Duānmíng jí 端明集
The Duān-míng Collection (of Cài Xiāng) by 蔡襄 (撰)
About the work
Duānmíng jí 端明集 (also titled 蔡忠惠集 / Cài Zhōnghuì jí in the SBCK Sòng manuscript line) is the 40-juǎn literary collection of Cài Xiāng 蔡襄 (1012–1067, zì Jūnmó 君謨, posthumous Zhōnghuì 忠惠), one of the celebrated Sòng sì jiā 宋四家 (“Four Sòng Masters”) of calligraphy together with Sū Shì, Huáng Tíngjiān, and Mǐ Fú. The title commemorates Cài’s late office Duānmíng diàn xuéshì 端明殿學士. Cài is also the author of the foundational tea-monograph Chá lù 茶錄 KR3i0009 and of the Lìzhī pǔ 荔枝譜 — the first systematic monograph on the lychee.
Tiyao
[Translation summary] The Sìkù tíyào records Cài’s career — jìnshì of Tiānshèng 8 / 1030 (jiǎkē, top class), rising to Duānmíng diàn xuéshì zhī Hángzhōu, transferred as Nánjīng liúshǒu but before he could go, returned home for mourning, and died at home the next year (=Zhìpíng 4 / 1067), age 56. Posthumous Zhōnghuì 忠惠 in Qiándào. The Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì records Cài Xiāng jí in 60 juǎn and Zòuyì in 10; Wénxiàn tōngkǎo gives 17 juǎn — clearly an error for 70 (60+10). The early printed circulation lapsed. In Qiándào 4 / 1168 Wáng Shípéng 王十朋 (then prefect of Quánzhōu) sought the original but failed; later when Zhōnglí Sōng 鍾離松 became prefect of Xīnghuàjūn he found a copy, recompiled it as 36 juǎn, had Jiǎng Yōng 蔣邕 collate, and printed it — bringing it back into circulation. Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí records only this Wáng Shípéng 36-juǎn, hence its disagreement with the Sòngshǐ. The Yuán cuts again dispersed; Míng readers had no complete text. Xiè Zhàozhì of Mǐn once entered the bìgé with Yè Xiànggāo, found only the catalog entry. In Wànlì, Lú Tíngxuǎn 盧廷選 of Pútián obtained a manuscript from the Yú family of Yùzhāng; then Yùshǐ Chén Yīyuán cut it at Nánchāng in 40 juǎn; Xīnghuàfǔ zhīfǔ Cài Shànjì re-cut it at the prefectural office, restoring the 36-juǎn arrangement and appending Xú &KR0958;‘s 10-juǎn Biéjì. Lú’s text was muddled; the Chén and Cài versions both lacked sequencing. His countryman Sòng Jué 宋珏 later recompiled but printed only the shī jí part. Yōngzhèng jiǎyín / Yōngzhèng 12 (1734) Cài Xiāng’s descendant Cài Tíngkuí 蔡廷魁 again gathered and re-cut — that is the present recension. According to Wáng Shípéng’s preface, his recompiled total was 370 gǔlǜ poems, 64 zòuyì, 584 miscellaneous prose pieces — already merged with zòuyì into the collection, plus the famous Sì xián yī bù xiào shī (which Wáng obtained from Zhāng Tángyīng’s 張唐英 Rényīng zhèngyào and inserted at the front), plus zòuyì not in the older recension — so already augmented past the original. The present text has dropped the Sì xián yī bù xiào shī from the front, departing again from Wáng’s recompilation. Qiánlóng 46 (1781) 11th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Cài Xiāng’s literary stature is multidimensional: poet (in the early-Sòng gǔwén register, with the famous Sì xián yī bù xiào shī of 1036 defending Yú Jìng 余靖, Yǐn Zhū 尹洙, Ōuyáng Xiū against Gāo Ruònuò 高若訥 — see KR4d0023 tíyào above); calligrapher (one of the Sòng sì jiā; his Cǎoshū and Xíngshū are foundational Sòng models); tea-master (Chá lù 茶錄 of 1051, dedicated to Rénzōng, the most influential Sòng tea-monograph after Lù Yǔ’s Chá jīng); horticulturalist (Lìzhī pǔ of 1059, the first systematic Chinese lychee monograph). His career: jìnshì of Tiānshèng 8 / 1030 (top jiǎkē); Yánguān in the Jǐngyòu and Qìnglì periods (composing Sì xián yī bù xiào in 1036 against Gāo Ruònuò; later a key Qìnglì faction member); twice prefect of Quánzhōu (where he supervised the construction of the Wànānqiáo / Luòyángqiáo 萬安橋 / 洛陽橋 — the famous Sòng beam-bridge, completed in 1059); Hànlín xuéshì zhī Kāifēngfǔ; finally Duānmíng diàn xuéshì zhī Hángzhōu. Died at home in Pútián in Zhìpíng 4 / 1067 age 56. Posthumous Zhōnghuì 忠惠 in 1167.
The transmitted text is the Yōngzhèng 12 (1734) recension by his 21st-generation descendant Cài Tíngkuí — an extreme case of Sòng-Yuán-Míng-Qing repeated reconstitution. The dating bracket marks Cài’s death (1067) to the Yōngzhèng 1734 final reconstitution.
Translations and research
- Egan, Ronald C. 2006. The Problem of Beauty: Aesthetic Thought and Pursuits in Northern Song Dynasty China. Harvard. Treats Cài’s calligraphy and Chá lù in the broader aesthetic culture.
- Hartman, Charles. 1995. “Cai Xiang and the Politics of Calligraphy in Eleventh-Century China.” T’oung Pao. The standard treatment of Cài’s calligraphic-political identity.
- Smith, Paul Jakov. 1991. Taxing Heaven’s Storehouse. Treats Cài’s Quán-zhōu fiscal-administrative work.
- Lǚ Yáo 呂瑤, ed. 1985. Cài Xiāng quán-jí 蔡襄全集. Sì-chuān dàxué chūbǎnshè. Modern critical edition.
Other points of interest
The Sì xián yī bù xiào shī (1036) — Cài’s qīyán sequence of five poems naming Fàn Zhòngyān, Yú Jìng, Yǐn Zhū, Ōuyáng Xiū as the Four Worthies and Gāo Ruònuò as the One Unworthy — is one of the founding poems of Northern-Sòng qīngyì factional consciousness; Wáng Shípéng inserted it into the front of the 1168 recension but the Sìkù compilers removed it. The Wànān qiáo (Quánzhōu, 1053–1059), one of the longest Sòng beam-bridges, is Cài’s principal extant material monument.
Links
- Cai Xiang (Wikipedia)
- Wikidata Q717194
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §54 (Sòng calligraphy); §28.1 (Sòng biéjí).