Táng Chǔ Guāngxī shī jí 唐儲光羲詩集
Tang Poetry Collection of Chǔ Guāng-xī by 儲光羲 (撰)
About the work
Chǔ Guāngxī shī jí 儲光羲詩集 in 5 juǎn is the surviving poetry of Chǔ Guāngxī 儲光羲 (706–762), High-Táng shānshuǐ tiányuán poet conventionally placed between Wáng Wéi 王維 / Mèng Hàorán 孟浩然 and the Dàlì generation. Of his original 70-juǎn corpus (Tángshū yìwén zhì) — 70 juǎn of wénpiān, fù, lùn, plus a separate 15-juǎn Zhènglùn 政論 and 20-juǎn Jiǔjīng fēnshū yì 九經分疏義 (per Xīn Wénfáng’s 辛文房 Tángshū cáizǐ zhuàn) — only the 5-juǎn poetry collection survives. The transmitted text is the WYG print of a Sòng-period 5-juǎn recension; the principal editorial frontmatter is the Yuán xù 原序 by Gù Kuàng 顧況 (727–816, see KR4c0038) — itself a piece of late-Táng literary criticism — written ca. 770s.
Tiyao
Chǔ Guāngxī shī jí in 5 juǎn. Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí lists Chǔ Guāngxī’s shī in 5 juǎn, by the Tang jiānchá yùshǐ 監察御史 Lǔguó 魯國 Chǔ Guāngxī, who was jìnshì of the same year as Cuī Guófǔ 崔國輔 and Qímǔ Qián 綦母潛, and who took office under the An Lùshān rebels in Tiānbǎo’s last year and died in demotion afterward. The Tángshū yìwén zhì, in its note to Zhènglùn, says: a Yǎnzhōu 兗州 man, jìnshì of Kāiyuán, was further summoned by the Zhōngshū to compose, became jiānchá yùshǐ; when An Lùshān rebelled and captured him, he later returned voluntarily — a small difference from Chén’s account on the rebel-office issue. Under Bāo Róng 包融’s collection there is a note saying Bāo Róng and Chǔ Guāngxī were both Yánlíng 延陵 men, and that with Dīng Xiānzhī 丁仙芝 etc. eighteen of them all had poetic reputations; Yīn Fán then anthologized them as the Dānyáng jí 丹陽集 — but here even the jíguàn (native place) differs from the previous account, contradicting itself. The case cannot be resolved.
The Tángshū records Chǔ’s collection at 70 juǎn. The present text has Gù Kuàng’s yuán xù (original preface) likewise saying his wénpiān, fù, lùn numbered 70 juǎn. Xīn Wénfáng’s Táng cáizǐ zhuàn 唐才子傳 also lists a Jiǔjīng fēnshū yì 九經分疏義 in 20 juǎn and a Zhènglùn 政論 in 15 juǎn circulating with the rest — all now lost; only this 5-juǎn poetry collection survives.
His poetry derives from Táo Qián 陶潛 — within its plain quality there is an old elegance. Placed between Wáng Wéi and Mèng Hàorán, Chǔ holds his own without disgrace. Yīn Fán’s Héyuè yīnglíng jí praises him as having “xuē jìn chángyán, dé Hàorán zhī qì 削盡常言得浩然之氣” (cutting away all conventional speech, having Hàorán’s spirit) — and that is no excessive praise.
(Reverently collated and submitted in the seventh month of Qiánlóng 43 = 1778.)
Abstract
The 5-juǎn poetry collection — surviving from a once-much-larger 70-juǎn literary corpus that included substantive prose works on classical exegesis (Jiǔjīng fēnshū yì) and political theory (Zhènglùn) — places Chǔ Guāngxī among the highly Daoist-Buddhist contemplative-landscape poets of the High Táng. Yīn Fán’s evaluation in the contemporary anthology Héyuè yīnglíng jí is the foundational critical placement: Chǔ stands close to Mèng Hàorán in tone but with more pronounced Táo Qián 陶潛 inheritance.
Chǔ Guāngxī (706–762; CBDB cbdbId 94771 gives 706–762, consistent with the jiānchá yùshǐ status and the post-rebellion punishment) was Yǎnzhōu 兗州 Lǔguó native (modern Yǎnzhōu, Shāndōng); jìnshì of Kāiyuán 14 (726) — the same year as Cuī Guófǔ 崔國輔 and Qímǔ Qián 綦母潛 — and again summoned through a Zhōngshūshěng drafting test for special promotion. After service as Tàizhù 太祝 and jiānchá yùshǐ 監察御史, he was captured at Chángān during the An Lùshān rebellion (756) and forced to take office under the rebel court; on the recovery of Chángān he was sentenced to demotion and exile and died in obscurity ca. 762, several years younger than Lǐ Bái.
The poetry is principally pastoral: rural retreat, river-bank scenes, mountain temples. The Yǒngjiā xuán shī 永嘉縣詩 cycle (composed during his Yǒngjiā magistracy) is one of the better surviving early-Tiānbǎo sets of xiàn lìng (county-magistracy) verse.
Translations and research
- Stephen Owen. 1981. The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T’ang. Yale UP. Substantial discussion of Chǔ in the post-Wáng-Mèng landscape tradition.
- Stephen Owen. 2013. The Poetry of the High Tang. Library of Chinese Humanities. Selection of Chǔ in English translation.
- Lin Wenyue 林文月. 1989. Dà-lì shí cái-zǐ 大歷十才子. Wén-jīn. Useful for context, though Chǔ predates the Dà-lì group.
Other points of interest
The 18-poet circle anthologized by Yīn Fán as the Dānyáng jí 丹陽集 — Chǔ Guāngxī, Bāo Róng 包融, Dīng Xiānzhī 丁仙芝, and 15 others — is the principal documented mid-eighth-century Jiāngnán poetic circle and a useful counter-balance to the Chángān-centered orthodoxy of Héyuè yīnglíng jí. The jíguàn discrepancies in the standard sources reflect the dispersal of this group across multiple regions.
Links
- Chu Guangxi (Wikipedia)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §54 (Tang literature).