institutional history: imperial decree-drafting templates, ceremonial liturgies (the Tàicháng xīnyuè jì wén; the Chuán luò jì wén), examples of the gào shēn (appointment-warrant) format under Táng (Zhāng Jiǔlíng, Lǐ Línfǔ), records of the books and paintings captured at the conquest of Sòng, the Sòng pìnhòu liù lǐ (six-rite engagement), the Jīn examination procedure, and a sustained discussion of the historiographic question of the SòngLiáoJīn sān shǐ (the three histories project) — Wáng’s view of which is kǎnkǎn zhōng lǐ (firm and well-reasoned, per the Sìkù editors).

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Yù táng jiā huà in eight juan was compiled by Wáng Yùn of the Yuán. Yùn has the Chéng huá shì lüè, already recorded. This work was completed in Zhìyuán wùzǐ (1288); it records that in Zhōngtǒng 2 (1261) he was first Hànlín xiūzhuàn zhī zhì gào jiān Guóshǐguǎn biānxiūguān; later transferred to guān Jìnfǔ, the term being completed; after Zhìyuán 14 (1277) he reentered as Hànlín dàizhì; thus all zhǎng gù (precedents) and the cíguǎn zhōng kǎo hé tǎo lùn zhū shì (Academy investigations and discussion of various matters); beginning xīnyǒu (1261), ending jiǎwǔ (1294) — a 34-year span of events.

What is recorded of contemporary zhìgào (imperial decrees) is especially detailed, sufficient to display the dynasty’s institutions. As, for instance, the Chuán luò jì wén; the Tàicháng xīn yuè jì wén — these are all what other books do not have. Other entries: the recording of Táng Zhāng Jiǔlíng’s and Lǐ Línfǔ’s gào shēn format; the recording of what was acquired at the conquest of Sòng — the fǎ shū gǔ huà (calligraphies and old paintings) names; the Sòng pìnhòu liù lǐ (six-rite engagement); the Jīn kējǔ (examination) procedure; and the differentiation of the xuān yù zhì gào (proclamation and imperial-edict drafting); citing Liǔ Gōngquán’s colophon to show that the Táng already had the Guǎng yùn; identifying Mǐ Fú as Nángōng (the man who had served at the Tàicháng); recording Qín Guì’s family-temple institution; pointing out Yán Zhēnqīng’s calligraphy of the Chū shī biǎo as a forgery; identifying the Jīn shǐ Tiānwén zhì as written by the Tàishǐ Zhāng Zhòngshùn; with Zhāng Déhuī recording the journey to sài běi (the trans-frontier); with Liú Yù recording matters of the xī yù (Western Regions) — all sufficient to assist kǎozhèng; and on the discussion of the Sòng / Liáo / Jīn sān shǐ (the three histories project) — especially kǎnkǎn zhōng lǐ (firm and well-reasoned).

Among the entries: such as the discussion of the sun-moon-five-planets — Wáng does not know tuī bù (calendrical computation); the saying gǔ fùrén wú shì (ancient women had no posthumous title) — without knowing the Shēng zǐ and Wén Jiāng examples; the discussion of the Liù tiē — overlapping Chéng Dàchāng’s Yǎn fán lù; the discussion of yě hé (irregular union) — fù huì on the Bó wù zhì; all are cī lèi (flawed-aspects). The Táng liùdiǎn nǚ bó nǚ shū entry — juàn 2 and juàn 5 repeated — is also a shī jiǎnjiào (failure of cross-collation).

Yet on the whole it is gāiqià (comprehensive-and-thorough); we do not by the small blemishes obscure the whole work. This book was already collected into his Qiūjiàn jí; this is the separately-circulating recension.

Respectfully revised and submitted, tenth month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng (1781).

Abstract

The Yù táng jiā huà — “excellent talk from the Jade Hall” (the yù táng being the imperial-edicts office, the Hànlín yuàn) — is the principal bǐjì witness to the institutional history of the early-Yuán Hànlín Academy. Wáng Yùn’s place at the centre of the Hànlín establishment — serving from its founding in Zhōngtǒng 2 (1261) onward, with various interruptions, through Zhìyuán wùzǐ (1288) — gives him exceptional access to:

1. Imperial-edict-drafting templates: the Chuán luò jì wén (boat-falling-down sacrificial-text) and Tàicháng xīn yuè jì wén (Grand-Constancy New-Music sacrificial-text) examples otherwise unrecorded.
2. Táng gào shēn (appointment-warrant) format: examples preserved through Zhāng Jiǔlíng and Lǐ Línfǔ.
3. The conquest of Sòng book-and-painting list: the imperial inventory of Sòng art-and-bibliographic treasure captured by the Yuán armies.
4. Sòng pìnhòu liù lǐ: the Sòng imperial engagement-ceremony.
5. Jīn kējǔ procedure: the Jīn imperial examination format.
6. SòngLiáoJīn sān shǐ: Wáng’s discussion of the three-histories project, regarded by the Sìkù editors as the book’s most important sustained argument.

The book also contains substantial kǎozhèng: the existence of the Guǎng yùn in the Táng (citing Liǔ Gōngquán’s colophon); Mǐ Fú’s Nángōng identification; Qín Guì’s family-temple institution; the Yán Zhēnqīng Chū shī biǎo forgery; the Jīn shǐ Tiānwén zhì authorship (Zhāng Zhòngshùn); Zhāng Déhuī’s frontier-journey record; Liú Yù’s Xī yù record.

Weaknesses flagged: lack of tuī bù (calendrical) expertise; the gǔ fùrén wú shì mistake; cross-borrowing from Chéng Dàchāng’s Yǎn fán lù; the yě hé / Bó wù zhì fùhuì; the duplicated Táng liùdiǎn nǚ bó entry.

Dating. NotBefore 1261 (the Hànlín establishment) / notAfter 1288 (Wáng’s preface date). The book covers events 1261–1294 (the latest jiǎwǔ reference). The standard text is the SKQS 8-juàn recension; the same text is also in Wáng’s Qiūjiàn dàquán wénjí KR4d0464.

Translations and research

No complete Western-language translation. The book is heavily cited in modern Chinese-language scholarship on early-Yuán institutional history, on the Sòng-Liáo-Jīn sān shǐ project, and on the Hàn-lín Academy. See Yáo Cóng-wú 姚從吾 for the Yuán Hàn-lín institutional context.

Other points of interest

The book’s preservation of the Sòng pìnhòu liù lǐ and the Jīn kējǔ procedure is significant: both ceremonial-institutional matters are not preserved in detail in the standard histories, and Wáng’s bǐjì is the principal extra-Sòng shǐ / extra-Jīn shǐ witness.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Yù táng jiā huà entry.