Qìnghú yílǎo shījí 慶湖遺老詩集
Poetic Collection of the Surviving Elder of Mirror Lake by 賀鑄 (撰)
About the work
Qìnghú yílǎo shījí 慶湖遺老詩集 in 9 juǎn preserves Hè Zhù 賀鑄’s poetry, organised by the master himself: qiánjí (front-collection) covers his gēxíng + gǔtǐ + lǜshī + juéjù + wǎnshī. The hòují (back-collection), preserving post-1099 work, was lost in the Jīngkāng / Jiànyán military catastrophe — surviving only as the present qiánjí. The hào Qìnghú yílǎo alludes to Hè’s claimed descent from Hè Zhīzhāng (the Táng Mirror Lake recipient). Hè’s cí (lyrics) — Qīng yùàn with the famous méizǐ huáng shí yǔ line — circulate separately as Hè Fānghuí cí. Hè’s idiosyncratic editorial signature: every poem carries a detailed sub-title noting date of composition and the local-place / personal-name context — making the collection a model of self-annotated dating and the principal source for the chronology of Hè’s career.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Qìnghú yílǎo jí 9 juǎn, by Hè Zhù of the Sòng. Zhù, zì Fānghuí, of Wèizhōu, descendant of the Táng remonstrator Zhīzhāng. Under Xuánzōng, when Zhīzhāng retired, the edict bestowed Mirror Lake. According to Xiè Chéng’s Kuàijī xiānxián zhuàn, Qìnghú was named after Wáng Zǐ Qìngjì — later miscopied to Jìng (Mirror) — hence Zhù self-styled Qìnghú yílǎo. Originally through marriage to imperial-clan-woman granted Yòubān diànzhí; in the Yuányòu mid-period, Lǐ Qīngchén memorialised exchanging him to Tōngzhíláng, Tōngpàn Sìzhōu Tàipíngzhōu — death there. Career details in his Sòng shǐ Wényuán biography. His poems before Yuányòu jǐmǎo — total 9 juǎn — self-prefaced as the front collection; what came after jǐmǎo was the back collection; both qiánhòu together 20 juǎn — Chéng Jù 程俱 ([Yú]-jiǎn jí) prefaced. The back is now lost; only the front preserved. Zhù’s son Lǐn 檁’s postscript says the back collection was scattered and lost in the war-fires — so by Southern Sòng there was no complete copy already; therefore the Shūlù jiětí’s juǎn-count agrees with the present.
Fāng Huí’s Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ praises Zhù: “Each poem-title sub-noted [carries] the year-month of composition and the locality-and-surname-of-the-person” — examining this běn matches Huí’s words — clearly the old-cut not-yet-deleted-and-altered.
Zhù was famous as a cí (lyric) maker; tradition records his Qīng yùàn lyric — méizǐ huáng shí yǔ line — earning him the Hè méizǐ (Plum-Hè) title. Yet his poetry too is gōngzhì xiūjié (skilled-fine-elegant), at times having yìqì (overflowing-spirit), framework not high but without Sòng-people’s hànguǎng (tough-coarse) habit. Tiáoxī yúyǐn cónghuà praises his Wàngfūshí poem; Shīrén yùxiè praises Wáng Ānshí’s appreciation of his Dìnglínsì juéjù; Wáng Zhífāng shīhuà records Huí discussing poetry: “píngdàn not falling-into-vulgar; qígǔ not bordering-eccentric; tíyǒng not narrowly-trapped by wùyì; xùshì not afflicted by shēnglǜ; bǐxìng deep penetrates wùlǐ; yòngshì gōng like one’s own utterance; gé visible in completed-piece — perfectly-pure not to be carved-out; qì coming from outside-the-words — vast not to be bent” (this passage uses xiéyùn to form wén).
Examining what he composed — though not all as he discoursed — also not too unworthy of his words. Lù Yóu’s Lǎoxuéān bǐjì says: “Hè Fānghuí — bearing strangely-ugly, commoners called him Ghost-Head Hè; loved school-correction, zhū huáng wèi cháng qù shǒu (red-and-yellow never left his hand); poetry-and-prose all high — not just skilled at chángduǎn jù.” Today his prose is no longer to be seen. Qiánlóng 45 (1780), 5th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Qìnghú yílǎo shījí is one of the most consequential Northern-Sòng biéjí for the documentary value of its self-dated poems. Hè Zhù’s editorial habit — sub-titling each poem with date and place — makes his collection a chronological-biographical primary source unparalleled for any Northern-Sòng poet. The qiánjí covers his pre-Yuánfú (pre-1099) production; the lost hòují covered the Yuánfú / Chóngníng / Dàguān / Zhènghé / Xuānhé periods.
The Wáng Zhífāng shīhuà-preserved poetic credo (píngdàn bù shè yú liúsú — plain-and-simple without falling-into-vulgar; etc.) is one of the most-quoted Northern-Sòng poetic-aesthetic statements, anticipating much Jiāngxī shīpài and Southern-Sòng theory. Hè’s prose — once admired by Lù Yóu — is now lost (the biéjí is poetry-only). The cí tradition, in which Hè is even more central than in shī, circulates separately.
Lifedates 1052–1125 are followed here per CBDB and standard reference works; the catalog’s 1063–1120 is less reliable.
Translations and research
- Sūn Wàng 孫望 (ed.). Hè Zhù shī-cí xuǎn 賀鑄詩詞選. Modern critical anthology.
- Hè Fāng-huí cí jiào-zhù 賀方回詞校注 (Zhōng-huá shū-jú) — modern critical edition of the cí.
- Lin, Shuen-fu. The Transformation of the Chinese Lyrical Tradition (Princeton 1978). Treats Hè in the cí tradition.
- Yoshikawa Kōjirō, Sòng shī yán-jiū. Discusses Hè’s poetry.
- Sòng-shǐ j. 443 (Wén-yuán) — biography.
Other points of interest
- The Qīng yùàn lyric — “méizǐ huáng shí yǔ” — is one of the most-anthologised pieces of Sòng cí; Hè’s nickname Hè méizǐ is among the most durable Sòng poetic monikers.
- Lù Yóu’s pen-portrait — zhuàngmào qí chǒu, sú wèi zhī Hè guǐtóu — gives one of the most physically-vivid surviving descriptions of any Sòng poet.