長物志

Cháng wù zhì 長物志

Treatise on Superfluous Things

by 文震亨 (Wén Zhènhēng, 1585–1645, zì Qǐměi 啟美), late-Míng Sūzhōu literatus, painter, qín-player, and martyr to the dynasty.

About the work

The most influential late-Míng connoisseurship treatise on the Sūzhōu literati lifestyle, in 12 juàn. Compiled by 文震亨 (Wén Zhènhēng) — zhōngshū shèrén under the Chóngzhēn court (recruited for his qín skills) and great-grandson of Wén Zhēngmíng 文徵明 — the work is divided into twelve categories: shì lú 室廬 (dwellings, juàn 1); huā mù 花木 (flowering plants, juàn 2); shuǐ shí 水石 (water and stone, juàn 3); qín yú 禽魚 (birds and fish, juàn 4); shū huà 書畫 (calligraphy and painting, juàn 5); jī tà 几榻 (tables and couches, juàn 6); qì jù 器具 (utensils, juàn 7); wèi zhì 位置 (placement, juàn 8); yī shì 衣飾 (clothing, juàn 9); zhōu chē 舟車 (boats and carts, juàn 10); shū guǒ 蔬果 (vegetables and fruit, juàn 11); xiāng míng 香茗 (incense and tea, juàn 12). The title — cháng wù (literally “superfluous things”) — comes from the Shìshuō xīnyǔ quotation of Wáng Gōng 王恭: “Zhàngrén (the gentleman) has no cháng wù” — paradoxically asserting that what is unnecessary is precisely what makes the cultivated life. The Sìkù editors recognize the book as the principal late-Míng treatise of the Sūzhōu literati aesthetic, descending from Zhào Xīhú’s Dòngtiān qīnglù (KR3j0167) and Dǒng Qíchāng’s Yúnxuān qīng bì lù 筠軒清閟錄, refined and ordered by Wén’s family inheritance of the Wén Zhēngmíng painting tradition. Wén himself committed suicide by drowning in 1645 to protest the Manchu conquest, giving the work an additional weight as the last testament of the Sūzhōu literati world before the conquest.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Cháng wù zhì in 12 juàn was compiled by Wén Zhènhēng of the Míng. Zhènhēng’s zì was Qǐměi, a Chángzhōu (Sūzhōu) man, in Chóngzhēn held office as Wǔyīng diàn zhōngshū shèrén (Secretariat Drafter, Wǔyīng Hall), recommended for his skill at the qín. The book is divided into twelve categories: shìlú, huāmù, shuǐshí, qínyú, shūhuà, jītà, qìjù, wèizhì, yīshì, zhōuchē, shūguǒ, and xiāngmíng. The name cháng wù is taken from the Shìshuō xīnyǔ phrase by Wáng Gōng.

Its discussion is all of xiánshì yóuxì (leisured affairs and play), down to fine particulars. In the late Míng many shānrén mòkè (mountain recluses and ink-clients) transmitted this art, writing books and submitting them — page upon page, almost all trifling, not worth recording. But Zhènhēng’s family was famed for generations in calligraphy and painting; ear-trained and eye-soaked, more refined than other [late-Míng] houses. His words on collection and connoisseurship methods also have order. Basically [the book] derives from Zhào Xīhú’s Dòngtiān qīnglù and Dǒng Qíchāng’s Yúnxuān qīng bì lù and similar works, with slight alteration of arrangement; its source also flows from the Sòng men. Hence we preserve it as one variety of zájiā.

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

Abstract

The Cháng wù zhì is the canonical late-Míng treatise on the Sūzhōu literati lifestyle and one of the most influential connoisseurship and aesthetic texts in the entire Chinese tradition. Its title — cháng wù (superfluous things) — comes from the Shìshuō xīnyǔ anecdote of Wáng Gōng paradoxically lacking “superfluous things”; Wén turns this into a connoisseurship credo, asserting that the apparently unnecessary objects of the cultivated gentleman’s surroundings (the right rocks, the right plants, the right desks) define refinement against the vulgar.

The book’s principal contributions:

1. Definitive late-Míng aesthetic. The twelve-category arrangement is the most influential late-Míng treatment of the totality of literati domestic life — from the architecture of the dwelling to the placement of objects within rooms, from tea to incense to clothing. It crystallizes the Sūzhōu Wén family tradition descending from Wén Zhēngmíng (his great-grandfather).
2. The Wén lineage. Wén Zhènhēng’s authority derives from his descent — Wén Zhēngmíng’s great-grandson, son of Wén Cóngjiǎn 文從簡 — through one of the most influential connoisseurship lineages of the late Míng.
3. Last testament. Wén’s 1645 suicide by drowning to protest the Manchu conquest gives the work an additional historical weight; the Cháng wù zhì is in effect the last comprehensive statement of the Sūzhōu literati world before the dynastic collapse.
4. Source for Western scholarship. Craig Clunas’s Superfluous Things takes the book as its central text and as the principal evidence for late-Míng material culture; this has made the Cháng wù zhì one of the most studied Chinese connoisseurship texts in Western scholarship.

Dating. Wén died in 1645; the book is conventionally dated to the late Tiānqǐ / Chóngzhēn years. NotBefore 1620, notAfter 1645.

Translations and research

• Craig Clunas, Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China, Polity Press, 1991. The principal Western-language study; takes the Cháng wù zhì as the central text. Reissued 2004 with new preface.
• Tobias Biancone, Wen Zhenheng: Cháng wù zhì, partial translations in art-history collections.
• Yang Yongli 楊勇麗, Cháng wù zhì jiào zhù 長物志校注 (Nanjing: Jiāngsū Kē-jì Chū-bǎn-shè, 1984) — the standard modern critical edition.

Other points of interest

The Cháng wù zhì served as the definitive late-Míng manual of yǎsú (refined-vs-vulgar) distinction — a discriminating discourse that Clunas argues responds to the late-Míng commercialization of culture and the threatening upward mobility of the merchant class. Wén’s category-by-category prescriptions function as both connoisseurship guide and social armament.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 4, Cháng wù zhì entry.
• Wikipedia: Wen Zhenheng.