Běihú jí 北湖集
The Northern-Lake Collection by 吳則禮 (撰)
About the work
Běihú jí 北湖集 in 5 juǎn is the Sìkù-reconstructed surviving fragment of Wú Zélǐ 吳則禮’s literary corpus. The title takes Wú’s hào Běihú jūshì 北湖居士. Originally compiled by his son Wú Jiōng 吳坰 in 30 juǎn with a preface by Hán Jū 韓駒 dated Xuānhé rényín (1122) — the year after Wú’s death at Guózhōu. Chén Zhènsūn’s Zhízhāi shūlù jiětí records 10 juǎn + 1 juǎn of chángduǎn jù — a discrepancy with Hán’s preface. The Sìkù editors, finding both lost, reconstructed 5 juǎn from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn: 300+ shī, 20+ cí, 30+ miscellaneous prose pieces.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Běihú jí in 5 juǎn, by Wú Zélǐ of the Sòng. Zélǐ, zì Zǐfù, of Fùchuān. Through his father, the Yùshǐ zhōngchéng Zhōngfù’s yīn (privilege) entered office; reached Zhí Mìgé Zhī Guózhōu. In late life resided at Yùzhāng, self-styled Běihú jūshì. Career details rather sketchy in Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí, not full. Now examining the collection — those who exchanged poems with him — Táng Gēng, Hán Jū, Zēng Yū, Chén Shīdào and others — all famous men of the time. His Lǐ Chángzhě xiàng xù is signed under his title once Jūnqìjiàn zhǔbù. Further the Xù bǎiyōu jí xíng has the line “Past time, sinner-subject thrown into Jīngzhōu” — so in mid-career he was once banished. Further the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn has Hán Jū’s Běihú jí xù dated Xuānhé rényín; in it says Zélǐ died at Guózhōu one year afterward, his son Jiōng compiled his prose, etc. — so [Wú] must have ended in Xuānhé xīnchǒu (1121). Yáng Wànlǐ’s Chéngzhāi shīhuà says Yóu Mào enjoyed his two juéjù — one with the line “Splendid hostels mutually-watching all serve as star-envoys; Huái south-and-north already ceasing-troops” — but this seems Gāo-zōng-period speech. Could Wànlǐ have erred? Hán’s preface says Jiōng’s compilation was 30 juǎn; the Shūlù jiětí says Běihú jí 10 juǎn, chángduǎn jù 1 juǎn. The world long without transmission, undetermined which is right. Now from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn arranged — got shī 300+, chángduǎn jù 20+, miscellaneous prose 30+ — collated and arranged into 5 juǎn.
Zélǐ’s shīgé qiàobá (poetic frame steep-and-bold), striving to tuī chén chū xīn (push out the old, bring forth the new); though sometimes verging on the tuítáng (slumping), yet yìqù huánshēng (idle-flavour produced-roundabout), really not requiring rope-and-cutting. Jìntǐ (regulated) liked to make shēngniǔ (raw-twisted) — bǐlì zònghéng (brush-force vertical-and-horizontal), increasingly arrived-at qiúshàng (vigorous-rising). His prose, though only a few pieces, the fǎlǜ (rules) are strict and dense, having diǎnxíng (typical-form). Examining his Ōuyáng Yǒngshū jí bá and Zēng Zǐgù dàBānruòjīng chāo xù — knowing in gǔwén (ancient prose) one mài (vein) — he has yuānyuán (deep-source). His zhéjǔ zhōuguī (bending-square, encircling-compass), motion-conforms-to-track-of-rule — really not what dùjiāng (crossed-the-river) onward tuítáng hànmán (slumping, vast-and-careless) habit could match. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Běihú jí preserves a fragment of Wú Zélǐ’s writings — about a sixth of the original 30-juǎn compilation by his son. Wú is solidly placed in the late-Northern-Sòng / pre-Jiāng-xī-school literary network: his correspondents Táng Gēng 唐庚, Hán Jū, Zēng Yū, and Chén Shīdào include Sūmén figures and poets later canonised in the Jiāngxī school. His own poetic register — qiàobá (steep-and-bold), with vigorous gǔshī and shēngniǔ (raw-twisted) regulated forms — is consistent with the Jiāngxī school’s pre-formation poetics.
The Sìkù tíyào’s puzzlement over Yáng Wànlǐ’s Chéngzhāi shīhuà attribution to Wú of a couplet that sounds Gāo-zōng-period (“Huái south-and-north already ceasing-troops”) is preserved as a textual problem worth flagging — possibly a transmission misattribution. The mid-career Jīngzhōu banishment is otherwise undocumented except through the Xù bǎiyōu jí xíng poem. Wú’s prose colophons on Ōuyáng Xiū’s collection and on Zēng Gōng’s Bānruò jīng preface place him in the Northern-Sòng gǔwén lineage.
Lifedates: death confirmed 1121; birth not securely known (perhaps c. 1060s-70s).
Translations and research
- Sòng-shǐ — no biography.
- Yáng Wàn-lǐ, Chéng-zhāi shī-huà — preserves Wú’s couplets.
- Hawes, Colin. The Social Circulation of Poetry in the Mid-Northern Song (SUNY 2005). Background on the late-Northern-Sòng poetic network.
- No dedicated monographic study of Wú Zé-lǐ located.
Other points of interest
- Hán Jū’s preface, dated Xuānhé rényín (1122), is one of the few late-Huīzōng-period biéjí prefaces preserved through Yǒnglè dàdiǎn recovery.