Hóng Guīfù jí 洪龜父集
The Collection of Hóng Guī-fù (Hóng Péng) by 洪朋 (撰)
About the work
Hóng Guīfù jí 洪龜父集 in 2 juǎn (Sìkù reconstruction; 178 poems) preserves the writings of Hóng Péng 洪朋 (d. age 38), eldest of the Sì Hóng (Four Hóng brothers) of Nánchāng — all nephews of Huáng Tíngjiān 黃庭堅 黃庭堅. The title takes Hóng Péng’s zì Guīfù 龜父. Hóng Péng never held office; died young. After his death, his Nánchāng compatriot Huáng Jūnzhù 黃君著 collected 100 of his poems into a manuscript collection; Huáng Tíngjiān saw this manuscript at Yízhōu (during his late-life exile) and praised every piece as worth-transmitting. The Sìkù editors recovered 178 poems from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn — substantially more than Huáng Jūnzhù’s 100, and more than Chén Zhènsūn’s recorded one juǎn.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Hóng Guīfù jí in 2 juǎn, by Hóng Péng of the Sòng. Guīfù is Péng’s zì. Of Nánchāng, brothers four — called the Sì Hóng 四洪 — all Huáng Tíngjiān’s nephews. His brother Yǔ in Yuányòu mid-period for memorial-submitted entered the faction-register; Chú in Shàoshèng mid-period passed jìnshì; at the start of Jìngkāng officed as Jiànyì dàifū; Yán in Yuányòu late-period passed jìnshì, after southern crossing officed as Mìshū shǎojiān. Only Péng twice raised for jìnshì not selected — at age only 38 he died. Yet his person and his poems are most-most by his contemporaries pushed-and-honoured.
Yùzhāng xùzhì records Huáng Tíngjiān’s words: “Guīfù’s bǐlì kāngdǐng; another day no worry of lacking wénzhāng chuí shì (literature to be passed to the world).” When he died, his Nánchāng compatriot Huáng Jūnzhù gathered his poems 100 piān as a collection; Tíngjiān at Yízhōu seeing the běn further praised it as “piānpiān kěchuán” (each-piece worth-transmitting). Lǚ Běnzhōng’s Jiāngxī zōngpài tú — listing 25 persons — first Chén Shīdào, next Pān Dàlín, next Xiè Yì KR4d0118, next Péng. Zǐwēi shīhuà further heavily praised his Xiěyùn xuān shī; Wáng Zhífāng’s shīhuà also praised his “One day weary of snail-horns; ten-thousand miles riding Péng-bird’s back” line; Liú Kèzhuāng’s Hòucūn shīhuà further praised his Yóu Méixiānguān shī able to yǐ zhíjié qí năi-dì (with-vertical-integrity to-anticipate his younger-brother) — and praised Guīfù’s jǐngjù (sharp-lines) often what qiánrén wèisuǒdào (former-people had-not-said) — regrettably not seeing many — etc. So Péng, although ending in bùyī (commoner) status, his name in the Sòng era was reckoned even-above the three Hóng [brothers].
Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí records Péng’s collection 1 juǎn; long without surviving copy — hence Lì È compiling Sòngshī jìshì could only gather a few poems from Sòng wénjiàn, Shēnghuà jí and other sources; even Jiānghú xiǎojí’s record is not yet complete. Now from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn gathered, by-form arranged into upper-and-lower 2 juǎn — although the famous lines Wáng Zhífāng and Liú Kèzhuāng cited are now without complete pieces — undoubtedly still some are lost. Yet examining: Mr. Huáng’s edition was only 100 shǒu; today recovered 178 shǒu; Chén’s record was only 1 juǎn; today expanded to 2 — suspecting the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn’s consulted běn had after-time additions. The lacuna remaining is not many. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Hóng Guīfù jí preserves the work of one of the most-praised yet least-rewarded Jiāngxī shīpài figures: Hóng Péng never passed the exam, never held office, died young at 38 — yet was placed by Lǚ Běnzhōng fourth in the Zōngpài tú (above his three brothers) and praised by Huáng Tíngjiān as a generational talent. The Wáng Zhífāng shīhuà and Liú Kèzhuāng Hòucūn shīhuà citations of his jǐngjù (sharp lines) — including the famous yīzhāo yàn wōjiǎo, wànlǐ qí péngbèi couplet — established his canonical status as a Jiāngxī shīpài lyrical voice.
The Sī Hóng (Four Hóng brothers) — Péng (eldest), Chú KR4d0142, Yán KR4d0141, Yǔ — represent one of the principal sibling-groupings in the Jiāngxī shīpài. As nephews of Huáng Tíngjiān, they are the school’s nearest-genetic transmission. The Sìkù editors’ philological work (recovering 178 poems from a manuscript tradition that had only preserved 100, and expanding from Chén Zhènsūn’s 1-juǎn count to 2) demonstrates the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn recovery’s accumulation through later editorial activity.
The dating bracket runs c. 1090s through c. 1110 (date of Hóng Péng’s death uncertain, but before Huáng Tíngjiān’s Yízhōu exile death in 1105 — actually possibly c. 1100). Lifedates not securely fixed.
Translations and research
- Yù-zhāng xù-zhì — preserves Huáng Tíng-jiān’s praise.
- Lǚ Běn-zhōng, Jiāng-xī shī-shè zōng-pài tú — the canonical ranking source.
- Wáng Zhí-fāng shī-huà, Zǐ-wēi shī-huà, Liú Kè-zhuāng Hòu-cūn shī-huà — Sòng-period critical assessments.
- Hawes, Colin. The Social Circulation of Poetry in the Mid-Northern Song (SUNY 2005).
- No dedicated monographic study of Hóng Péng located.
Other points of interest
- The Sì Hóng — four brothers all Huáng Tíngjiān’s nephews and all in the Jiāngxī shīpài — represent the school’s most concentrated genetic lineage; the present biéjí and the parallel Xīdù jí KR4d0141 and Lǎopǔ jí KR4d0142 together preserve three of the four.