Lán yán cháng yǔ 讕言長語
Idle Talk and Lengthy Speech
by 曹安 (Cáo Ān, fl. 1444–1487; zì Yǐníng 以寧), Sōngjiāng jǔrén; Ānqiūxiàn jiàoyù.
About the work
A 1-juàn mid-Míng bǐjì by 曹安 (Cáo Ān). The title — lán yán cháng yǔ — Cáo glosses in his self-preface as “lán yán — idle speech; cháng yǔ — surplus speech” — playfully self-deprecating. The book is the compilation of Cáo’s lifetime jiā yán shàn xíng (excellent words and good actions) and yì rén yì shì (unusual men and unusual events) gathered over six decades, including the three or four zhì (fascicles) he had earlier kept and lost to flooding, and the rerecording from Yúnnán of what he remembered. He carried the rerecorded version to Wǔyì (Wǔyáng) and to Ānqiū, where as jiàoyù he composed the present 1-juàn compilation in Chénghuà bǐngwǔ (1486), fifth month, fifth day. The book’s lùn dú jīng (discussion of reading the classics) entry — flagged by the Sìkù editors as “deeply hitting the failings of Míng-period vulgar-learning” — is the book’s most cited entry. The book contains substantial kǎozhèng with explicit citation of sources, supplementing the standard cān kǎo (consultation-of-evidence) corpus.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that Lán yán cháng yǔ in one juan was compiled by Cáo Ān of the Míng. Ān’s zì was Yǐníng, a Sōngjiāng man; jǔrén of Zhèngtǒng jiǎzǐ (1444); held office as Ānqiūxiàn jiàoyù. Ān had a long-standing name for talent and composed much, but his poetic and prose collections are all lost. This book collects what he had seen-and-heard in his lifetime and biànzhèng (resolves-and-corrects) the gaps and errors; he himself called it “the xiá rì shǒu lù (leisurely-day hand-record), all-fragmentary speech, no use to the matter — therefore he likened it to yì yán shèng yǔ (omitted and surplus speech).”
Yet the words have yuán běn (original-source); sufficient to provide cān kǎo (consultation-evidence). His discussion of dú jīng (reading-the-classics) one entry — especially qiē zhōng míng dài sú xué zhī bì (deeply hitting the failings of Míng-period vulgar-learning).
The book end has Rén Shùn’s bá (postface) — saying Ān had once been Xiànzōng shí lù zǒngcái guān (chief compiler of the Veritable Records of Xiànzōng [Chénghuà emperor]) — apparently at the time the compilation often pìn qǔ rú shì (recruited Confucian scholars) to do it; hence [the appointment was] not constrained by zī gé (rank-qualification). Yet [Cáo] Ān’s being-esteemed by the time can also be known.
Respectfully revised and submitted, third month of the forty-fourth year of Qiánlóng (1779).
Abstract
The Lán yán cháng yǔ is one of the more substantive mid-Míng bǐjì. Cáo Ān’s biographical situation — a jǔrén but never jìnshì; a county education officer who was nevertheless recruited as a zǒngcái guān (chief compiler) of the imperial Veritable Records of the Chénghuà emperor — places him in the mid-Míng’s “senior literatus through merit-not-status” class.
The book’s principal value lies in:
- Lifetime accumulation: the work distils six decades of jiā yán shàn xíng (excellent words and good actions) and yì rén yì shì (unusual men and unusual events) collected since Cáo’s youth at country schools, and recovered after the loss of an earlier version to Yúnnán flooding.
- Lùn dú jīng entry: regarded by the Sìkù editors as the book’s most penetrating critique of Míng-period vulgar-learning — a substantive contribution to mid-Míng intellectual-historical self-criticism.
- Source-cited kǎozhèng: substantial source-citation in the entries, making the book a useful cān kǎo resource.
Dating. Cáo’s self-preface is dated Chénghuà bǐngwǔ 22 (1486), fifth month, fifth day. NotBefore and notAfter both 1486. The standard text is the SKQS 1-juàn recension.
The Rén Shùn postface — preserved at the book’s end — is the principal biographical source for Cáo Ān, recording his appointment as a compiler of the Xiànzōng shí lù (1487 onward).
Translations and research
No complete Western-language treatment. The book is cited in modern Chinese-language scholarship on mid-Míng bǐjì and on the mid-Míng critique of sú xué (vulgar-learning).
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Lán yán cháng yǔ entry.