Hóngqìng jūshì jí 鴻慶居士集
Hóng-qìng Recluse Collection by 孫覿 (撰)
About the work
Hóngqìng jūshì jí 鴻慶居士集 in 42 juǎn is the literary collection of Sūn Dí 孫覿 (1081–1169), the long-lived (89 suì at death) Sòng Hùbù shàngshū and Hanlin drafter who survived the Jìngkāng catastrophe, banishment to Lǐngnán, retirement at Tàihú, and the Xiàozōng period historiographic-commission of Cài Jīng / Wáng Fǔ records. The title takes Sūn’s hào Hóngqìng jūshì 鴻慶居士 — derived from his post as Tíjǔ Nánjīng Hóngqìnggōng 提舉南京鴻慶宮 (temple-supervisor honour). Edited by Sūn’s three sons (Xīngguó, Tàizōng, Jièzōng) and prefaced by Zhōu Bìdà 周必大 in Qìngyuán 5 (1199) — Zhōu’s own old age (73 suì) lending special weight to the encomium of Sūn’s longevity. The collection’s principal interest is the zhāngshū zhìzhào biǎozòu (memorials, decrees, drafted-commands, presentations) which the Sìkù editors compare to Lù Zhì 陸贄 (the Tang prose master): míngbiàn jùnfā (clear-and-analytical, fast-and-issuing).
Tiyao
The local source for KR4d0179 is the WYG and lacks a Sìkù tíyào in the source file; the WYG-preserved Zhōu Bìdà preface stands in its place. Translation of the Zhōu Bìdà preface (Qìngyuán 5 = 1199):
In general, wénrén cáishì (literary-talent gentlemen): when young, qūshǒu shòushū (bow-the-head receiving-books), unable yet to read-much of the empire’s yìlǐ (meaning-and-principle); at maturity engage-with the four-quarters, ambition divided; reaching old-age, xuèqì jì shuāi, intelligence with-it; though composing, rarely míngjiā (achieve-school) — this is the common-fault of the past-and-present.
But occasionally, those who yìqún màiwǎng (surpass-the-multitude, advance-singularly) — fùcái dúyì (talent-allotted especially-different) — and again heaven jiǎ zhī yǐ nián (lends them years), mócuì duànliàn (polishing-and-tempering); doubled with the help-of-hills-and-streams; míngzhāng jùnyǔ shǎo ér chéng, zhuàng ér yíng, wǎn ér yùjīng (named-pieces and elegant-language: in youth completed, in maturity full, in old-age all-the-more refined) — like the Hùbù shàngshū Jìnlíng Sūngōng — surely a qiānwàn rén zhōng shí yī yù yān (in a thousand-and-ten-thousand persons, occasionally one is met).
The lord was-born in Yuánfēng xīnyǒu (1081). During Dàguān / Zhènghé, scholars were studying only the Wángshì Sānjīng yì and Zìshuō; while the lord, in bóxué dǔzhì (broad-learning, firm-resolve), like Hán Yù — what the Lǐbù tested — could-be without-learning-and-still-able. Achieving jìnshì champion, the cíkē champion. Brush-momentum piānpiān, lofty-rising-out-of-his-cohort.
Approaching zhīmìng (= 50 years old), at the Jìngkāng chǔráo (turbulent-disorder) — was zhífǎ (censor); was cíchén (drafter); soon from the suǒtà (drafting-office) passed-through lìbù and hùbù and the deputies; consecutive prefecturates of large commanderies. His memorials, drafted-commands, presentations — often-and-much like Lù Jìngyú (= Lù Zhì) — míngbiàn jùnfā. Each-time-a-piece-came-out, the world contended-to-transmit-and-recite, until the hànmàn shūyǔ (vast-overflowing book-roof). After Shàoxīng, encountered kǒuyǔ — banished and resided at Xiàngjùn. Long-after, returned and hid at the Tàihú lake-shore. Abandoned the mándàn (barbarian-clams, i.e. native fishermen) and consorted with the gulls-and-egrets. Departed the máowěi (thatch-and-reed) and befriended the sōngjú (pines-and-chrysanthemums). Then he turned-the-scrolls of the Northern-Hall’s ten-thousand-volume copy; sleeves preserved the Brilliant-Light’s draft-handling hand. Silently observed wùhuà (transformation-of-things); chanted-and-versed xìngqíng (nature-and-feeling). Smoke-and-waves of ten-thousand acres entered his bosom. Wind-and-clouds in their changes daily met before-him. Like-this for èrjì (24 years). What he obtained cannot be entirely-counted — no wonder his brush-tip’s gǔngǔn (rolling-on)!
Heaven’s-gate split-and-opened; the sùzhāng (memorial of complaint) above-attained. Lùnzhuàn cìduì, the xǐshū (seal-letters) successively descended. Year though diélǎo (very-old), personally composed xièbiǎo. As-for prime-ministers, shìcóng, táijiàn — for-each-person he composed one qǐ (felicitation), each chūxīnyì (bringing-out new-meaning); his yòngyì zhǔcí (use-of-meaning, conjunction-of-language) — youth-and-prime did-not-reach. Further, after 10 years, in Xiàozōng’s reign, was-once commanded to compile-and-classify Cài Jīng, Wáng Fǔ etc. shìshí (factual-events), submit them to the historiographer-officials. This is no-different from Fúshēng of age-90-and-some commanded to Tàicháng shòu Shàngshū.
How-can it be discussed in the ordinary-principles of others’ young-and-old? After dying — once-a-generation — his sons Xīngguó Tàizōng Jièzōng wrote me saying: “My-late-father’s prose-drafts, having-passed-through bīngjìn (war-fires), what-survives is barely-any. While the Mǐn and Shǔ prints further mixed-in Zhái Zhōnghuì’s prose [= Zhái Rǔwén 翟汝文 KR4d0150]; greatly afraid not enough to chuánxìn (transmit-credibility). Today fixed at 42 juǎn. What is not-yet-prepared, [we] are gathering-and-arranging the wàijí — for-me write the preface.” …
Memorising: in Qiándào dīnghài (1167) I encountered the lord at Yángxiàn (= Yíxīng); the lord was 87. Beyond discussing prose, words touched on former-dynasty old-affairs; jiànlùn tāotāo rú Hónghé dōngzhù (vigorous discussion flowing-on like the Yellow River pouring eastward); leftover-words xǐxǐ rú jù jiǎn cháo sī (entwining and tangling like gathered-cocoons in nest-silk); repeatedly gēngpú (changing the servant), unable-to-stop. Then-only knew the lord — not only literary-front irresistible, but old like Zhào Chōngguó — could still skillfully-do-troops.
[The piece concludes with notice on Sūn’s hào, on the Hóngqìnggōng office that gave the title, and on a chronological correction of one of Sūn’s youth-anecdotes by Gě Lìfāng’s Yùnyǔ yángqiū — the zhēn fányú (true fányú jade-emblem) tale told by Sū Shì.] Signed: Qìngyuán 5 (1199), 11th month, by Shàofù Guānwéndiàn dàxuéshì zhì zhèng Yìguógōng Zhōu Bìdà.
Abstract
The Hóngqìng jūshì jí in 42 juǎn preserves a substantial portion of Sūn Dí’s lifetime production. Sūn was the longest-lived major cíchén of the Northern–Southern-Sòng transition (89 suì at death; jìnshì champion at the cíkē) and produced the most extensive single-author corpus of zhāngshū zhìzhào biǎozòu among his contemporaries. The Zhōu Bìdà preface — by Sūn’s elder colleague at age 73, dated Qìngyuán 5 (1199) — is itself an unusually rich literary document, mixing personal memoir (the 1167 Yángxiàn meeting), philological correction of Gě Lìfāng’s Yùnyǔ yángqiū, and aesthetic appraisal of Sūn’s prose as Lù Zhì-comparable.
The Cài Jīng / Wáng Fǔ historiographic compilation commissioned by Xiàozōng — submitted in Sūn’s late 80s — is the documentary basis for Southern-Sòng official historiography of the late-Northern-Sòng court. The Fújiàn and Sìchuān prints had problematically incorporated Zhái Rǔwén 翟汝文 (= Zhōnghuìgōng KR4d0150) prose with Sūn’s; the present 42-juǎn recension, edited by Sūn’s three sons, was specifically designed to restore the boundary.
CBDB id 7343 confirms 1081–1169.
Translations and research
- 周必大 Hóng-qìng jū-shì jí xù (1199) — preserved at head of WYG.
- Sòng shǐ — Sūn Dí biography.
- 葛立方 Yùn-yǔ yáng-qiū — preserves anecdotal evidence (with errors per Zhōu Bì-dà’s correction).
- No dedicated Western-language study located.
Other points of interest
- Read together with KR4d0180 (the Nèijiǎn chǐdú, an annotated letter-collection by Sūn’s pupil Lǐ Zǔyáo 李祖堯). The Sìkù editors note differences between the chǐdú and the corresponding letters in the Hóngqìng jí — surely owing to manuscript-base differences.