Dōngchuāng jí 東窻集
The East-Window Collection by 張擴 (撰)
About the work
Dōngchuāng jí 東窻集 in 16 juǎn (Sìkù reconstruction) preserves the writings of Zhāng Kuò 張擴 (fl. Chóngníng–Shàoxīng), Déxīng (Jiāngxī) jìnshì and early-Southern-Sòng Zhōngshū shèrén (Director of Edicts). The title takes Zhāng’s hermitage / studio name. Sòng shǐ Yìwénzhì records 40 juǎn + 10 of poetry (totalling 50); Chén Zhènsūn’s Zhízhāi shūlù jiětí does not record it. Sìkù reconstruction from Yǒnglè dàdiǎn: 16 juǎn. The collection’s chief political documents are the controversial zhìcí (drafts of imperial edicts) Zhāng composed under Qín Guì’s patronage — the posthumous-elevation of Qín’s father and grandfather, and the jiān shìdú appointment of Wànsì Xiè 万俟卨 — both of which the Sìkù editors flag as yúsòng (extreme-flattery) and pīmiù (errors).
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Dōngchuāng jí 16 juǎn, by Zhāng Kuò of the Sòng. Kuò, zì Yànshí, alternative zì Zǐwēi, of Déxīng. Sòng shǐ has no biography. Jiāngxī tōngzhì records his Chóngníng mid-period jìnshì,授 Guózǐjiān bù, promoted bóshì; transferred Chǔzhōu gōngcáo; summoned as Mìshūshěng jiàoshūláng; soon-after promoted guǎnzhí; after southern-crossing held Zhōngshū shèrén — should-have-been based-upon. Sòngzhì records Kuò’s Dōngchuāng jí 40 juǎn and shī 10 juǎn; yet Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí does not record — so by end of Sòng already not much transmitted.
Hence from YuánMíng onward art-discussers rarely-cite him. Only the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn still records-much his shīwén. As Zhōngshū shèrén time, his composed zhìcí (drafts of edicts) particularly numerous — generally wēnlì miánmì (warm-fine, soft-and-dense) — with Wāng Zǎo can be linked-side-by-side. Carefully selected and gathered, arranged into 16 juǎn. As to the zhìcí for Qín Guì’s posthumous-elevation of his father-and-grandfather and Wànsì Xiè’s jiān shìdú — extreme-words of yúsòng (flattery-and-praise) — pīmiù shén shēn (errors-and-deviations very-deep).
Examining Wáng Míngqīng’s Huīzhǔ yúhuà: Kuò as zhuózuòláng; his elder-brother Mìshūshǎojiān Chǔcái, on his new-marriage, invited the family to view plums at Xīhú; Kuò composed-poetry with the lines zhéguī rěn fù jīnjiāoyè; xiào chā xīnlín yùjìngtái (“breaking-back, can-I-bear-letting-down golden-banana-leaf? laughing-inserting-it-newly-between, jade-mirror-stand”); Qín Guì saw-it and greatly praised: “Soon-or-late should treat him as a wénzìguān (literary-officer)”; promoted to zuǒshǐ; another promotion and he held wàizhì (outer-drafting). So Kuò originally because of Guì got promoted — hence borrowed cǎozhì (drafting-edicts) to ingratiate-and-flatter — his person really not enough to be discussed.
Yet those Kuò travelled-with — like Zhū Yì, Zēng Zào, Lǚ Běnzhōng, Xú Fǔ — all yīdài shèngliú (one-generation finest); polishing-each-other had help; hence cícǎi qīnglì fěirán kěguān (literary-colour clear-and-fine, splendidly worth-seeing) — also cannot wholly-discard.
Among them — the Zèng Gù Jǐngfán shī — Gōng Míngzhī’s Zhōng Wú jìwén only records 56 characters; Lì È’s Sòngshī jìshì therefore quotes-it as two juéjù — today examining the old-prose, then-knowing it was 7-character gǔshī two piān; Míngzhī simply abridged-recording several lines; È probably never-saw this collection — hence in transmission-error. So this can also be called hǎngòu zhī jí (rarely-encountered case-of-books). Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Dōngchuāng jí preserves the writings of Zhāng Kuò, an early-Southern-Sòng Zhōngshū shèrén whose career advanced through Qín Guì’s patronage following Qín’s appreciation of Zhāng’s Zhēméi xīhú shī (West-Lake plum-viewing poem). The Sìkù editors’ moral assessment is severe — Zhāng’s cǎozhì (drafted edicts) for the posthumous-elevation of Qín Guì’s ancestors and for Wànsì Xiè’s appointment are flagged as flattery — but they acknowledge his literary skill, comparing his prose to Wāng Zǎo’s KR4d0145.
The collection’s literary-network value is substantial: Zhāng’s correspondents include the principal early-Southern-Sòng Jiāngxī school figures Zhū Yì, Zēng Zào, Lǚ Běnzhōng, and Xú Fǔ — placing Zhāng in close conversation with the very figure (Lǚ Běnzhōng) who would canonise the Jiāngxī shīshè zōngpài in the years immediately following.
The Sìkù editors’ philological recovery of Zhāng’s Zèng Gù Jǐngfán shī — showing that Lì È’s Sòngshī jìshì had transmitted only a 56-character fragment as if it were two juéjù, when in fact the original is two gǔshī piān — is a small but exemplary case of Sìkù textual archaeology. Lifedates not securely fixed.
Translations and research
- Jiāng-xī tōng-zhì — preserves biographical sketch.
- Wáng Míng-qīng, Huī-zhǔ yú-huà — preserves the Zhē-méi anecdote.
- No dedicated monographic study of Zhāng Kuò located.
Other points of interest
- The Qín-Guì-patronage trajectory makes Zhāng’s biéjí one of the documentary witnesses to Qín’s literary-administrative network; the yúsòng edicts preserved here are direct evidence of how the héyì-faction’s literary servants constructed political-rhetorical legitimacy.