樂全集

Lèquán jí 樂全集

The Collection of [Zhāng] Lè-quán [Fāng-píng] by 張方平 (撰)

About the work

Lèquán jí 樂全集 is the literary collection of Zhāng Fāngpíng 張方平 (1007–1091, zì Āndào 安道, hào Lèquán jūshì 樂全居士, posthumous Wéndìng 文定), one of the most senior anti-New-Policies critics of the Xīníng period and the patron-mentor of Sū Shì from Sū’s youth. The collection is in 40 juǎn matching the Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì count: shī 4 juǎn; sòng 1 juǎn; Chúráo lùn 芻蕘論 (his major collected political essays) 10 juǎn; zálùn 2 juǎn; duìyǔcè 1 juǎn; lùnshì 9 juǎn; biǎozhuàng 3 juǎn; shū 1 juǎn; jiānqǐ 1 juǎn; jìxù 1 juǎn; zázhù 1 juǎn; jìwén bēizhì 6 juǎn. The Yùtáng jí 玉堂集 in 20 juǎn (his Hànlín drafts — zhì-edicts on imperial-clan and senior-bureaucratic appointments, e.g. the Lì tàizǐ, Chú Zōngè jiédùshǐ, Hán Qí shǒu Sītú, Lǚ Gōngbì Shūmìshǐ, Lǐ Zhāoliàng Diànqián fù dūzhǐhuīshǐ) is recorded by Wáng Gǒng 王鞏’s Dōngdū shìluè xíngzhuàng but is now lost; some pieces are recoverable from Sòng wén jiàn. The Sìkù recension preserves the Sòng xiàozōng-era taboo (the character shèn 慎 noted as jīnshàng yùmíng — i.e. Xiàozōng Zhào Shèn 趙𥷑‘s name); Sū Shì’s preface, lost in earlier transmission, is restored at the head from independent witnesses.

Tiyao

The Sìkù tíyào: Lèquán jí in 40 juǎn by Zhāng Fāngpíng of the Sòng. Fāngpíng, zì Āndào, of Sòngchéng. Took the màocái yìděng — was Jiàoshūláng; held office through Cānzhīzhèngshì; on death posthumous Sīkōng, shì Wéndìng. Deeds in his Sòngshǐ běnzhuàn. Self-styled Lèquán jūshì, hence the collection’s name — taking Zhuāngzǐ’s lèquán zhī wèi dézhì (joy-in-completeness is what is called gaining-the-will) phrase — details given in his composed Lèquántáng shī. The collection seen in Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì — 40 juǎn, matching this copy. The Dōngdū shìluè and Wáng Gǒng’s xíngzhuàng further record a Yùtáng jí in 20 juǎn — and Fāngpíng while in the Hànlín drafted: as in the Lì tàizǐ, Chú Zōngè jiédùshǐ, Hán Qí shǒu Sītú, Lǚ Gōngbì Shūmìshǐ, Lǐ Zhāoliàng Diànqián fù dūzhǐhuīshǐ — pieces seen in Sòng wén jiàn — this collection has none — clearly they were in the Yùtáng jí — and that is now lost. What survives is only this collection. The collection has shī in 4 juǎn, sòng in 1 juǎn, Chúráo lùn in 10 juǎn, zálùn in 2 juǎn, duìyǔcè in 1 juǎn, lùnshì in 9 juǎn, biǎozhuàng in 3 juǎn, shū in 1 juǎn, jiānqǐ in 1 juǎn, jìxù in 1 juǎn, zázhù in 1 juǎn, jìwén bēizhì in 6 juǎn. Fāngpíng was yǐngwù — on books yīlǎn bùwàng; in writing several thousand words lìjiù (set-up at once); in cáiqì běn shíbǎi yú rén (basic talent ten-or-hundredfold over others); and his shí (insight) further could zhuójiàn shìlǐ, tuánduàn míngjué (clearly perceive matters’ principles, decide-cut clearly). Hence in the collection the lùnshì pieces are uniformly háoshuǎng chàngdá (vigorous-bold, free-flowing), as if a guījiàn (tortoise-mirror), well-seeing — not only the shǐ-recorded PíngRóng shícè, Lùn xīnfǎ shū are qiēzhōng lìbì (cuttingly pointing-out advantages-and-defects). Sū Shì wrote a xù comparing him with Kǒng Róng and Zhūgě Liàng; commentators do not regard this as private-praise — surely we may believe his zhuórán wúkuì (decisively without shame) of the lìyán zhī xuǎn (the choice of lìyán = establishing words). The yíjí circulates very rarely; this copy shǒuwěi pō wánshàn (head-and-tail rather complete-and-good); under the character shèn (慎) all annotated jīnshàng yùmíng (the present sovereign’s tabooed name) — clearly cóng Xiàozōngshí kānběn chāocún (preserved by transcription from a Xiàozōng-time cut). Particularly does not include Sū Shì’s yuánxù — we suspect transcribers’ loss; we now have collated and supplemented it, placing it at the head of the collection, to preserve the old. Qiánlóng 44 (1779) 9th month, respectfully collated.

The Sū Shì Lèquán jí xù preserved at the head opens with the comparison to Kǒng Róng (whose ambition was great but whose deeds were not realized) and Zhūgě Liàng (whose Chūshī biǎo is jiǎn ér jìn, zhí ér bù sì — sparse-yet-full, direct-yet-not-extreme); claims Zhāng’s zhāngshū matches both; describes Zhāng’s bearing in person as xiárán yǐ yǒu gōngfǔ zhī wàng (towering, with the gōngfǔ expectation already on him); and notes that qìnglì yǐlái xùn yú yuánfēng sìshí yú nián (from Qìnglì through Yuánfēng, more than 40 years) Zhāng’s memorials and discussions, yòng yǔ bùyòng, ér jiē běn yú lǐyì hé yú rénqíng (used or not used, all are based on principle and accord with human feeling), with their shìfēi yǒu kǎo yú qián, ér chéngbài yǒu yàn yú hòu (right-and-wrong verifiable in advance, success-and-failure verifiable in retrospect). The preface ends with the famous Zēng Lǔgōng (Zēng Gǒngliàng 曾公亮)‘s saying: “the gōng before the sovereign in discussing great matters — what others took the whole day, going over and over, could not exhaust — the gōng could decide in a few words, cànrán chéngwén.”

Abstract

Lèquán jí preserves three of the most-cited late-Northern-Sòng political documents: (1) the PíngRóng shícè 平戎十策, datable to the early 1040s — the most articulate Sòng response to the XīXià frontier crisis under Lǐ Yuánhào; (2) the Lùn xīnfǎ shū memorials of Xīníng 2 / 1069, from a senior Cānzhīzhèngshì-rank position outside the Yuányòu coalition’s circle (Zhāng’s opposition was as a Tiānshèng-generation senior); and (3) the long Chúráo lùn — 10 juǎn of theoretical-political essays, the most substantial Northern-Sòng cèlùn corpus outside the Sūshì jí. Sū Shì’s preface — preserved at the head — is one of the two great Northern-Sòng biéjí prefaces (alongside Ōuyáng Xiū’s Méi Shèngyú shījí xù KR4d0056) and frames Zhāng as the model guóshì-rank statesman whose words consistently běn yú lǐyì, hé yú rénqíng. The lost Yùtáng jí — Zhāng’s Hànlín draft collection — is reconstructable in part from Sòng wén jiàn; the Sòng-Xiào-zōng-era shèn-character taboo confirms the Lèquán jí’s post-1163 transmission state. Dating bracket: Zhāng’s death (1091) to the Sìkù re-collation (1779).

Translations and research

• Liu, James T. C. 1959. Reform in Sung China: Wang An-shih and his New Policies. Harvard UP. Treats Zhāng’s Lùn xīn-fǎ shū extensively.
• Twitchett, Denis & Paul Smith, eds. 2009. The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 5, Pt. 1: The Sung Dynasty and its Precursors, 907–1279. Cambridge UP.
• Egan, Ronald C. 1994. Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi. Harvard UP. Treats the Zhāng-Sū patron-protégé relation extensively.
• Smith, Paul J. 1991. Taxing Heaven’s Storehouse. Harvard UP. Treats Zhāng’s New-Policies opposition.
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, includes Zhāng Fāng-píng among Saeki Tomi’s ten Sōdai bunshū sakuin indexed bié-jí.

Other points of interest

The Sū Shì Lèquán jí xù — written when Zhāng was 81 years old, dùmén quèsǎo, zhōngrì wēizuò (closing the door, refusing visitors, all day sitting upright) — is one of the more poignant Northern-Sòng senior-statesman portraits. Sū’s cúnyī (preserving-the-doubt) framing of Zhāng’s shìfēi yǒu kǎo yú qián, ér chéngbài yǒu yàn yú hòu — written from Sū’s own Yuányòu recall, looking back over the failed Xīníng-period predictions of the New Policies’ failure — is one of the foundational pieces of Northern-Sòng zhèngyán / counter-narrative.

Links

• Zhang Fangping (Wikidata)
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.1 (Sòng biéjí); §44 (Xīníng New Policies); Saeki Tomi Sōdai bunshū sakuin indexes him.