Dūguān jí 都官集
The Dū-guān (Capital Office) Collection (of Chén Shùn-yú) by 陳舜兪 (撰)
About the work
Dūguān jí 都官集 is the 14-juǎn Sìkù reconstitution from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn of the original 30-juǎn literary collection of Chén Shùnyú 陳舜兪 (d. 1074, zì Lìngjǔ 令舉, hào Báiniú jūshì 白牛居士). The title commemorates Chén’s office Dūguān yuánwàiláng 都官員外郎 (the Dūguān being a department of the Xíngbù). Chén is best known for the Lúshān jì 廬山記 KR2k0084 — the principal Northern-Sòng monograph on Mount Lú, composed during his demotion to Nánkāng tax-inspector after refusing to enforce Wáng Ānshí’s Qīngmiáo law. The original collection was edited by his son-in-law Zhōu Kāizǔ 周開祖 in 30 juǎn; recut at Sìmíng in 1198 (Qìngyuán) by Chén’s great-grandson Chén Qǐ 陳杞 with postface by Lóu Yuè 樓鑰 — that is the recension recovered by the Sìkù compilers from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn.
Tiyao
[Translation summary] The Sìkù tíyào: Dūguān jí in 14 juǎn by Chén Shùnyú of the Sòng. Has Lúshān jì already in the catalog. The collection was edited posthumously by his son-in-law Zhōu Kāizǔ in 30 juǎn with preface by Jiǎng Zhīqí 蔣之奇; in Qìngyuán his great-grandson Qǐ as Huīyóugé dàizhì zhī Qìngyuánfǔ recut at Sìmíng and titled it Dūguān jí, with Lóu Yuè 樓鑰 postface; original lapsed; Yǒnglè dàdiǎn preserves much, recovered to perhaps 6/7. Arranged: 11 juǎn prose + 3 juǎn poetry + supplementary 7 poems from Lì È’s Sòng shī jìshì and Shěn Jìyǒu’s Xiélǐ shīxì. Chén in youth studied with Hú Yuán 胡瑗; later studied with Ōuyáng Xiū; was friend of Sīmǎ Guāng 司馬光 and Sū Shì 蘇軾. Decisively jīngshì in commitment; presented 10,000-word memorial comparing himself to Jiǎ Yì. After demotion and death, Sū Shì wept-text for him, calling his xuéshù cáinéng equal to a hundred men, “kǎirán jiāng yǐ shēn rèn tiānxià” (resolutely about to bear the world’s affairs on his body), but cast out without restoration; men of letters known and unknown all deeply mourned him. Now examining his poems, mostly written after demotion: open and free, all coming from his own bosom; prose mostly on contemporary politics, kǎizhí (frank-direct), penetrating; the three memorials to Yīngzōng and the Qīngmiáo memorial particularly sharp on advantages and faults — though his use was not realized, his moral standing and jīngjì are visible. The Sòngshǐ biography is appended to Zhāng Wèn 張問’s at the end and is brief on his offices. Examining the present collection: he served Tiāntāi cóngshì for 15 years; twice held Tiāntāi and Sìmíng prefectural posts; the Shàng Tángzhōu zhījùn qǐ notes “the prime minister of Nányáng” (Hán Wéi); Hán Qí had a poem to Chén Shùnyú tuīguān; Sīmǎ Guāng’s gift poem says “in some other day the cāngshēng will look on him, not just Zéshòu Chūnběn”; jí xù says he was Guānglùchéng qiānshū Shòuzhōu pànguān — none of which is in the biography. Chén Qǐ’s postface calls his great-grandfather “Dūguān”; Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí also says Dūguān yuánwàiláng jí, name from this — but the běnzhuàn says he was Túntián yuánwàiláng zhī Shānyīn — among the Sòngshǐ histories the most slipshod, this is one piece of evidence. Qiánlóng 46 (1781) 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Chén Shùnyú’s career: jìnshì of Qìnglì 6 / 1046 (the same examination as the Liú brothers); first-place winner of the special Màocái examination of Jiāyòu 4 / 1059. Held a sequence of provincial posts; in Xīníng, while magistrate of Shānyīn xiàn (modern Shàoxīng), he refused to enforce the Qīngmiáo loan law and was demoted to Nánkāng tax-inspector — during which exile he conducted the famous 60-day field tour of Mount Lú with the retired official Liú Huàn 劉渙 (1000–1080) that produced the Lúshān jì. Died in 1074 still in demotion. Pupil of Hú Yuán in youth, of Ōuyáng Xiū in maturity; friend of Sīmǎ Guāng and Sū Shì. The collection’s principal contents include the three memorials to Yīngzōng, the Qīngmiáo anti-New-Policies memorial (one of the principal opposition documents of 1069), and substantial jì, xù, shū, and zhīzhìyuán. The dating bracket marks Chén’s death (1074) to the Sìkù reconstitution (1781).
Translations and research
- Hargett, James M. 2018. Jade Mountains and Cinnabar Pools: The History of Travel Literature in Imperial China. UW Press. Treats Chén’s Lú-shān jì.
- Levine, Ari. 2008. Divided by a Common Language. Hawai’i. Treats the anti-Xī-níng opposition.
- Bol, Peter K. 1992. “This Culture of Ours”. Stanford UP.
- Liú Lè 劉勒. 1985. Sòng dài Wáng Ān-shí biàn-fǎ duì-lì pài yán-jiū 宋代王安石變法對立派研究. Discusses Chén among the Xī-níng opposition.
Other points of interest
Chén’s Lúshān jì (3 juǎn) — separately catalogued at KR2k0084 — is one of the very few Northern-Sòng systematic geographical-monastic monographs on a Buddhist mountain and was a major source for late-imperial Lúshān literature. The Sìkù identification of textual errors in the Sòngshǐ biography (the Túntián / Dūguān office discrepancy) is a useful philological observation.
Links
- Chen Shunyu (Wikidata)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §44 (Xīníng reforms); §28.1 (Sòng biéjí).