Huáyáng jí 華陽集
Splendid-Solar Collection by 張綱 (撰)
About the work
Huáyáng jí 華陽集 in 40 juǎn is the literary collection of Zhāng Gāng 張綱 (1083–1166), Cānzhī zhèngshì 參知政事 of the Southern Sòng who served under Huīzōng, Qīnzōng, and Gāozōng but was forced into long retirement under the Qín Guì 秦檜 chancellery, recalled only after Qín’s death. The title takes Zhāng’s hào Huáyáng lǎorén 華陽老人. The 40 juǎn are organised: 33 of wén (drafted edicts, memorials, jiǎngyán gùshì lecture pieces, prefaces, jì), 5 of shī poetry, 1 of cí, with one juǎn of xíngzhuàng (career biography) appended.
Tiyao
The local source for KR4d0159 is the SBCK reproduction and lacks a Sìkù tíyào. The following is translated from the Kyoto Zinbun digital Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào (集部九 別集類九, Huáyáng jí 40 juǎn; entry no. 0329101; source-edition 兩江總督採進本):
By Zhāng Gāng of the Sòng. Gāng, zì Yànzhèng, of Jīntán. During Dàguān / Zhènghé tested under the shèfǎ (Shàngshèfǎ); three-times achieved shǒuzhuàn (first-composer / first-place). Initially with Cài Jīng and Wáng Fǔ not-aligned; the two men each-time jǐyì (squeezed-and-suppressed) him. After the southward-crossing, when he ascended the suǒtà (palace-gate, i.e. drafting-office), he again had-feud with Qín Guì — and-so retired. After Guì died, then recalled-and-employed; ended at Cānzhī zhèngshì. Career in Sòng shǐ biography. Gāng was jiàn yú wéiwén (vigorous in composing prose); each-time-one-piece dropped-on-paper, the metropolitans always transmitted-and-spread-it. Suffered the Jiànyán fires-of-soldiers; barely-one-in-ten preserved. When Guì held-the-state, fearing-being-suspected, he absolutely-renounced authorship. Yet the heir-son [Zhāng] Jiān 堅 sought-out and gathered scattered-pieces — still obtained over 800. By the grandson [Zhāng] Fǔ 釜, [the printing] was-finally undertaken; blocks placed in the prefectural-school. Because his self-style was Huáyáng lǎorén, hence the collection-name. Hóng Mài 洪邁 wrote the preface for-it. Altogether 33 juǎn of prose, 5 of poetry, 1 of cí, with a xíngzhuàng of 1 juǎn appended.
The poetry-and-prose are diǎnyǎ lìzé (typical-elegant, regular-pattern). The lecture-bench presented gùshì (precedents) — taking-occasion to nàzhōng (offer-loyal-counsel) — also all kǎiqiè (pointed-and-incisive). At the start of Southern Sòng — wholly removing the abuses of the Shàoshù (Yuánfēng faction’s continuation) — for all the descendants of Yuányòu officials there was none-not-recovered-and-recorded. Mutual biāobǎng (advertising) somewhat zī wěimào (engendered-falsity-and-imposture). Gāng then again had a jiāzǐ — discussing how the dǎngjí’s grace-and-recompense had-become too-indiscriminate. Especially can be called zhuórán tèlì (uniquely-and-distinctively standing) — without any ménhù (factional / sectarian) view.
Abstract
The Huáyáng jí is a work of multiple, layered survivals. Hóng Mài’s 1191 Shàoxī preface (preserved in the SBCK) records the destruction by fire (1130, Jiànyán gēngxū) of Zhāng’s Jīntán library — only 1% of his pre-1130 work survived. The reconstitution depended on Zhāng’s son Zhāng Jiān 張堅 (Hùbù lángzhōng) gathering 859 pieces from circulating manuscripts; the printing was carried through twenty-three years later by Zhāng’s grandson Zhāng Fǔ 張釜 (Chízhōu prefect), with Hóng Mài’s preface dated Shàoxī 2 (1191), 3rd month, 16th day. A second preface — the Xīn kè Huáyáng jí xù — is by a later author and is concerned with documentation of Zhāng’s Jīn-tán-school memorial. The genre-distribution preserves a balanced portrait of Zhāng’s career: drafted edicts (zhìcí) for Gāozōng-period appointments, refusals of office, ceremonial biǎo and zhuàng, lecture-bench jiǎngyán gùshì, and the political-philosophical jiāzǐ memorialising against the over-rehabilitation of Yuányòu faction descendants.
The collection’s principal historical interest is the jiǎngyán 講筵 lecture-bench gùshì — 19 pieces according to Hóng Mài — drawn from Zhāng’s tenure as a jīngyán (classics-mat) lecturer to the Gāozōng court. These pieces use historical precedents (Rénzōng, YáoShùn, Guāngwǔ, Tàizōng, Xiànzōng, Wénzōng) to deliver pointed-and-incisive advice on imperial conduct.
CBDB id 252 confirms 1083–1166; the lifedates are not in dispute.
Translations and research
- Sòng shǐ j. 390 — Zhāng Gāng biography.
- 洪邁 Huá-yáng lǎo-rén wén-jí xù (1191) — preserved at head of SBCK.
- No dedicated Western-language study located.
Other points of interest
- Distinguish from the homonymous Huáyáng jí by the much-earlier Northern-Sòng author Wáng Guī 王珪 (Sìkù entry 0320401, 60 juǎn + 10 juǎn fùlù). The two collections are bibliographically and historically unrelated.