少室山房筆叢

Shǎoshì shānfáng bǐ cóng 少室山房筆叢

Brush-Forest from the Shǎo-shì Mountain Lodge

by 胡應麟 (Hú Yìnglín, 1551–1602, zì Yuánruì 元瑞 / Míngruì 明瑞, hào Shǎoshì shānrén 少室山人), late-Míng polymath, biggest scholarly voice of the second-generation Hòuqīzǐ circle.

About the work

A zhèng jí (Principal Collection, 32 juàn) plus xù jí (Sequel Collection, 16 juàn) of Hú Yìnglín’s kǎozhèng and miscellaneous-discourse writings — the most substantial single late-Míng bǐjì of the kǎozhèng type. Hú was jǔrén of Wànlì 4 (1576) but never jìnshì; he moved in the orbit of Wáng Shìzhēn 王世貞 (the Hòuqīzǐ leader), and as the Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn appends his biography to Wáng’s, the work’s status partly derives from this association. The work is organized as 16 books across the zhèng and xù collections, each treating a distinct subject: Jīngjí huìtōng 經籍會通 (4 juàn, on the history and fate of book-collections); Shǐshū zhānbǐ 史書佔筆 (6 juàn, on historiography); Jiǔ liú xù lùn 九流緒論 (3 juàn, on the zǐbù philosophical schools); Sì bù zhèng é 四部正譌 (3 juàn, the foundational Míng treatise on forgery-detection); Sān fén bǔ yí 三墳補遺 (2 juàn, on the Zhúshū jìnián, Yì Zhōu shū, Mù tiānzǐ zhuàn); Èr yǒu zhuì yí 二酉綴遺 (3 juàn, on xiǎoshuō); Huáyáng bó yì 華陽博議 (2 juàn, on broad-knowledge anecdotes); Zhuāngyuè wěi tán 莊嶽委談 (2 juàn, correcting popular forced readings); Yùhú xiá lǎn 玉壺遐覽 (4 juàn, on Daoist books); Shuāng shù huàn chāo 雙樹幻鈔 (3 juàn, on Buddhist canon); Dānqiān xīn lù 丹鉛新錄 (8 juàn) and Yìlín xué shān 藝林學山 (8 juàn) — both specifically refuting Yáng Shèn 楊慎. The Sìkù editors praise the work’s zhēngyǐn diǎnjí jí wéi hóngfù (extraordinary breadth of citation) but criticize its frequent errors — listed in Shěn Défú’s 沈德符 Bìzhǒu xuān shèng yǔ (the Éméi / Vajra mountain identification; the gōngzú foot-binding chronology); Wáng Shìzhēn’s Xiāng zǔ bǐ jì (KR3j0164) (the Qín Yílù wife confused with Lǚ Bù’s wife; the Táng Cháng’ān nǚér tà chūnyáng poem citation from only Bó yì zhì, missing Shěn Yàzhī); Zhāng Wénbēi’s Luójiāng rì jì (the Zhú shū jì nián unearthing date — Hú says Xiánníng, but should be Tàikāng). Other errors in detail are listed, but the work’s overall bóyǎ (broad refinement) is acknowledged.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that Shǎoshì shānfáng bǐ cóng zhèng jí in 32 juàn and xù jí in 16 juàn was compiled by Hú Yìnglín of the Míng. Yìnglín’s zì was Yuánruì, a Lánxī man, jǔrén of Wànlì bǐngzǐ (1576); got his name by attaching to Wáng Shìzhēn, so the Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn appends his record under Wáng Shìzhēn’s biography.

This is his lifetime’s kǎojù and miscellaneous discourse. Divided into zhèng and xù — 16 books:

• Jīngjí huìtōng in 4 juàn — all on the traces of book-storage, survival, scattering since antiquity
• Shǐshū zhānbǐ in 6 juàn — all on historical matters
• Jiǔ liú xù lùn in 3 juàn — all on the zǐbù schools’ merits and faults
• Sì bù zhèng é in 3 juàn — all on investigating forgeries among ancient books
• Sān fén bǔ yí in 2 juàn — specifically on the Zhúshū jìnián, Yì Zhōu shū, Mù tiānzǐ zhuàn, supplementing the Sān fén lacuna
• Èr yǒu zhuì yí in 3 juàn — gathering xiǎoshuō lore
• Huáyáng bó yì in 2 juàn — miscellaneous discussions of ancient broad-hearing strong-memory matters
• Zhuāngyuè wěi tán in 2 juàn — correcting popular sayings’ forced readings
• Yùhú xiá lǎn in 4 juàn — all on Daoist books
• Shuāng shù huàn chāo in 3 juàn — all on Buddhist canon
• Dānqiān xīn lù in 8 juàn and Yìlín xué shān in 8 juàn — both specifically rebutting Yáng Shèn

Its citation of canonical texts is extremely broad and abundant, rather boasting biànbó (argumentative breadth). But errors are not few and cannot be avoided. As Shěn Défú’s Bìzhǒu xuān shèng yǔ notes: he took Éméi as the Buddhist scriptures’ Jīngāng shān — this is wrong; his treatment of women’s foot-binding chronology — two-headed. Wáng Shìzhēn’s Xiāng zǔ bǐ jì notes: he took Qín Yílù’s wife as Lǚ Bù’s wife; the Táng-man Cháng’ān nǚér tà chūnyáng couplet — only citing Bó yì zhì and not citing Shěn Yàzhī — as omission. Recently Zhāng Wénbēi’s Luójiāng rì jì takes the Zhúshū as actually appearing in the Jìn Tàikāng era — yet Yìnglín took it as Xiánníng and rebuked Yáng Shèn for being wrong; today examining what he says — as Jīngjí huìtōng says that the Chóngwén zǒngmù discusses only jīng and shǐ and is empty in zǐ and jí — this is based on what is preserved in the Liùyī jí, but in the Liùyī jí the zǐ-bu half is also still preserved, not entirely empty.

[The tiyao continues with further detailed examples of errors but follows the same pattern of acknowledging breadth but listing specific mistakes.]

Respectfully revised and submitted, [Sìkù editors].

Abstract

The Shǎoshì shānfáng bǐ cóng is the largest and most substantively scholarly late-Míng kǎozhèng / bóxué compilation. 胡應麟 (Hú Yìnglín, 1551–1602) — never jìnshì, lifelong Lánxī recluse-scholar in Wáng Shìzhēn’s literary orbit — produced sixteen distinct topical books across the 48 total juàn of the zhèng and xù collections. Topics range from book-collection history to historiography, zǐ-philosophy, forgery-detection, ancient pseudepigrapha, xiǎoshuō, anecdote, popular-saying correction, Daoist canon, Buddhist canon, and two distinct anti-Yáng Shèn polemics.

The book’s principal contributions:

1. Sì bù zhèng é. The 3-juàn Sì bù zhèng é is the foundational Míng treatise on forgery-detection — the methodological cornerstone of Chinese biànwěi scholarship and the principal ancestor of the great Qīng kǎozhèng tradition.
2. Jīngjí huìtōng. The 4-juàn Jīngjí huìtōng on the history of book-collections is one of the foundational documents of Chinese book history.
3. Jiǔ liú xù lùn. The systematic survey of the zǐbù philosophical schools and their merits is one of the most comprehensive late-Míng treatments.
4. Anti-Yáng Shèn polemics. The two 8-juàn books (Dānqiān xīn lù, Yìlín xué shān) constitute the most extensive Míng-era refutation of Yáng Shèn 楊慎 — a debate central to mid-late Míng philological criticism.
5. Sān fén bǔ yí. The treatment of the Zhúshū jìnián, Yì Zhōu shū, and Mù tiānzǐ zhuàn is foundational for Míng treatment of these pseudepigrapha.

Dating. Hú’s jǔrén date is 1576; the work appears to be composed across his mature career. NotBefore 1585, notAfter 1602 (his death).

Translations and research

• William Hung, Tu Fu: China’s Greatest Poet, Harvard, 1952 — uses the Shǎo-shì shān-fáng bǐ cóng.
• Modern Chinese scholarship: Chén Guó-qìng 陳國慶, Hàn-Wèi Liù-cháo wén-xué shǐ liào shù lùn 漢魏六朝文學史料述論, 1990 — uses the work extensively.
• Critical edition: Shǎo-shì shān-fáng bǐ cóng in Wàn-yǒu wén-kù and later Cóng-shū jí-chéng series.

Other points of interest

The Sì bù zhèng é — Hú’s principal philological monument — is one of the most carefully argued forgery-detection works of any pre-modern Chinese tradition, anticipating Qīng kǎozhèng method by a century. The book’s catalogue of known and suspected forgeries provided the foundation for the Qīng biànwěi tradition that culminated in Yáo Jìhēng’s Gǔ jīn wěi shū kǎo.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 6, Shǎoshì shānfáng bǐ cóng entry.
• Wikipedia: Hu Yinglin.