Xītái jí 西臺集
The Western Tribunal Collection by 畢仲游 (撰)
About the work
Xītái jí 西-tái jí 西臺集 in 20 juǎn preserves the writings of Bì Zhòngyóu 畢仲游 (1047–1121), great-grandson of the Zhēnzōng chief councillor Bì Shìān and Yuányòu-cohort jìnshì. The title takes Bì’s late-career office Xījīng (Luòyáng) liúsī yùshǐtái — the Western Tribunal. Reconstructed by the Sìkù editors from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn. Sòng shǐ Yìwénzhì records the original at 50 juǎn; Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshūzhì gives 20 — the Sìkù tíyào suggests 50 is a transmission error and the 20-juǎn count is likely correct. Most distinctive document of the collection: Bì’s Shàng Sū xuéshì shū 上蘇學士書 warning Sū Shì against the danger of writing too directly — preserved here as a Sūmén archival treasure.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Xītái jí in 20 juǎn, by Bì Zhòngyóu of the Sòng. Zhòngyóu, zì Gōngshū, of Zhèngzhōu, great-grandson of Bì Shìān (the tóng píngzhāngshì). With his elder brother Zhòngyǎn together passed jìnshì. Held zhōuxiàn office. At the start of Yuányòu summoned to the Xuéshìyuàn; selected as Jíxián jiàolǐ; promoted through Lìbù lángzhōng; later listed in the Yuányòu dǎngjí; ended at Xījīng liúsī yùshǐtái tíjǔ Hóngqìnggōng. The Sòng shǐ attaches him to Bì Shìān’s biography, telling his career rather fully. Lì È’s Sòngshī jìshì takes him as Shìān’s son — incorrect.
Dōngdū shìlüè says Zhòngyóu had a collection circulating but does not give juǎn count. Sòng shǐ Yìwénzhì says 50 juǎn; Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshūzhì says Xītái jí 20 juǎn — the recorded volume-counts disagree, and the běn has long been broken from the world. Now from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn searched and arranged — shīwén of all forms complete; seems already rather little is missing. Yet not enough to fill 50. Sòngzhì is broadly absurd, mostly unreliable. Suspect “5” is a transmission error. We respectfully follow the Dúshūzhì’s 20 juǎn — close enough to restore the old.
Zhòngyóu in youth bore a jùnmíng (eminent name); when he tested at Guǎnzhí, those tested with him were Huáng Tíngjiān, Zhāng Lěi, Cháo Bǔzhī etc.; Sū Shì alone selected him as first; on another day raised him as his own self-replacement; furthermore praised his “learning penetrating jīngshǐ; talent connecting shìwù; wénzhāng refined and grand; yìlùn with surplus” — the original recommendation in the Dōngpō jí. Now examining his work — generally xióngwěi bóbiàn (great-bold, broad-discriminating) with surplus — to Sū Shì’s prose-pattern, closest in guǐzhé (track-rut); the zhēnài (mutual-loving-affinity) probably arose from this. Among them: discussions on zhèngtǒng, fēngjiàn, jùnxiàn — though somewhat piānbó (one-sided-mixed); but other matters-discussed are mostly míngbái xiángjìn (clear-and-thorough), striking the heart of affairs — not fúkuā dànmán (floating-grand-and-careless) talk. Probably his learning had gēndǐ (root-base); those he travelled-with — Fù Bì, Sīmǎ Guāng, Ōuyáng Xiū, Fàn Chúnrén, Fàn Chúncuì, Liú Zhì etc. — all yīshí míngdé (one-time famous-virtuous), gradually-soaked and incense-cured — hence what came forth as wénzhāng has diǎnzé (typical-rule).
The collection has the Shàng Sū xuéshì shū — saying he knew-fear-from-mouth, not-yet-feared-from-prose — deeply warning him against using wénzì to invite calamity; further the Shàng Sīmǎ wēngōng shū — saying he wanted to abolish the New Laws but those left-and-right were all Ānshí’s followers, fearing the disasters were still on-the-horizon — afterward all proved as he feared. This is his shēnshí yuǎnjì (deep-knowing far-planning) particularly unmatchable — far beyond mere wéncí gōng (literary-prose skill).
Further the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn has Bì Zhòngyǎn’s Shàng biāncì guānzhì juǎnmù zházǐ — also titled Xītái jí. Examining the Sòng shǐ — Zhòngyǎn was Guānzhìjú jiǎntǎo wénzì, by-the-thousand-and-ten-thousand — possibly because Zhòngyǎn had no collection, [the editors] inserted his work into Zhòngyóu’s collection. Now also we both preserve — to fill out the verifiable record. As for the kāiqǐ (opening-notification), shū (memorial), yuècí (musical-text) etc. piān — not zhèng (proper) literary forms — now we keep them according to what the original repository has — but in the printed edition we entirely follow them with deletion. Qiánlóng 49 (1784), 10th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Xītái jí preserves prose by an unusually well-connected late-Northern-Sòng official: Bì Zhòngyóu was a great-grandson of a chief councillor and was personally selected by Sū Shì from a pool that included Huáng Tíngjiān, Zhāng Lěi, and Cháo Bǔzhī — placed first by the master himself. The two cardinal documents of the collection are: (1) the Shàng Sū xuéshì shū 上蘇學士書 warning Sū Shì about the political dangers of writing too directly — words that proved prescient when Sū Shì was implicated in the Wūtái shīàn and exiled to Huángzhōu; (2) the Shàng Sīmǎ wēngōng shū 上司馬溫公書 warning Sīmǎ Guāng that even after the abolition of the New Laws, the Xīnfǎ faction still permeated the bureaucracy and the disaster was not yet over — words that proved equally prescient.
The Sìkù editors’ careful note on the inclusion of Bì Zhòngyǎn’s Shàng biāncì guānzhì juǎnmù zházǐ (preserved in the same Yǒnglè dàdiǎn under “Xītái jí” attribution) is preserved as an editorial admission. Bì Zhòngyǎn worked on the Yuánfēng / Yuányòu bureaucratic reorganisation (the Guānzhìjú office-system reform).
Lifedates 1047–1121 are confirmed by the Sòng shǐ-附 biography. Composition bracket runs from his jìnshì through his death.
Translations and research
- Sòng-shǐ j. 281 (附 to Bì Shì-ān biography).
- Egan, Ronald. Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi. Harvard, 1994. Touches on Bì’s relationship with Sū Shì and his prescient warnings.
- No dedicated monographic study of Bì Zhòng-yóu located.
Other points of interest
- The Shàng Sū xuéshì shū — Bì warning his master Sū Shì about his own writing — is an unusually inverse-direction document: a junior figure cautioning his senior about wénzì zhī huò (the calamity of writing). Sū Shì did not heed it, and the Wūtái shīàn followed.
- The dual attribution of the brothers’ work to Xītái jí — partly because the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn editors did not separate them — is a small textual-history artifact preserved by the Sìkù editors.