蟫精雋

Yín jīng juàn 蟫精雋

Bookworm’s Choice Excerpts

by 徐伯齡 (Xú Bólíng, zì Yánzhī 延之, fl. mid-15th c.), of Shànxiàn 嵊縣 (古剡), Zhèjiāng.

About the work

A 16-juàn Míng bǐjì compiled by 徐伯齡 (Xú Bólíng) during the Tiānshùn (1457–1464) and Chénghuà (1465–1487) reigns. The book contains 261 entries, of which roughly nine-tenths are wénpíng (literary criticism) and shīhuà (poetry remarks) and one-tenth miscellaneous notes. The format loosely resembles Méng Qǐ 孟棨’s Běnshì shī 本事詩 in its anecdotal framing of poetic occasions, and its inclusion of long quoted texts recalls Liú Xūn 劉壎’s Yǐnjū tōngyì 隱居通議. The Sìkù editors single out the entry on Zhōu Déqīng 周德清’s Zhōngyuán yīnyùn 中原音韻 as especially incisive. The title — yínjīngjuàn — translates roughly as “the bookworm’s choice excerpts,” with yín 蟫 being the silverfish that lives in old books.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Yín jīng juàn in 16 juàn was compiled by Xú Bólíng of the Míng. Bólíng’s zì was Yánzhī; he styled himself “Gǔshàn” (Old Shàn), presumably a man of Shànxiàn. At the end of juàn 12 of the book there is a Tuòguānshēng zhuàn (Biography of Mr. Bamboo-Sheath-Cap) written by Zhāng Xī 張錫 for Bólíng, which says “Mr. [Tuòguān] is a man of Hángzhōu” — so Shàn was perhaps his ancestral seat. The biography records that he once gathered bamboo sheaths to make a cap, sang ballads, was self-contented, and seemed not to belong to the worldly realm. Though learned and able in literature, skilled in calligraphy, expert at the qín and intimate with the lǜ (musical tones), he never put his talents to public test — so he was a “mountain-forest unrestrained gentleman.”

Checking [the record], Zhāng Xī was a jǔrén of Tiānshùn rénwǔ (1462), and held office as Shānxī Shānyīnxiàn jiàoyù. Thus Bólíng was a Tiānshùn-era man; hence the things he records include the Chénghuà guǐsì (1473) and guǐmǎo (1483) events. (In the late Míng there was another Xú Bólíng of Hángzhōu, a Chóngzhēn gēngchén [1640] jǔrén who held office as Yǒngshòuxiàn jiàoyù; the surname and given name happen to coincide but it is a different person.)

This book miscellaneously gathers old texts and also includes his own remarks, in 261 entries. Roughly nine-tenths are wénpíng (literary criticism) and shīhuà (poetry remarks); those discussing miscellaneous affairs are less than one-tenth. Its format slightly resembles Méng Qǐ’s Běnshì shī — and its frequent recording of complete pieces also slightly resembles Liú Xūn’s Yǐnjū tōngyì. Among the entries some scurrilous chatter approaches xiǎoshuō, but old texts and former affairs not preserved in other books are also rather preserved through it. His treatment of Zhōu Déqīng’s Zhōngyuán yīnyùn in one entry is especially clear and accurate.

The Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù records [the work as] 20 juàn; this copy has only 16 juàn, with no preface or postface front or back, and no table of contents, so one cannot know whether it is complete or defective. Within it many characters and lines are missing, and the recorded poems and prose often retain only the title with the text shown as blank lines — apparently the copyist sought to save labour and so dropped them. Now where they can be recovered we have supplied them; where they cannot, we leave them blank.

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

Abstract

The Yín jīng juàn is a substantial mid-Míng bǐjì/shīhuà compilation. Xú Bólíng’s biographical situation — a self-styled retired literatus from Shànxiàn but with Hángzhōu roots, never holding office — places him among the shānlín literary recluses of the mid-Míng. The principal evidence for his identity is the Tuòguānshēng zhuàn by Zhāng Xī preserved in juàn 12, datable through Zhāng’s Tiānshùn (1462) examination success.

The book’s principal value lies in:

1. Shīhuà / wénpíng. The bulk of the 261 entries are anecdotal poetry criticism and literary remarks in the Běnshì shī tradition, often preserving full quoted texts of poems otherwise lost.
2. Phonology. The entry on Zhōu Déqīng’s Zhōngyuán yīnyùn — the foundational text of YuánMíng qǔ-rhyme phonology — was singled out by the Sìkù editors as the book’s most penetrating contribution.
3. Transmission and gaps. Comparison of the Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù’s 20-juàn count against the WYG 16-juàn recension shows that the surviving text is incomplete; numerous lacunae and blank-quoted poems remain even in the WYG copy.

Dating. The latest event referenced in the text is Chénghuà guǐmǎo (1483), establishing notAfter. Composition began during Tiānshùn (1457–1464); notBefore set to the end of Tiānshùn (1464). The Sìkù editors note the conflict with the late-Míng Chóngzhēn homonym; the WYG attribution is to the mid-Míng Xú Bólíng.

Translations and research

No substantial secondary literature in Western languages located. The work is cited in Chinese-language scholarship on mid-Míng shī-huà, especially regarding the early Míng reception of Zhōngyuán yīnyùn.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Yín jīng juàn entry.