Běi xuān bǐ jì 北軒筆記
Notes from the North Verandah
by 陳世隆 (Chén Shìlóng, fl. late Yuán, c. 1330–1355; zì Yàngāo 彥髙), Qiántáng man, grand-nephew of 陳思 (Chén Sī).
About the work
A 1-juàn late-Yuán bǐjì by 陳世隆 (Chén Shìlóng), grand-nephew of the late-Southern-Sòng book-dealer-and-poet Chén Sī. The book carries a xiǎo zhuàn (short biography) at the head, of unknown authorship, recording Chén Shìlóng’s career: zì Yàngāo 彥髙, Qiántáng rén, grand-nephew of Chén Sī (cóngzǔ — Chén Sī’s grandnephew through Sī’s brother); during the Shùndì Zhìzhèng period (1341–1368) was a guest-resident at Cháoxìng Táo-shi’s house when bandit-troops killed him. The book’s substantive content is yì lùn (debate-discussion) on historical events — Xībó kān Lí (Wénwáng’s conquest of Lí), Lǔ liǎngshēng bù zhī lǐyuè (the two Lǔ scholars’ ignorance of lǐ yuè), Hú Yín’s xí Liú Yàn (mockery of Liú Yàn), the Qínwáng Tíng-měi-shēng-yú-Gěng-shi falsehood, the Zhōu’s use of Yú Jǐn as sān lǎo (the three-elders) being against ancient ritual. The book closes with a yì shì (omitted-affair) — the Shī Jìngrú (Buddhist monk) story — which the Sìkù editors note is xiǎoshuō-style and not consistent with the book’s serious historical-debate body. Chén’s other known work, the Sòng shī bǔ yí in 8 juàn, is lost; this bǐjì survives only through the Cháoxìng Táo family’s transmission.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that Běi xuān bǐ jì in one juan was compiled by Chén Shìlóng of the Yuán. The book has at front a xiǎo zhuàn; one cannot know who composed it; saying Shìlóng zì Yàngāo, a Qiántáng man; cóngsūn (grandnephew through brother) of the Sòng-end book-dealer Chén Sī; in the Shùndì Zhìzhèng (1341–1368) period was a guest-resident at Cháoxìng Táo-shi’s house, where bandit-troops killed him. His composed poetry and prose are all unpreserved; only the Sòng shī bǔ yí in 8 juàn and this book survive at Táo-shi’s family. Today the Sòng shī bǔ yí has no transmitted recension; only this 1 juàn survives.
The book mostly discusses historical events. As, for instance: refuting the Xībó kān Lí discussion — lì biàn wěi qū huí hù (firmly disputing the round-about and excusing-of-Lí) doctrine; refuting the Lǔ liǎngshēng bù zhī lǐ yuè (the two Lǔ scholars who did not understand ritual-and-music); refuting Hú Yín’s jī Liú Yàn (mockery of Liú Yàn); refuting the Qínwáng Tíng-měi-shēng-yú-Gěng-shi (Qínwáng Tíngměi was born of Gěng-shi) — slander; refuting the Zhōu’s use of Yú Jǐn as sān lǎo — that this is lǐ wéi gǔ zhì (ritual violates the ancient institution) — all have distinctive insight.
As to the entry on the monk Jìngrú (Pure-and-Such) — bears the form of zá xiǎoshuō (miscellaneous tales), unavoidably wéi lì bù chún (the style is not pure). Yet it does not harm the hóng zhǐ (great purport).
Respectfully revised and submitted, tenth month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng (1781).
Abstract
The Běi xuān bǐ jì is a substantively interesting late-Yuán bǐjì. Chén Shìlóng’s principal contribution is yì lùn (historical debate) — five sustained refutations of standard readings of historical episodes:
- Xībó kān Lí: refutation of the wěiqū huíhù (round-about defence) reading of Wénwáng’s conquest of Lí.
- Lǔ liǎngshēng bù zhī lǐ yuè: refutation of the conventional reading of the two Lǔ scholars’ refusal to participate in Hàn-period ceremony.
- Hú Yín jī Liú Yàn: refutation of Hú Yín’s mockery of the great Táng financial administrator Liú Yàn.
- Qínwáng Tíngměi shēng yú Gěng-shi: refutation of the slander that the Sòng prince Tíngměi was born of Gěng-shi (the Sòng founder’s mistress).
- Zhōu Yú Jǐn as sān lǎo: refutation of the Northern Zhōu institution of using Yú Jǐn as sān lǎo — Chén judges it as violating ancient ritual.
The Sìkù editors flag the Shī Jìngrú (monk Jìngrú) anecdote as out-of-style (more xiǎoshuō than historical biàn) but acknowledge that it does not damage the book’s overall seriousness.
Chén Shìlóng’s biography is given in the prefatory xiǎo zhuàn: he was the grand-nephew (cóngsūn) of the Sòng-end book-dealer Chén Sī (Bǎokè cóngbiān author); with his younger brother Yànbó 彥博 he kept the family’s bibliographic learning; in the Zhìzhèng period (1341–1368) the brothers were both guest-residents at Cháoxìng (Jiāxìng) Táo-shi’s house, where the elder Yàngāo (Chén Shìlóng) was killed by bandit-troops at the late-Yuán catastrophe.
Dating. NotBefore 1340 (the Zhìzhèng period when Chén was a guest at the Táo-shi house) / notAfter 1355 (the late-Yuán catastrophe, c. 1355–1368). The standard text is the SKQS 1-juàn recension, the only surviving recension.
Translations and research
No complete Western-language translation. The book is cited in modern Chinese-language scholarship on late-Yuán bǐjì and on the survival of late-Sòng / Yuán bibliographic-historiographic yì lùn.
Other points of interest
The book is one of the very few prose-historical works of the LiǎngSòng míngxián xiǎojí circle (the family that produced the great Sòng-poetry anthology now in 380 juǎn) — a literary line of work otherwise overwhelmingly devoted to poetic preservation.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Běi xuān bǐ jì entry.