Guīxī jí 龜谿集
Tortoise-Stream Collection by 沈與求 (撰)
About the work
Guīxī jí 龜谿集 in 12 juǎn is the literary collection of Shěn Yǔqiú 沈與求 (1086–1137), Zhī Shūmìyuànshì 知樞密院事 under Gāozōng and one of the major censorial figures of the early Southern Sòng. The title takes the name of Shěn’s native hamlet Guīxīlǐ 龜溪里 in WúxìngWǔyuán. Printed by Shěn’s grandson Shěn Shuō 沈說 in Shàoxī (1190–94), with two prefaces (preserved at the head of the SBCK source) by Guānwéndiàn dàxuéshì Lǐ Yànyǐng 李彥穎 and the Húzhōu jiàoshòu Zhāng Shūchūn 張叔椿. A later, late-Míng Wànlì gēngzǐ (1600) preface by Shěn’s 16th-generation descendant Shěn Zǐmù 沈子木 of Rǔnán Hall preserves the local-genealogy framing of the work.
Tiyao
The local source is the SBCK reproduction and lacks a Sìkù tíyào. The following is translated from the Kyoto Zinbun digital Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào (集部十 別集類十; Guīxī jí 12 juǎn; entry no. 0329602; source-edition 兩淮鹽政採進本):
By Shěn Yǔqiú of the Sòng. Yǔqiú, zì Bìxiān, of Déqīng. Zhènghé 5 (1115) jìnshì. Under Gāozōng office to Zhī Shūmìyuànshì. Died, shì Zhōngmǐn. Career in Sòng shǐ biography. The collection was-printed by his grandson [Shěn] Shuō in Shàoxī. Has at-the-front prefaces by Guānwéndiàn dàxuéshì Lǐ Yànyǐng and Húzhōu jiàoshòu Zhāng Shūchūn — two prefaces. The shǐ says Yǔqiú passed-through the Yùshǐ sānyuàn (three censorial bureaus); when-knowing — none-not-said; before-and-after almost 400 memorials; his words qièzhí (incisive-and-upright). Today what is preserved barely 3/10 to 4/10. The classification is much shēnzhōng shíbì (deeply-piercing the abuses-of-the-times).
Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí says: Yǔqiú once memorialised on Wáng Ānshí’s crimes — the great-one residing in his promotion of Yáng Xióng and Féng Dào — at-the-time scholars knew-only Ānshí; in the chaos and disorder gānxīn cóngwěi (willingly served the puppet); without zhàngjié sǐyì zhī fēng (the wind of upholding-integrity dying-for-righteousness) — really Ānshí inaugurated-it. This argument predecessors did-not-reach.
Examining: from Xīníng (1068–77) down to Zhènghé (1111–18), Wáng [Ānshí], Cài [Jīng] and the others — using power-and-influence ran-roughshod over the empire; eradicated good-types; pulled-up petty-men. Those who yínyuán (climbed-by-connection) to gǒu fùguì (gain wealth-and-rank) originally had-no liánchǐ zhī xīn (sense-of-shame); how-could one expect from-them affairs of míngjié (name-and-integrity)? Their tōushēng màiguó (life-saving and selling-the-state) was really a gradual-build-up — not necessarily wholly from the promotion of Yáng Xióng and the praise of Féng Dào. Yǔqiú’s memorial is also after-the-event tuīsuǒ zhī cí (retrospectively-deduced rhetoric). Yet his argument — supporting the fēngjiào (wind-of-instruction) and shaking-clean the gāngcháng (cardinal-relations) — must-not be denied to be a wěilùn (great-discussion). As-for his zhìgào compositions: diǎnyǎ chōngróng (typical-elegant, expansive); also possess Tang-people’s guǐdù (rule-and-pattern). Further not solely with memorials displaying his merit.
Abstract
The 12-juǎn SBCK version, printed by Shěn’s grandson Shěn Shuō in Shàoxī (1190–94), preserves perhaps a third to a half of Shěn Yǔqiú’s reputed nearly-400 memorial output. The two Shàoxī prefaces (Lǐ Yànyǐng, Zhāng Shūchūn) supply the genesis — Lǐ knew Shěn personally during Shěn’s Shàoxīng 3 (1133) Lìbù shàngshū tenure; Zhāng was a younger contemporary at age 15 visiting his elder brother Zhāng Yànhéng’s lodging. The Shěn Zǐmù late-Míng preface (1600) preserves the late-imperial-period family transmission.
The principal scholarly content of the collection is twofold. First, the zòuyì memorials — particularly the celebrated argument that Wáng Ānshí’s elevation of Yáng Xióng 揚雄 and Féng Dào 馮道 to canonical honours was the moral root of the Jīngkāng officialdom’s submission to the Jīn. The argument was preserved by Chén Zhènsūn KR3h0011 and is taken by the Sìkù editors as a wěilùn — even while the editors themselves judge the historical mechanism overly schematic. The argument helped shape Zhū Xī’s Tōngjiàn gāngmù treatment of Yáng Xióng (the famous “Mǎng dàfū Yáng Xióng sǐ” entry). Second, the zhìgào — Tang-style typical-elegant drafted edicts — are praised by the Sìkù editors as comparable to the early-Tang masters.
CBDB id 1460 confirms 1086–1137.
Translations and research
- Sòng shǐ j. 372 — Shěn Yǔ-qiú biography.
- 陳振孫 Zhí-zhāi shū-lù jiě-tí KR3h0011 — preserves the Wáng-Ān-shí / Yáng-Xióng argument.
- 朱熹 Tōng-jiàn gāng-mù — the Mǎng-dà-fū Yáng Xióng sǐ entry (drawing on Shěn’s argument).
- 李彥穎 / 張叔椿 prefaces — preserved at head of SBCK.
- No dedicated Western-language study located.
Other points of interest
- Shěn’s intervention in the Yáng Xióng historiographic debate is the most consequential of the early-Southern-Sòng YángXióng zàngrén arguments — it shaped Zhū Xī’s Gāngmù treatment, which in turn became the standard imperial reading. Read alongside Lǐ Míxùn’s 李彌遜 parallel argument (in Yúnxī jí KR4d0158) on the same theme.