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安陽集

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Text ID
KR4d0024
Date
1075–1100
Dynasty
宋

Ānyáng jí 安陽集

The Ān-yáng Collection (of Hán Qí) by 韓琦 (撰)

About the work

Ānyáng jí 安陽集 is the 50-juǎn collected works of Hán Qí 韓琦 (1008–1075, zì Zhìguī 稚圭, posthumous Zhōngxiàn 忠獻), one of the principal councillors of the Northern-Sòng mid-eleventh century — jìnshì of Tiānshèng 5 / 1027 (joint third with Wáng Gōngchén), prefect of Yángzhōu and Tàiyuán, Zhīzhìgào, Shūmìshǐ, and three-time Zǎixiàng under Rénzōng, Yīngzōng, and Shénzōng (1058–1067, with breaks). The title Ānyáng commemorates Hán’s natal home in Xiāngzhōu Ānyáng 相州安陽 (modern Héběi). The collection is preserved at its original 50-juǎn extent — the Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì, Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì, and Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí all record this size, and the present recension matches.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit: the Ānyáng jí in 50 juǎn was composed by Hán Qí of the Sòng. His deeds are in the Sòngshǐ. Cháo’s Dúshū zhì, Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí, and Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì all give 50 juǎn; the present mùcì matches — clearly the original. Hán was thrice Zǎixiàng, his merit lay in the dynasty; he never took prose as his vocation in life, yet his diction is dignified and substantive, his exposition pointedly pertinent — bearing the manner of chuíshēn zhènghù (the official with sash and tablet). Lǚ Zǔqiān’s Wén jiàn selected 10 of his prose pieces — the discussions of reducing redundant expenditure, of the Western-Xià peace request, of contemporary affairs, of Qīngmiáo — all dignified discussions, well displaying his great character. His poetry is mostly unforced: lofty by nature; the “Huánghuā wǎnjié” 黃花晚節 couplet has long been quoted in the world; other occasional verses convey deep allusion. Jiāng Shàoyú’s Shìshí lèiyuàn says Hán’s Xǐ xuě couplet — “Wēi shí gài shēn yán hǔ xiàn / lǎo zhī qíng zhòng yùlóng hán” 危石蓋深鹽虎陷 / 老枝擎重玉龍寒 — was said by some to be “abroad on assignment but bearing the world’s weight as his charge”; that was probably forced reading and not Hán’s intent. Sīmǎ Guāng’s shīhuà records: when Hán was demoted to Běijīng and the new-officials many slighted him, he wrote “Fēng dìng wǎn zhī húdié nào / yǔ yún chūn pǔ jiégāo xián” 風定晚枝蝴蝶閙 / 雨勻春圃桔橰閑 — contemporaries praised the subtlety. Qiáng Zhì’s 強至 Hán Zhōngxiàn yíshì records Hán while at Xiāngtái wrote in Xǐ yǔ shī: “Xūyú wèi mǎn sānnóng wàng / què liǎn shéngōng jì sì wú” 須臾慰滿三農望 / 卻歛神功寂似無 — “this is real Zǎixiàng work” — capturing his disposition. Allusion built up deeply, hence direct expression naturally captures the fēngyǎ tradition; he is not a man only of clouds and moon. The Míngchén yánxíng lù records that when Sīmǎ Guāng declined the Shūmì fùshǐ, Hán had a letter to Wén Yànbó about it; Lǚ Běnzhōng’s Dōnglái shīhuà records two further letters with Sīmǎ; Wú Shīdào’s Lǐbù shīhuà records Hán’s three poems on early summer with their xiāosǎn xiánshì spirit — none of these is in Ānyáng jí, and Lù Yóu’s Wèinán jí has a postface to a Hán Zhōngxiàn tiē 韓忠獻帖 saying that when the Western Xià invaded the border, Hán bore the chief defense charge, then entered the cabinet to plan strategy and management of talent — this letter visible from the postface — likewise not in the present collection: clearly the editing has lost some material. After this collection was once 10 juǎn of Jiāzhuàn 家傳 and 1 juǎn each of Biélù 別錄 and Yíshì 遺事 appended; checking the Tōngkǎo, the three works are listed separately under their own titles; later hands gathered and appended them. We now restore the original 50-juǎn arrangement and list these three appendices separately under the Shǐbù class. Qiánlóng 41 (1776) 10th month, respectfully collated.

Abstract

Hán Qí’s career is one of the principal pillars of mid-Northern-Sòng political history — jìnshì of 1027, then a long ascent through the Yánguān offices into the Shūmì; Cānzhī zhèngshì under Rénzōng in Qìnglì 5 / 1045 and again from Jiāyòu 5 / 1060; Tóng zhōngshū ménxià píngzhāngshì under Yīngzōng (1063–1067); the lead figure in the disputed Púyì 濮議 succession-ritual debate of 1065–1066. After Shénzōng’s accession he was sent out as Pàn Xiāngzhōu; opposed the Wáng Ānshí Xīníng reforms (his Lùn Qīngmiáo memorial preserved in the present collection is one of the principal opposition documents of 1069); died at Xiāngzhōu in Xīníng 8 / 1075 age 68. Posthumously canonized Zhōngxiàn 忠獻; shéndào bēi by Sòng Mǐnqiú 宋敏求 and xíngzhuàng by Lǐ Qīngchén 李清臣 (both preserved in the appended Biélù). Hán is the central figure in the early-Sòng formation of the yánshì zǎixiàng type — together with Fù Bì 富弼 and Wén Yànbó 文彦博 he constitutes the canonical “Sān shàngxiàng” 三上相 of the Qìnglì / Jiāyòu generation.

The literary corpus is substantial and is dominated by zòuyì (the Qīngmiáo memorial and others), court ceremonial, bēimíngjì, and shéndào bēi — including the Zhāng Yǒng shéndào bēi preserved at KR4d0005 of Zhāng Yǒng’s Guāiyá jí. The poetry is unaffected and dignified, with a famous Yúyáng couplet on chrysanthemums that became proverbial. The dating bracket is from Hán’s death (1075) to the late-Northern-Sòng terminus ante quem of the 50-juǎn recension recorded by Cháo Gōngwǔ.

Translations and research

  • Liu, James T. C. 1959. Reform in Sung China: Wang An-shih (1021–1086) and his New Policies. Harvard UP. Treats Hán Qí as the principal Yán-guān opponent of the Xī-níng reforms.
  • Levine, Ari Daniel. 2008. Divided by a Common Language. Hawai’i. Treats Hán’s role in the Pú-yì debate.
  • Smith, Paul Jakov, and Richard von Glahn, eds. 2003. The Song-Yuan-Ming Transition. Treats the Qìng-lì / Jiā-yòu generation in which Hán was central.
  • Liú Lè 劉勒. 1985. Hán Qí yán-jiū 韓琦研究. Hé-nán dàxué chūbǎnshè. The standard Chinese biography.

Other points of interest

Hán Qí is one of the few major Northern-Sòng councillors whose biéjí survives at near-original size from the Sòng witnesses, without an intervening Yǒnglè dàdiǎn reconstitution — a rare textual luck. The 10-juǎn Jiāzhuàn (separately catalogued in the Shǐbù) and the Biélù / Yíshì appendices are key sources for the history of the Púyì debate.

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