Yúnxī jūshì jí 雲溪居士集
The Collection of the Yún-xī (Cloud-Stream) Recluse by 華鎮 (撰)
About the work
Yúnxī jūshì jí 雲溪居士集 in 30 juǎn preserves the surviving prose and poetry of Huà Zhèn 華鎮 (fl. Yuánfēng–Shàoxīng), Kuàijī jìnshì of 1079 best known for his Kuàijī lǎngǔ shī 會稽覽古詩 (103 poems on Kuàijī antiquities). The title takes Huà’s hào Yúnxī jūshì 雲溪居士. The original collection — per Huà’s son Huà Chūchéng 華初成’s yuánbiǎo — was 100 juǎn plus supplements (Yáng Zǐ Fǎyán xùnjiě 10, Shū shuō 3, Kuàijī lǎngǔ shī 1, chángduǎnjù 1, Kuàijī lù 1, plus appended elegies 1, totalling 117 juǎn), printed by Huà Chūchéng in Shàoxīng 13 (1143) with a preface by Lóu Zhào 樓炤. The work was lost from Yuán onward; the Sìkù editors reconstructed 30 juǎn from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn, recovering roughly one-third of the original.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Yúnxī jūshì jí by Huà Zhèn of the Sòng. Zhèn, zì Ānrén, of Kuàijī. Jìnshì of Yuánfēng 2; office to Cháofèng dàifū, Zhī Zhāngzhōu jūnshì. Zhèn’s original collection was 100 juǎn; further had Yáng Zǐ Fǎyán xùnjiě 10, Shū shuō 3, Kuàijī lǎngǔ shī 103 piān, chángduǎnjù 1, Kuàijī lù 1, plus appended āiwén 1, totalling 117 juǎn. Shàoxīng 13, his son Chūchéng compiled and printed it, céng biǎo jìn yú cháo (presented it to the throne). Zhèn’s letter to Cài Jīng’s brother Cài Biàn (Shǎngcài Shūmìshū — i.e., the Shǎngcài Shūmìyuàn official Cài Biàn) self-records a Wángzhì jiě essay; Chūchéng’s zhuàngbá however does not list it — already lost at compilation time. The collection is unrecorded in the standard catalogs; Bǎoqìng Kuàijī xùzhì mentions only Zhèn’s Lǎngǔ shī 103 piān, not the collection. Only Jiāo Hóng’s Jīngjízhì records Yúnxī jūshì jí in 100 juǎn — others not. Recently Lì È of Qiántáng compiling Sòngshī jìshì could only copy 9 of the Lǎngǔ poems from gazetteers — known: from Míng onward no copy survives. Now from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn selected, ordered, and arranged into 30 juǎn — though not yet able to wholly restore the old appearance, of the original cut, one-third has been recovered.
Lóu Zhào’s preface praises the collection as jīngshēn diǎnshàn, qiúlì yìfā (deep, classical-and-prolific, vigorous-fluent-and-uninhibited). Yet examining his xuéshù (learning), it took Wáng Ānshí as its source; and he had close-correspondence with Cài Jīng, Zhāng Dūn and others, with offerings-and-replies and gànqí (intercession-seeking) extending to extreme degree. Lóu’s words were not necessarily fair public-judgement — only fortunately Zhèn was not drawn-up by Jīng’s circle, hence not yet tied to the jiāndǎng (treacherous-faction) name nor body-broken. As to his prose: his cáiqì is rich, cítiáo fluent and accomplished; though insufficient to draw long-and-short comparison with Ōu, Zēng, Sū, and Huáng, in the Yuánfēng / Yuányòu moment he stands out as one yījiā (one-school). Setting aside his rénpǐn (character), taking his wénzhāng — that is acceptable. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Yúnxī jūshì jí is reconstructed Northern-Sòng minor biéjí preserved through the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn. The historical interest is twofold: (1) Huà Zhèn was politically associated with the Cài Jīng faction during the Chóngníng / Dàguān period, providing relatively rare biéjí documentation from the dominant-faction side of the Yuányòu–Xīnfǎ dispute (most surviving Northern-Sòng biéjí descend from Yuán-yòu-faction figures); (2) the Kuàijī lǎngǔ 103-poem cycle is a substantial Northern-Sòng yǒngshǐ (chanting-of-history) project anchored in the legendary geography of the south-eastern Yuè homeland — Yǔ’s tomb, Gōu Jiàn’s Yuè-state sites, Wáng Xīzhī’s Lántíng — and is among the most extensive single-locality yǒngshǐ cycles of the period.
The Sìkù editors’ methodologically careful note — that Lóu Zhào’s Shàoxīng 13 preface dates from the same year (癸亥 / 1143) as Lóu’s Zhī Shàoxīngfǔ appointment, but the Sòng shǐ erroneously dates this appointment to Shàoxīng 14 — is preserved as a small kǎojù annotation in the original-preface footnote.
Compositional bracket: 1079 jìnshì through Huà’s death (uncertain, but before 1143 when his son edited the collection); the Lǎngǔ poetry-cycle date is uncertain.
Translations and research
- Bǎo-qìng Kuài-jī xù-zhì 寶慶會稽續志 — early Southern-Sòng gazetteer mention.
- Jiāo Hóng 焦竑, Guó-shǐ jīng-jí-zhì — Míng bibliographic record.
- Lì È 厲鶚, Sòng-shī jì-shì 宋詩紀事 — Qing collection that preserved 9 of the Lǎn-gǔ poems from gazetteers.
- No substantial monographic secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
- The collection is one of the relatively few biéjí whose author is on the Cài Jīng / Zhāng Dūn faction-side of the New Policies dispute — most surviving collections favour the Yuányòu faction. The Sìkù editors’ nuanced position — reading Huà’s literary merit on its own terms while flagging his political compromises — is a valuable example of Qīng editorial fairness.