草木子

Cǎo mù zǐ 草木子

Master Vegetation

by 葉子奇 (Yè Zǐqí, zì Shìjié 世杰, hào Jìngzhāi 靜齋), of Lóngquán 龍泉 (modern Zhèjiāng); early-Míng Bālíng zhǔbù.

About the work

A 4-juàn early-Míng bǐjì by 葉子奇 (Yè Zǐqí), composed in Hóngwǔ 11 (1378) during his imprisonment at Bālíng (Pāzhōu, Húnán) following an yù àn (judicial scandal) — students at the county school had reported lower-clerks for stealing pig-brain wine left over from a city-god sacrifice; Yè was implicated by zhū lián (collateral involvement) and detained. The book is composed under detention; the self-preface (Hóngwǔ wùwǔ = 1378, 11th month, 27th day) explicitly likens his situation to Yú Qīng’s (qióng chóu-writing), Zuǒ Qiūmíng’s (after blindness), and Sīmǎ Qiān’s (after the palace-castration) — “because frustration, to express their will.” Yè uses cí pái (writing-tablets) from old documents to grind ink with potsherds — a vivid prison-composition image. After release, he completed the work and named it Cǎo mù zǐ. The book is organised in 8 piān (chapters) arranged into the four juàn: Guǎn kuī (looking-through-the-pipe), Guān wù (observing-things), Yuán dào (tracing-the-Way), Gōu yuán (hooking-the-mystery), Kè jǐn (vigilant-discipline), Zá zhì (assorted-records), Tán sǒu (talk-grove), Zá zǔ (assorted-cuttings). The book is one of the principal early-Míng bǐjì witnesses to the Yuán dynasty — its institutional history, its end-of-dynasty chaos, and the transition to Míng. Endymion Wilkinson (Chinese History: A New Manual) cites it as a primary source for late-Yuán figures and events. Yè’s other works (Tàixuán běn zhǐ KR3g0002, the only surviving substantial Míng Tàixuán commentary; plus 16 juàn of poetry, 20 juàn of prose, 10 juàn each of Běncǎo and medical works, 3 juàn Qí dōng yě yǔ — distinct from Zhōu Mì’s KR3j0134 — and Yú lù fragments) are mostly lost.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Cǎo mù zǐ in four juan was compiled by Yè Zǐqí of the Míng. Zǐqí has the Tàixuán běn zhǐ, already recorded. Considering Zǐqí’s various composed books: the Fàn tōng (Comprehensive Pattern) and Yuán lǐ 2 juàn; the Shī 16 juàn; the Wén 20 juàn; Běncǎo and medical-book jié yào (essentials) each 10 juàn; the Qí dōng yě yǔ (Rustic Talk East of Qí — distinct from the Sòng Zhōu Mì work) 3 juàn; further Yú lù (Surplus Records) of some juàn — recording the affairs of the late-Yuán and early-Míng most thoroughly. Today only the Tàixuán běn zhǐ and this book survive.

This book’s Huáng Zhōng preface gives 22 piān; Zhèng Shànfū’s preface gives 28 piān; in Zhèngdé bǐngzǐ (1516) his clan-descendant Pǔ — leaving the Nánjīng yùshǐ to take Fúzhōu — re-engraved it, rearranged into 8 piān: Guǎn kuī, Guān wù, Yuán dào, Gōu yuán, Kè jǐn, Zá zhì, Tán sǒu, Zá zǔ — each two piān one juàn; just this recension. Shànfū’s preface further says: “old recension was 4 [piān]; now arranged as 2; Yě yǔ now arranged as 2; combined named Cǎo mù zǐ.” So this 4 juàn of 2-piān-each + Yě yǔ 2 juàn combined = 6 juàn, not 8; the Yě yǔ today has no separate recension; we cannot verify the discrepancy.

Zǐqí’s learning has yuānyuán (deep-flowing source); hence his book — from astronomy to geography, from human affairs to thing-principles — divides-and-analyses one by one; with much wēi yì (subtle insight). His discussion of Yuán-dynasty events is also detailed-and-exact. Only on Jiǎ Lǔ’s persuading Tōtō (Toqto’a) to open the Héběi water-fields and to manufacture the Zhìzhèng jiāochāo (paper currency); and to find the Yǔ-river old course — these have merits and demerits, neither covering the other. Zǐqí to the end chì (denounces) him as xié chén (a wicked official) — not as fair as Sòng Lián’s Yuán shǐ judgement.

The book’s prefatory self-record dates wùwǔ (1378), 11th month — this is Hóngwǔ 11; that is, the year Zǐqí was dismissed from the Bālíng zhǔbù post and detained in prison. This book was composed in his prison-time.

Respectfully revised and submitted, eighth month of the forty-second year of Qiánlóng (1777).

Abstract

The Cǎo mù zǐ — “Master Vegetation” — is one of the most important early-Míng bǐjì and the principal vehicle of 葉子奇 (Yè Zǐqí)‘s surviving prose. The book is composed under detention at the Bālíng zhǔbù prison in Hóngwǔ 11 (1378); Yè’s vivid self-preface — likening his situation to those of qióng chóu-driven authors (Yú Qīng, Zuǒ Qiūmíng, Sīmǎ Qiān), composing on cí pái (writing-tablets) torn from old documents, grinding ink with potsherds — is one of the most poignant accounts of prison-composition in early-Míng literature.

The book’s substantive content:

1. Yuán-dynasty institutional and political history: with detail not preserved elsewhere; primary-source value for late-Yuán figures and events.
2. Cosmology and natural philosophy: in the Guǎn kuī / Guān wù sections.
3. Way-and-mind philosophy: in the Yuán dào / Gōu yuán sections — Yè’s Lǐxué affiliation.
4. Ritual ethics: in the Kè jǐn (vigilant-discipline) section.
5. Anecdote: in the Zá zhì, Tán sǒu, and Zá zǔ sections.

The Sìkù editors flag one bias: Yè’s hostile evaluation of Jiǎ Lǔ 賈魯 (the late-Yuán Yellow River engineer) as a xié chén (wicked official), compared unfavourably with Sòng Lián’s more balanced Yuán shǐ judgement.

The recensional history is complex: Huáng Zhōng’s preface gives 22 piān; Zhèng Shànfū’s preface gives 28 piān; the Zhèngdé 11 (1516) re-engraved 4-juàn + 2-juàn Yě yǔ — totaling 6 juàn per Zhèng’s preface, although the 4-juàn SKQS-recension is the standard form preserved. The Yě yǔ component (Yè’s own Qí dōng yě yǔ, distinct from Zhōu Mì’s KR3j0134 work of the same name) is now lost as a separate recension.

Dating. NotBefore and notAfter both 1378 (the imprisonment year). The standard text is the SKQS 4-juàn recension; a modern punctuated edition (Zhōnghuá shūjú, 1959) is the standard scholarly text.

Translations and research

No complete Western-language translation. The book is heavily cited in modern Western-language Yuán studies (Endymion Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual; John Dardess; David Robinson) and in Chinese-language Yuán institutional and end-of-dynasty history.

Other points of interest

Yè Zǐqí’s vivid prison-composition account — composing on cí pái torn from old documents, grinding ink with potsherds, after the case had implicated him through zhū lián (collateral involvement) following the pig-brain-wine scandal at his county school — is one of the most striking early-Míng prison-composition narratives. The book’s date (Hóngwǔ 11 = 1378) places it at the height of the Hóngwǔ-era purges; Yè’s survival and the book’s preservation are themselves significant historical-textual events.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Cǎo mù zǐ entry.
• Endymion Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, on Yuán-dynasty bǐjì sources.