Chīwén táng jí 摛文堂集
The Spreading-Out-Letters Hall Collection by 慕容彥逢 (撰)
About the work
Chīwén táng jí 摛文堂集 in 15 juǎn (Sìkù-reconstructed: 2 of poetry, 13 of miscellaneous prose, 1 appendix-juǎn of shìyì and muzhi) preserves the writings of Mùróng Yànféng 慕容彥逢 (1067–1117), Huīzōng-court literary servant who served fifteen years as shìcóngzhīguān (near-court-attendant) drafting imperial documents. The title Chīwén táng — “Spreading-Out-of-Letters Hall” — was the name given to his collection by his grandson Mùróng Lún 慕容綸. Per Yànféng’s own muzhi (recovered through Yǒnglè dàdiǎn), the original works comprised: 20 juǎn of wénjí, 20 juǎn of wàizhì (outer drafts of edicts), 10 juǎn of nèizhì (inner drafts), 5 of zòuyì (memorials), 5 of jiǎngjiě (lecture-explications), totalling 60 juǎn — far more than any received edition.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Chīwén táng jí in 15 juǎn, by Mùróng Yànféng of the Sòng. Yànféng, zì Shūyù, of Yíxìng. Jìnshì of Yuányòu 3; transferred to Tónglíng zhǔbù; passed the cíkē; transferred Huáinán jiédù pànguān; Chóngníng 1 made Mìshūshěng jiàoshūláng; rose through office to Xíngbù shàngshū; canonised Wényǒu. Sòng shǐ has no biography; his life-record visible only through the muzhi recorded in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn. The muzhi says he composed wénjí 20 juǎn, wàizhì 20, nèizhì 10, zòuyì 5, jiǎngjiě 5, stored at home — totalling 60 juǎn; while Sòng shǐ Yìwénzhì records Mùróng Yànféng jí in 30 juǎn — the entries do not match the muzhi.
Now according to Yànféng’s grandson Lún’s original-preface saying “for the war-fires scattered-and-lost; Lún searched-and-recovered what he got; divided into 30 juǎn; commissioned blocks-cut, titled Chīwén táng jí” — so the present collection is what Lún recompiled; Sòng shǐ used this for record, hence differs from the muzhi.
Yànféng was cáizǎo fùshàn (talent-and-style rich-and-elegant); when at the start of Shàoshèng the hóngcí kē was set, he was the very-first selected; afterward known to Huīzōng — listed among near-court-attendants for fifteen years — at one time diǎncè (canonical-rolls) mostly came from his hand. The collection still preserves close to several hundred pieces. His honour was not slight. But examining what he composed — rare-to-see dǎngyán (forthright speech); rather many xiànmèi gòngyú (offering-flattery, presenting-falsity), yínghuò zhǔtīng (deluding the imperial-ear) — as in the prison-emptiness and capital-cases-cleared-up matters: he memorialised congratulations three or four times — really kēbǐ (ridiculous-base). Further such as the Lǐhuì jūyǎngyuàn xuéxiào memorials — all hoping-for the cabinet’s intention to reverence-and-decorate. Lǚ Zǔqiān compiling Sòng wénjiàn recorded not one of Yànféng’s pieces — his ostracism by intent must come from this. Only because [Yànféng] died in Zhènghé 7 — affairs not yet rotten-and-broken — hence not reaching to fùhuì (forced-association) with Tóng [Guàn] and Cài [Jīng] to complete his jiān (treacherous) name. Yet his wénzhāng — yǎlì zhìcí diǎnzhòng wēnhòu (elegantly-fine, edict-prose typical-weighty-warm-and-thick) — particularly dé tǐ (got-the-form); cícǎi (literary-colour) particularly has worth-seeing. Discussing prose as prose — really not yet to be wholly abolished. Now according to what Yǒnglè dàdiǎn records — gathered by category, arranged as shī 2 juǎn, záwén 13 juǎn; with shìyì and muzhi separately as 1 juǎn appended — so that readers may also examine the cliff-and-outline. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Chīwén táng jí preserves substantial Huīzōng-court drafted documents — imperial edicts, prison-emptying memorials, school-and-orphanage establishment documents — by a senior court literary attendant. As the Sìkù editors observe, the collection’s value lies precisely in this: Mùróng Yànféng was one of the principal císhén (drafters) of the Huīzōng era, and his biéjí preserves a great mass of court literary culture from the Chóngníng–Zhènghé period that would otherwise be lost.
The political-historical assessment is sharp: Lǚ Zǔqiān, compiling the Sòng wénjiàn canonical anthology, deliberately excluded all Mùróng material — judging him to have been too compromised by sycophantic accommodation to Huīzōng’s worst projects (the jūyǎngyuàn welfare-administration, the xuéxiào school reorganisation, the prison-emptying ceremonial congratulations). The Sìkù editors’ nuanced corrective — that Yànféng’s literary skill is genuine and that he died (1117) before the most catastrophic Cài Jīng / Tóng Guàn projects unfolded — represents a model of Qīng editorial fairness toward the politically-compromised.
The cíkē (broad erudition) selection in Shàoshèng 1 / 1094 was the foundational selection that produced the Huīzōng court’s literary cohort; Mùróng’s first-place finish in that exam grounds his subsequent career. Lifedates 1067–1117 are confirmed.
Translations and research
- No biography in Sòng shǐ.
- Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, and Maggie Bickford, eds. Emperor Huizong and Late Northern Song China. Harvard, 2006. Background on the Huīzōng-era court literary culture.
- Lǚ Zǔ-qiān 呂祖謙, Sòng wén-jiàn 宋文鑑 — the exclusion of Mù-róng’s work is a deliberate editorial position.
- No dedicated monographic study of Mù-róng Yàn-féng.
Other points of interest
- The muzhi preserved here — discovered through the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn — gives a fuller account of the original 60-juǎn compilation than any received catalog and is itself the principal source for Yànféng’s biography.
- The Sòng wénjiàn exclusion is a rare-but-revealing example of Lǚ Zǔqiān’s editorial principle of refusing to anthologise Huīzōng-era court drafters who served the xīnfǎ / Cài Jīng establishment.