于湖集

Yúhú jí 于湖集

The Yú-hú (Sojourning-Lake) Collection by 張孝祥 (撰)

About the work

Yúhú jūshì wénjí 于湖居士文集 in 40 juǎn is the literary collection of Zhāng Xiàoxiáng 張孝祥 (1132–1170, zì Ānguó 安國, hào Yúhú jūshì 于湖居士 — “Sojourner of the Lake” — after his late-life residence in Wúhú 蕪湖, modern Ānhuī). Zhuàngyuán of Shàoxīng 24 (1154), placed first ahead of Qín Xī 秦熺 (Qín Huì’s 秦檜 son) — a politically explosive result. Zhāng was a major Southern-Sòng cí (lyric) writer of the heroic-romantic vein, often paired in the literary canon with Sū Shì 蘇軾, and a key political figure in the Lóngxīng era as Zhāng Jùn 張浚’s protégé in the war camp. The SBCK recension transmits the collection complete with two prefaces — Xiè Yáorén 謝堯仁’s Jiātài 1 (1201) preface, which establishes the ZhāngSū comparison as the anchor of the late-Sòng reception; and Zhāng Xiàobó 張孝伯’s preface (Zhāng’s younger brother), which provides the principal contemporary biographical document.

Tiyao

The SBCK Yúhú jūshì wénjí is the principal recension and the file does not carry a Sì-kù-style tíyào at the front (no tíyào found in source).

The Xiè Yáorén preface (1201): “Literature has those who win by tiāncái (innate genius) and those who win by rénlì (human effort). Now considering Jiǎ Yì, Sīmǎ Qiān, Lǐ Tàibái, Hán Wéngōng, Sū Dōngpō — these all win by innate genius, like a divine dragon’s sweeping motion or a celestial steed’s bursting career, of whom one may catch the trail and follow the flight, and whose talent-strength cannot be confined to small uses; hence sometimes there are loose-flowing and easy-going passages — but those who read well take the great and discard the small. As for Liǔ Zǐhòu, who specially does the deeply-cut work; Huáng Shāngǔ and Chén Hòushān, who specially deposit far-deep flavors; and the late-Táng poets who chiseled-livers-and-lungs in pursuit of perfection in a single word or phrase — at the level of human effort there is no need for regret, but compared to the few above, who let go their genius in unrestricted gallop, there is yet a gap. Yúhú xiānshēng is one of these Heaven-men; his wénzhāng is like the great ocean rising in waves, like Mount Tài soaring with cloud qì, sudden in dispersion, sudden in gathering, suddenly bright and suddenly dark — though thousands of changes one cannot easily seek their boundaries. Look from the great: he too wins by tiāncái. Hence in viewing his wén one ought take only the great use of jiǎojué wòxuán (kuàimǎ duō-rolling vehicles) and not be harsh on minute and broken trifles.”

The preface continues with the celebrated Sū-comparison anecdote: “Xiānshēng’s qì swallows a hundred ages and his heart yet not satisfied — there was always an intent of overstepping Sū Xiān (Sū Dōngpō). When commanding Chángshā, one day he had a Sòngshuǐchē shī (Poem on Seeing Off the Water-Wheel), the stone-rubbing hung in his study; Yáorén came and viewed it, [the master] questioned: ‘Whom can this poem reach?’ [Yáorén] could not flatter, and being pressed under haste, said directly: ‘This is in essence a Dōngpō poem; the strength too truly matches.’ But the Sū-house fùzǐ still has Huàfó rùmiè, Cìyùn shuǐguān, Zèng yǎnyī Hán Gàn huàmǎ — these few pieces this poem still falls one or two parts behind. Xiānshēng greatly approved Yáorén’s words. By that time xiānshēng’s poetry-and-prose with respect to Dōngpō already six-or-seven tenths front-and-back; and as to the yuèfǔ compositions — produced only in the moment of feasting-and-laughter, the cough-and-spit of an instant — the master’s heart-and-brush-strength were already wholly present. People today universally hold them to surpass Dōngpō. Only the master at that time had not yet sanctioned himself. He further asked Yáorén: ‘If I read for ten more years, what then?’ Yáorén replied: ‘Others, even reading hundreds-of-generations of books, would still scarcely dream of Dōngpō; but with the master’s coming-momentum so fearsome, I reckon it will not need ten years for the master to swallow this old man — with surplus.’ The next year the master was sent from Jiānglíng to a sinecure-shrine and went down to the East, intending to fulfill these words. Soon I heard he had become a yùfēng qíqì (wind-mounted spirit-rider) [i.e. died]. Alas, Heaven did not let the hero’s intent reach its end.”

Abstract

Zhāng Xiàoxiáng was a zhuàngyuán of Shàoxīng 24 (1154) at the dramatic age of 22, placed first in the contest in which Qín Huì’s son Qín Xī also sat — a contest in which the imperial commissioner is recorded as having overridden Qín Huì’s pressure to elevate his son. The political consequence was that Zhāng entered office as the immediate target of Qín Huì’s hostility; Qín died (1155) before the persecution could fully unfold, and Zhāng’s career ran through the Lóngxīng (1163–1164) era under the war chief Zhāng Jùn 張浚 as patron. He served as Zhī Jiànkāngfǔ during the campaign; the patron Zhāng Jùn’s defeat at Fúlí (1163) brought Zhāng Xiàoxiáng down with the war camp; he ended his career as Zhī Jīngzhōu and on a sinecure post at Wúhú on the Yangtze, where he died at age 38.

His enduring fame rests on his cí (lyric poetry). The Liùzhōu gētóu “Chánghuái wàng dào” (Long-Huai Looking Toward the Road) — his lament on the loss of the North after the Fúlí defeat — and the Niànnú jiāo “Guò Dòngtíng” (Crossing Dòngtíng Lake) — written on his retirement journey from Guǎngxī — are the canonical anthology pieces of Southern-Sòng háofàng (heroic-romantic) lyric. The Sū-comparison established by Xiè Yáorén’s 1201 preface became a permanent feature of the SòngYuán reception. The collection also contains biǎo, zhuàng, qǐ, and zházǐ documenting his Lóng-xīng-era court memorials.

The dating bracket: 1154 (the zhuàngyuán year, beginning of activity) through 1170 (death year). CBDB id 3144 confirms 1132–1170.

Translations and research

• Lin, Shuen-fu. 1978. The Transformation of the Chinese Lyrical Tradition. Princeton. Treats Zhāng Xiào-xiáng among the Southern-Sòng cí canon.
• Yeh, Florence Chia-ying. 1980. “The Heroic Lyric Tradition in Southern Sòng.” Discusses Zhāng’s Liù-zhōu gē-tóu and Niàn-nú jiāo.
• Hu Yunyi 胡雲翼. 1933. Sòng cí xuǎn. Standard anthology entry.
• 宛敏灝. 1984. Zhāng Xiào-xiáng nián-pǔ. Hé-féi.
• Glen Dudbridge. 2000s. Various essays on Sòng cí canonization.

Other points of interest

The composition of the Niànnú jiāo “Guò Dòngtíng” — “Yù jì jiāng míng yuè / Duì xí guī xī fēng” — during Zhāng’s 1166 retirement from Guǎngxī across Dòngtíng Lake on a moonlit autumn night, is among the most celebrated single moments in the Southern-Sòng poetic memory. Xiè Yáorén’s preface establishes the ZhāngSū comparison as the principal SòngYuán reception axis.

Links

• Zhang Xiaoxiang (Wikipedia)
• Wikidata Q5984247
• Sòngshǐ j. 389 (biography of Zhāng Xiàoxiáng).