Gāo Yǔn Jí 高允集
Collected Works of Gao Yun by 高允 (撰)
About the work
The Gāo Yǔn Jí 高允集 is a two-juàn jíyìběn 輯佚本 (reconstructed anthology) compiled by Zhāng Pǔ 張溥 (1602–1641) for his Hànwèi liùcháo bǎisānjiā jí 漢魏六朝百三家集. The text is an extra-catalog reconstruction not included in the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書. 卷一 opens at line 5 and 卷二 at line 499 of the source file (total 3153 lines), indicating a substantial two-volume reconstruction.
The collection presents an unusually varied range of genres. Poetry includes 〈羅敷行〉, 〈王子喬〉 (yuèfǔ imitations), and the 〈答宗欽十三章〉 (Thirteen Poems in Reply to Zōng Qīn) — a celebrated verse exchange documented in Wèishū 魏書 48. Prose works include the rhapsodies 〈代都賦〉 (on the Northern Wei capital Dàtóng) and 〈鹿苑賦〉 (on the deer park), several memorials remonstrating with emperors (〈諫文成帝起宮室〉, 〈諫文成帝不釐改風俗〉, 〈諫皇太子營立田園〉), a philosophical essay 〈筮論〉, a letter 〈荅宗欽書〉, and ritual texts including 〈祭岱宗文〉. Sources cited include Shījì 詩紀 (fascicle 108), Wèishū 魏書 biographies, Guǎnghóngmíng jí 廣宏明集 29, and Wénguǎn cílín 文館詞林 158.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This text is an extra-catalog reconstruction not included in the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書.
Abstract
Gāo Yǔn 高允 (390–487 CE), styled Bógōng 伯恭, was one of the most eminent scholar-officials of the Northern Wèi 北魏 dynasty, renowned equally for his literary learning, his courageous remonstrance of emperors, and his extraordinary longevity (he died at nearly one hundred years of age). He was born in Bóhǎi Xiū 渤海脩 (modern Héběi). After service under the Northern Liáng, he joined the Northern Wèi court under Emperor Tàiwǔ 太武帝 (r. 423–452), rapidly rising to prominence as a literary official and administrator. He served as 中書監 (Director of the Imperial Secretariat) for decades, surviving through the reigns of Emperors Tàiwǔ, Wénchéng 文成帝, and Xiànwén 獻文帝, and into the early reign of Emperor Xiàowén 孝文帝. His biography appears in Wèishū 魏書 48 and Běishǐ 北史 31.
Gāo Yǔn is best known in literary history for his verse exchange with the poet Zōng Qīn 宗欽: the 〈答宗欽十三章〉 (Thirteen Poems in Reply to Zōng Qīn), preserved in his Wèishū biography, are among the most substantial pieces of original verse associated with a Northern Wèi official. His rhapsody on Dàtóng, 〈代都賦〉, is a significant document of the Northern Wèi capital’s layout and culture. His prose memorials remonstrating against imperial excess — particularly the three surviving jiàn 諫 addressed to Emperor Wénchéng — illustrate the Confucian remonstrance tradition in the Northern courts.
An item from the Guǎnghóngmíng jí 廣宏明集 29 confirms that Gāo Yǔn also engaged with Buddhist literary culture at the Northern Wèi court. Zhāng Pǔ’s reconstruction draws on Wèishū biographical citations, the Shījì, and the Wénguǎn cílín, stitching together the most complete available anthology of Gāo Yǔn’s output.
Translations and research
- No substantial secondary literature on the Gāo Yǔn corpus located. For his biography see Albert E. Dien, “The Bestowal of Surnames under the Western Wei–Northern Chou: A Case of Counter-Acculturation,” T’oung Pao 63 (1977), and Étienne Balazs, Chinese Civilization and Bureaucracy (New Haven, 1964), for Northern Wei administrative culture.