Liú Bīnkè wénjí 劉賓客文集
The Collected Works of [Liú Yǔxī] Lord-Guest [of the Heir-Apparent] by 劉禹錫 (撰), 宋敏求 (輯補)
About the work
The literary collection of the mid-Táng poet-statesman Liú Yǔxī 劉禹錫 劉禹錫 (772–842), best known as a member of the Yǒngzhēn 永貞 reform circle around Wáng Shūwén 王叔文 — the so-called “eight sīmǎ” (八司馬) — and as the author of acerbic political verse including the celebrated Yuándū guān 玄都觀 peach-blossom poems. The transmitted text consists of a zhèngjí (main collection) of 30 juǎn plus an wàijí (supplementary collection) of 10 juǎn — the latter compiled in the early Northern Sòng by Sòng Mǐnqiú 宋敏求 宋敏求 (1019–1079) from the 400-odd remaining poems and 22 prose pieces that had survived from the original 40-juǎn recension when its lower 10 juǎn were lost. Liú’s gǔwén prose, recognized in the tíyào as carving a path “outside Hán [Yù] and Liǔ [Zōngyuán]” (於昌黎柳州之外，自爲軌轍), pairs with verse whose “spirit-bone is above Yuán [Zhěn] and Bái [Jūyì].” The wàijí texts — the Zǐ Liúzǐ zìzhuàn 子劉子自傳, in particular — are the primary autobiographical evidence for Liú’s view of the Wáng Shūwén faction and the Bā sīmǎ affair.
Tiyao
Liú Bīnkè wénjí in 30 juǎn, wàijí in 10 juǎn — by Liú Yǔxī of the Táng. The Xīn Tángshū biography of Yǔxī calls him a man of Péngchéng, but that is the ancestral seat: in fact he was from Wújí in Zhōngshān, and the collection is therefore also titled Zhōngshān jí. Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí records the original collection as 40 juǎn; in the early Sòng, ten juǎn were lost, and Sòng Cìdào (= Mǐnqiú 宋敏求) gathered the surviving 400-odd yíshī and 22 záwén into the wàijí — though these are not necessarily exactly the contents of the lost ten juǎn. In the Yuánhé 元和 period (806–820) Yǔxī, having attached himself to Wáng Shūwén, was banished and became one of the Eight Sīmǎ; recalled to the capital, he again offended the executive with his peach-blossom poem on the Xuándū guān, drawing accusations of qīngbó (frivolity). Hán Yù 韓愈, however, was on close terms with him: the collection contains a letter to Dù Huángzhǎngshū (Dù Yòu’s secretary) repeatedly invoking Hán’s authority. In the wàijí the Zǐ Liúzǐ zìzhuàn recounts these events while still refusing to denigrate Wáng Shūwén — his rénpǐn (character) was thus of a piece with Liǔ Zōngyuán’s. His gǔwén is unrestrained and broadly argued, carving its own path outside Hán Yù and Liǔ Zōngyuán; his verse, though somewhat short on suggestion, is sharp in attack and in qìgǔ (spirit-bone) ranks above Yuán Zhěn and Bái Jūyì, holding its own with Dù Mù — and the verse in particular stands out. Chén Shīdào notes that Sū Shì in his early years studied Yǔxī’s poetry alongside Lǚ Běnzhōng, and that Sū Zhé in late life directed students to Yǔxī’s verse for its depth and folded turns of meaning. Liú Kèzhuāng’s Hòucūn shīhuà characterizes the verse as full of indignant feeling, finding only in the line “though late among men, he resembles winter-green among trees” a touch of xiánwǎn (calm grace) — but this is not a balanced judgment. The 20 juǎn of záwén and 10 juǎn of verse had a Míng printing; the wàijí alone was rare in circulation, treasured by collectors. The present presentation copy from Yángzhōu is a manuscript transcription from Máo Jìn’s Jígǔ gé 汲古閣 holding, on fine paper from a Sòng yǐngxiě; the editors join it with the main collection and restore the original juǎn count.
Abstract
Liú Bīnkè wénjí preserves the verse and prose of Liú Yǔxī, one of the central mid-Táng literary voices. The transmission has been particularly complicated:
- Original recension (40 juǎn) — compiled by Liú himself and assembled for circulation under his title Liúshì jíluè 劉氏集略 (the Zìzhuàn mentions this self-edited corpus); cited in Xīn Tángshū yìwénzhì.
- Sòng-initial loss — by the time Chén Zhènsūn compiled the Shūlù jiětí (mid-13th c.), ten juǎn of the 40 had vanished.
- Sòng Mǐnqiú 宋敏求 — c. 1050s/60s, recovered surviving yíshī (≈400 poems) and záwén (22 pieces) into a 10-juǎn wàijí. Sòng’s compilation is what gives the present 30 + 10 form. The tíyào notes the wàijí survived only in rare manuscript by the late 18th century.
- WYG copy — manuscript transcription from Máo Jìn’s Jígǔ gé holding, traced from a Sòng yǐngxiě. Combined into a single 40-juǎn edition.
The catalog meta gives 772–842 for Liú Yǔxī; CBDB confirms (id 33606). The collection is the principal source for understanding the Bā sīmǎ (Eight Marshals) episode and the Wáng Shūwén reform faction from a participant’s perspective. In the literary record Liú is paired with Liǔ Zōngyuán 柳宗元 (the famous LiúLiǔ 劉柳 pairing) and with Bái Jūyì 白居易, with whom he engaged in extensive chànghé (versified exchange) — both Liú Bīnkè jí and Báishì chángqìng jí (= KR4c0069) are full of mutual responses.
Translations and research
- See KR4c0069, KR4c0070 for Bái Jū-yì collections (extensive exchange poetry with Liú).
- Lim Chooi Kua. 1994. Liu Yuxi (Liu Mengde): A study of his life and works. PhD diss., Australian National University.
- Wú Rǔ-yú 吳汝煜, ed. 1985. Liú Yǔ-xī xuǎn-jí 劉禹錫選集. Qí-Lǔ shū-shè.
- Bú Xiáng-shēng 卜祥生, ed. 1990. Liú Yǔ-xī jí jiàn-zhèng 劉禹錫集箋證. Shàng-hǎi gǔ-jí.
- Limited Western-language scholarship; some translation of individual poems in Stephen Owen, The Poetry of the Early T’ang and elsewhere.
Other points of interest
The Zǐ Liúzǐ zìzhuàn in wàijí juǎn 9 is a remarkable instance of mid-Táng autobiographical writing — Liú composed it in 842, the year of his death, and it remains the only first-person account of the Yǒngzhēn affair from a member of the reform faction. Its refusal to denigrate Wáng Shūwén, despite the political costs that act of fidelity had imposed on Liú himself, is what the Sìkù tíyào singles out as the proof of his rénpǐn.