忠肅集

Zhōngsù jí 忠肅集

Collected Works of [Liú] Zhōng-sù [Zhì] by 劉摯 (撰)

About the work

Zhōngsù jí 忠肅集 (named from Liú Zhì 劉摯’s posthumous shì 諡 Zhōngsù) is the literary collection of Liú Zhì (1030–1097, zì Shēnlǎo 莘老 / Cuìlǎo 萃老), one of the central Yuányòu premiers and the chief target of the Shàoshèng proscription. The original 40-juǎn collection is recorded in Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì and Mǎ Duānlín’s Jīngjí kǎo; both report it long lost. The present 20-juǎn recension was reconstituted by the Sìkù editors entirely from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn (rhyme by rhyme); compared with the surviving juǎnmù, about six- or seven-tenths of the original was recoverable. Seventeen pieces of qīngcí and zhāishū (Daoist invocations and jiào texts) were deleted on imperial instruction. Liú Ānshì 劉安世 劉安世’s 1124 yuánxù (preserved at the head of the Sìkù recension) — written for Liú’s son Liú Qǐ 劉跂’s request and one of the more substantive pieces of Northern-Sòng biographical xù — gives the most circumstantial Northern-Sòng account of Liú Zhì’s career and the Yuányòu-into-Shàoshèng crisis. The collection is prefaced by the Qiánlóng emperor’s 6-rhyme Yùtí poem.

Tiyao

The Sìkù tíyào: Zhōngsù jí in 20 juǎn by Liú Zhì of the Sòng. Zhì, zì Cuìlǎo, of Dōngguāng, settling at Dōngpíng. Jiāyòu 4 / 1059 jiǎkē. Under Shénzōng rose through Lǐbù shìláng; on Zhézōng’s accession passed through Ménxià shìláng, Shàngshū yòu púyè; with Guānwéndiàn xuéshì dismissed and made zhī Yùnzhōu. In early Shàoshèng fell under proscription, repeatedly demoted to Dǐngzhōu tuánliàn fùshǐ, banished to Xīnzhōu; died. In Shàoxīng posthumously Shǎoshī, posthumous title Zhōngsù. Deeds in his Sòngshǐ běnzhuàn. His wénjí in 40 juǎn is recorded in Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì; long without surviving běn. We have now from the various rhymes of the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn gathered, edited, and joined; comparing with the juǎnmù of the original shū, six- or seven-tenths can still be preserved. Setting aside 17 pieces of qīngcí and zhāishū, we respectfully take up the imperial instruction and have shānxuē (deleted) — not recording — and arrange the rest by category, restructuring into 20 juǎn. We still place Liú Ānshì’s yuánxù at the head. Zhì’s zhōngliàng gǔgěng (loyal-bright, bone-stiff) on the discrimination of xiézhèng shìfēi was sharply distinguished — eventually arousing the yùn yú qún xiǎorén (resentment of the swarm of small men) and dying in huāngyì (waste-frontier) demotion. As yùshǐ his discussion of the shuàiqián zhùyì (hired-service tax) harm — at which Wáng Ānshí raised difficulties one after another — Zhì’s fǎnfù tiáobiàn, kǎnkǎn bùnáo (back-and-forth, point-by-point arguing, calmly unyielding); his shū are now in the collection. Others such as the hé (impeachment) memorials against Cài Què 蔡確, Zhāng Dūn 章惇 — what is in Sòngshǐ — are also all preserved without lacuna. What he called xiūyán xiànfǎ, biànbié zīmiǎn (cultivate-stricten the constitution, distinguish the Zī from the Miǎn rivers) — his yánlùn fēngcǎi (speech and bearing) is still imaginable. Surely not only is his wéncí free-flowing, able to qūchàng the situation. As to in the collection there is a Sòng Hán Qí dìngcè gōng memorial — discussing Wáng Tónglǎo’s rǎnggōng màoshǎng (snatching merit, fraudulent reward) crime — and the Dàoshān qīnghuà says: when Wén Yànbó returned to office, Zhì spoke before the curtain saying Wáng Tónglǎo’s zházǐ were all taught by Yànbó; requested that the historian correct it; Xuānrén (the empress dowager) did not assent; Yànbó therefore strenuously sought retirement. Now examined: this matter is not in the shǐ; in the collection there is the Qǐng Yànbó píngzhāng zhòngshì memorial — his tuīzhòng (deferential weight) of him is to the highest — particularly enough to verify the xiǎoshuō’s wū (slander). Roughly: at the time dǎnglùn mutually entangled, hàowù shìfēi (likes-and-dislikes / right-and-wrong) was generally hard to rely on. Fortunately the yíjí is still here; we can use it to dìngzhèng (correct-fix) right and wrong. For the learning of lùnshì zhīrén (discussing the times, knowing the men), this is no small benefit. Qiánlóng 49 (1784) 11th month, respectfully collated.

The yuánxù of Liú Ānshì (1124, in response to Liú Qǐ’s request) is preserved at the head: a fully-developed xíngzhuàng-style account of Liú Zhì’s career, particularly detailed on the 1071 yùshǐ episode, the Yuányòu premiership and the Lǚ Dàfáng / Yáng Wèi fall-out, the Shàoshèng proscription and its 1101 Jiànzhōng Jìngguó reversal. The Qiánlóng emperor’s Yùtí Liú Zhì Zhōngsùjí liùyùn poem, prefacing the Sìkù recension, embeds the recovery statistics (“originally 40 juǎn; Yǒnglè dàdiǎn recovers about six-or-seven tenths”) in poetic form.

Abstract

Liú Zhì’s Zhōngsù jí is one of the most substantial primary sources for the Yuányòu coalition’s view of itself. The reconstituted text preserves: (1) his 1071 Lùn shuàiqián zhùyì memorials — among the most articulate Northern-Sòng critiques of the New Policies, recovered intact; (2) the hé memorials against Cài Què, Zhāng Dūn, and others — many independently attested in Sòngshǐ; (3) the Sòng Hán Qí dìngcè gōng memorial — clearing Wén Yànbó 文彥博 文彥博 of the slander, repeated in the Dàoshān qīnghuà, that Liú had attacked him by proxy; (4) the zòuyì on the xiànfǎ (constitution) reform of the censoral system. The 1124 xù by Liú Ānshì is itself an important Northern-Sòng zhuànjì source — particularly its account of the Yáng Wèi denunciation that ended Liú’s premiership (the xiūfù private-letter case, in which the Yìjīng allusion to “small return” was construed as awaiting the empress dowager’s restoration). The Sìkù editors’ explicit defense of Liú against the Dàoshān qīnghuà slander — using the collection itself as documentary control on a xiǎoshuō — is a model of kǎojù. Dating bracket: Liú’s death (1097) to the Sìkù re-collation (1784).

Translations and research

• Levine, Ari Daniel. 2008. Divided by a Common Language: Factional Conflict in Late Northern Song China. University of Hawai’i Press. Treats Liú Zhì throughout as the central Yuán-yòu-coalition figure.
• Levine, Ari Daniel. 2002. “A House in Darkness: The Politics of History and the Language of Politics in the Late Northern Song, 1068–1104.” Ph.D. diss., Columbia. Substantial analysis of Liú’s Lùn shuài-qián zhù-yì memorials.
• Smith, Paul Jakov. 2009. “Shen-tsung’s Reign and the New Policies of Wang An-shih, 1067–1085.” In The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 5, Pt. 1, ed. Denis Twitchett & Paul Smith.
• Yú Yīng-shí 余英時. 2003. Zhū Xī de lì-shǐ shì-jiè 朱熹的歷史世界. Sān-lián.
• Lǐ Yù-mín 李裕民. 2003. Sòng-shǐ kǎo-zhèng 宋史考證. Sòng-rén shēng-zú nián kǎo discussions of Liú Zhì’s dates.

Other points of interest

The 1071 Lùn shuàiqián zhùyì memorials — together with the surviving Wáng Ānshí Hépiàn response in the Línchuān jí KR4d0073 — preserve one of the most fully reconstructable zòuyì exchanges of the Xīníng period. The xiūfù private-letter case (1093) by which Yáng Wèi forced Liú from the premiership is the locus of the celebrated Northern-Sòng polemic over private correspondence as evidence of treason. The Qiánlóng emperor’s prefatory poem is one of his more scholarly yùtí — the embedded recovery statistic indicates the editorial board had already given him the figures.

Links

• Liu Zhi (Wikidata)
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §44 (Yuányòu / Shàoshèng); §28.1 (Sòng biéjí).