Fēngān yúhuà 分甘餘話
Talks Left Over After Sharing the Sweets
by 王士禛 (Wáng Shìzhēn, 1634–1711), the last bǐjì of his life.
About the work
A 4-juàn bǐjì by 王士禛 (Wáng Shìzhēn), composed during his final retirement at Xīnchéng after his dismissal from the Ministry of Justice in Kāngxī jǐchǒu (1709). The title — fēn gān (sharing the sweetness) — comes from Wáng Xīzhī’s letter to Xiè Wàn 與謝萬書: he proposed sharing whatever sweet things he had. The work consists of running-brush notes on small matters, made by Wáng when he was past seventy and using the writing to xiāo xián qiǎn rì (dispel idleness and pass the days), with no further apparatus of kǎozhèng. So it is not as detailed and accurate as the Chí běi ǒu tán and Jūyì lù. The Sìkù editors note various errors of memory — including an erroneous citation of the Lǎnzhēnzǐ on the Hàn shū Chāngyì wáng zhuàn (the name 羅敷 / 羅紨, with Wáng failing to consult the Hàn shū and the Shuō wén to resolve the question) — and other lapses from sources transmitted by hearsay. But the entry on Cāngláng shīhuà attacking Féng Bān 馮班’s Dùn yín zálù is a substantive polemic, useful for understanding the early-Qīng shīhuà lineage: Wáng’s poetics descend from Yán Yǔ 嚴羽 (the Cāngláng author); his rival Zhào Zhíxìn 趙執信’s poetics descend from Féng Bān; the polemic is part of the Tán lóng lù controversy that defined the early-Qīng poetic factional landscape.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that Fēngān yúhuà in 4 juàn was compiled by Wáng Shìzhēn of the Guócháo. Shìzhēn’s Chí běi ǒu tán and other books are all already recorded. This book was completed in Kāngxī jǐchǒu (1709), the year he was dismissed from Xíngbù shàngshū and was at home. The name Fēngān — taken from Wáng Xīzhī’s letter to Xiè Wàn.
[The book] is mostly suíbǐ (running-brush) records of trivial matters — for he was past seventy, borrowing this to dispel idleness and pass the days, with no further apparatus of investigation. So it cannot be as detailed and accurate as Chí běi ǒu tán and Jūyì lù.
Within: such as citing Lǎnzhēnzǐ as saying the Hàn shū Chāngyì wáng Hè’s concubine was named Luó Zhòu, i.e. Luó Fū, without noting why two characters can be substituted — saying “let it await examination.” Now consulting the Hàn shū · Chāngyì wáng zhuàn, it indeed reads Luó Fú (紨); Shī Gǔ’s gloss says: fú read as fū; the Shuō wén mì-radical part has this character with gloss “cloth, one says coarse silk, from mì, fù sound, fángwú cut.” So fú and fū have the same sound and hence can substitute. Lǎnzhēnzǐ mis-cited the Hàn shū; Shìzhēn did not investigate but raised it to doubt — quite slipshod. This is the evident proof that he plucked entries at random without leisure to consult the texts.
Other recordings of conversations — occasional and incidental — also have much that cannot be fully relied on. But entries such as the reading Fántái as púhé cut, the contention that Méi Fú was not a Wúmén city-guard, the demonstration that there are two Sūzhōu Xuānshì — these have ground; not the same as mere gleanings. Sifting sand and selecting jewels, one often meets them.
Among them the Cāngláng shīhuà entry alone takes up Féng Bān’s Dùn yín zálù and repeatedly attacks it without sparing his energy — for Shìzhēn in discussing poetry honors Yán Yǔ, and Zhào Zhíxìn in discussing poetry honors Féng Bān; checking the year and month, [this comes] at the time of the Tán lóng lù’s appearance. So attacking Féng is precisely a way of attacking Zhíxìn — a poet’s factional view, not yet dissolved.
But what he calls bù shè lǐlù (not going on the road of reasoning) is [in fact valuable] — [text continues but cut off here].
Respectfully revised and submitted, [Sìkù editors].
Abstract
The Fēngān yúhuà is the last bǐjì of 王士禛 (Wáng Shìzhēn)‘s life, composed during his post-1709 retirement and within two years of his death. The title’s allusion to Wáng Xīzhī’s letter to Xiè Wàn signals a deliberate stance of fēngān — passing on what little sweetness he has, casually and without elaborate scholarly apparatus. The Sìkù editors duly note its lesser rigour compared to the Chí běi ǒu tán and Jūyì lù.
The work’s principal value:
- Late poetic polemic. The substantial entry attacking Féng Bān’s Dùn yín zálù is one of the defining late documents of the Tán lóng lù controversy between Wáng’s shényùn school (descended through Yán Yǔ’s Cāngláng shīhuà) and Zhào Zhíxìn’s Féng Bān-influenced rival school.
- Late retirement reflections. The book is among the best biographical sources for Wáng’s final years.
- Kǎozhèng nuggets. Despite its casualness, the book preserves substantive textual notes — the reading of Fántái, the historicity of Méi Fú at Wúmén, the two-Xuānshì problem.
Dating. The work was composed in 1709, the year of his dismissal, and shortly thereafter. NotBefore 1709, notAfter 1711 (his death).
Translations and research
See the entries under KR3j0163 (Lynn, Jiǎng Yīn). The Tán lóng lù polemic is treated by Jiǎng Yīn and by Richard Lynn’s articles.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3, Fēngān yúhuà entry.