香祖筆記

Xiāng zǔ bǐ jì 香祖筆記

Notes from the Studio of the Orchid (Ancestor of Fragrance)

by 王士禛 (Wáng Shìzhēn, 1634–1711).

About the work

A 12-juàn bǐjì by 王士禛 (Wáng Shìzhēn), recording matters from Kāngxī guǐwèi (1703) and jiǎshēn (1704). The title — Xiāng zǔ (Ancestor of Fragrance) — comes from Wáng’s grandfather Wáng Xiàngjìn 王象晉’s Qún fāng pǔ 群芳譜: “In Jiāngnán the orchid is treated as the ancestor of fragrance” (lán 蘭). Wáng named his Xīnchéng study “Zī lán zhī shì” (Chamber of Nourishing the Orchid) by reference to his grandfather’s phrase, and then named the book after the studio. In format and method the book is similar to the Jūyì lù (KR3j0162) and is similarly valuable. The Sìkù editors criticize Wáng’s harsh polemical treatment of two contemporary or near-contemporary shīhuà: he calls one author’s words those of a “blind man” and another’s “a one-eyed man talking of black and white.” They note that Wáng himself in his other works repeatedly misattributes well-known couplets (Liú Yǔxī’s lines to Bái Jūyì in the Chí běi ǒu tán; Zuǒ Sī’s lines to Guō Pú in the Yúyáng wénluè), so the harsh polemic is unbecoming.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Xiāng zǔ bǐ jì in 12 juàn was compiled by Wáng Shìzhēn of the Guócháo. All [the entries] record matters of Kāngxī guǐwèi (1703) and jiǎshēn (1704). The name Xiāng zǔ — Wáng Xiàngjìn’s Qún fāng pǔ says “In Jiāngnán the orchid is treated as xiāng zǔ (the ancestor of fragrance)” — Shìzhēn took his grandfather’s words to name his Zī lán zhī shì (Chamber of Nourishing the Orchid), and then took it to name the book.

The book’s format is the same as Jūyì lù; also much to take. Only within: Yáo Lǚ’s Lù shū is taken as referring to a poem by Zhāng Bāyuán as Lú Zhàolín’s; a certain shīhuà takes Liǔ Yùn’s poem as Zhào Mèngfǔ’s (note: the shīhuà in original does not name [the author] — clearly avoiding it; we keep the original text). Memory occasional slips are something that often happens; pointing out their oversights would suffice. But one is called “words of a man without eyes” and another “a one-eyed man discoursing on black and white” — abusive language out of the way of authorial conduct.

Shìzhēn’s Chí běi ǒu tán in the Rén Dūnbiǎo entry — did he not himself take Liú Yǔxī’s “fù zhōu cè pàn qiān fān guò; bìng shù qián tóu wàn mù chūn” (a thousand sails pass beside the wrecked boat; ten thousand trees in spring before the diseased tree) as Bái Jūyì’s? In Yúyáng wénlüè · Yóu Shèshān jì did he not take Zuǒ Sī’s “zhèn yī qiān rèn gāng, zhuó zú wàn lǐ liú” (shake my robe on the thousand-ren hill, wash my feet in the ten-thousand-li flow) as Guō Pú’s? — this from his late retirement, frustrated and unable to find peace, in his brush and ink lost his former tranquillity. This too is a flaw on great virtue.

[Yet] the entry in juàn 12 saying: “Chuògēng lù says some inscribe paintings tèjiànyào and do not grasp the meaning. I think of the ancients — Qín Shàoyóu’s seeing Wáng Wéi’s Wǎngchuān tú and recovering from illness; Huáng Dàchī, Cáo Yúnxī, Shěn Shítián, Wén Héngshān — all skilled in painting and all long-lived; men say this is yānyún gōngyǎng (cloud-and-mist nourishment); then the name tèjiànyào (Specially-Healthful Medicine) is not unfitting.” On examining Fǎshū yàolù — Wǔ Píngyī’s Xúshì fǎshū jì says: “the imperial son-in-law Wǔ Yánxiù heard of the [Wáng] traces and strove to learn and treasure them; he summoned Xuē Jì and Zhèng [text continues…]” — the Sìkù editors note such mutual citations to confirm Wáng’s care.

Respectfully revised and submitted, [Sìkù editors’ date].

Abstract

The Xiāng zǔ bǐ jì is one of Wáng Shìzhēn’s principal late-career bǐjì, composed in 1703–1704 after his retirement from the Ministry of Justice. Like the closely contemporary Jūyì lù and the slightly later Fēngān yúhuà (KR3j0165) and Gǔfūyútíng zálù (KR3j0166), it gathers Wáng’s reflections on poetry, the literary tradition, anecdotes, and kǎozhèng in topical mixture.

The book’s principal contributions:

1. Late shīhuà. The work is one of Wáng’s most extensive late-career articulations of his shényùn aesthetic; it ranges across Táng, Sòng, and Míng poetry.
2. Connoisseurship. The famous tèjiànyào entry — connecting Sòng painting-viewing to longevity through the Daoist concept of yānyún gōngyǎng — is one of the classic statements of early-Qīng literati art philosophy.
3. Polemic. The book contains Wáng’s harsh polemics against two contemporary shīhuà authors, which the Sìkù editors moderate by noting Wáng’s own mistakes elsewhere — useful context for the late-Kāngxī poetic factional landscape.

Dating. Internal evidence: the book records 1703 and 1704 events. NotBefore 1703, notAfter 1704.

Translations and research

See the works listed under KR3j0163 (Lynn, Jiǎng Yīn). The Xiāng zǔ bǐ jì is cited extensively in scholarship on Wáng’s late poetics and on early-Qīng connoisseurship.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Xiāng zǔ bǐ jì entry.