Tàicāng tímǐ jí 太倉稊米集
The Great-Granary Stunted-Rice Collection by 周紫芝 (撰)
About the work
Tàicāng tímǐ jí 太倉稊米集 in 70 juǎn — 43 juǎn of yuèfǔ and poetry plus 27 juǎn of prose — is the literary collection of Zhōu Zǐzhī 周紫芝 (b. 1082, zì Shǎoyǐn 少隱, hào Zhúpō jūshì 竹坡居士 — “Bamboo-Slope Layman” — of Xuānchéng 宣城 in modern Ānhuī). The title is from Zhuāngzǐ Qiūshuǐ: “comparing oneself to the realm is like a stunted grain in the great granary” — a stock self-deprecating image. The collection contains three prefaces: Táng Wénruò’s, Chén Tiānlín’s, and Zǐzhī’s own. The collection’s literary heritage is the Yuányòu school: Zhōu took his poetic instruction directly from Zhāng Lěi 張耒 (Wénqián 文潛) and Lǐ Zhīyí 李之儀 (Duānshū 端叔), making him among the latest direct heirs of the Sū Shì circle. The collection’s notoriety rests on roughly seven yuèfǔ and poem-cycles composed for Qín Huì 秦檜’s birthday (and one for Qín’s son Qín Xī 秦熺’s birthday) and a DàSòng zhōngxìng sòng eulogy attributing the Restoration to Qín — pieces which the Sìkù editors describe as “lǎo ér wú chǐ” (“old yet without shame”) and “yídiàn hànqīng” (“sticky-stains on the bamboo-and-blue [historical record]”).
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: the Tàicāng tímǐ jí in 70 juǎn was composed by Zhōu Zǐzhī of the Sòng. Zǐzhī’s zì was Shǎoyǐn, a man of Xuānchéng. Jìnshì in the Shàoxīng era; held office to Shūmìyuàn biānxiūguān, then prefect of Xīngguójūn. Self-styled Zhúpō jūshì. The collection is yuèfǔ and poetry 43 juǎn + prose 27 juǎn. At the front are prefaces by Táng Wénruò, Chén Tiānlín, and Zǐzhī himself.
In the collection, under the poem Mèntí (Dejected Lines), there is a note: “in the rénxū year I first obtained office; my age was 61.” Thus Zǐzhī when he entered the Hànlín archives was already in his late years; he could have refrained from soliciting [favor]. But the collection contains:
- 4 yuèfǔ on the chief minister’s birthday;
- another 3 yuèfǔ on the chief minister’s birthday;
- another 7 yuèfǔ on the chief minister’s birthday;
- 30 juéjù on the chief minister’s birthday;
- and 6 gǔshī on the chief minister’s birthday —
all composed for Qín Huì.
- 2 qīyán gǔshī on Qín shǎobǎo (Junior Guardian) birthday;
- 1 qīyán páilǜ of 30 rhymes on Qín guānwén (Apparel-Cap-and-Gown Hall) birthday —
both composed for Qín Xī (Qín Huì’s son).
The single piece DàSòng zhōngxìng sòng (Eulogy on the Great-Sòng Restoration) similarly assigns the merit to Qín Huì, calling him yuánchén liángbì (chief minister of fundamental rank, fine prop). With Zhāng Yè’s Shàoxīng fùgǔ sòng it is identical in conception. Truly lǎo ér wú chǐ, leaving sticky stains on the historical record.
The collection cites Sū Shì’s words: “from antiquity to today there is no yǔ (utterance) without an opposing match.” Of the qín family, [the saying goes] qín-sound that pleases vulgar ears is called shèkè qǔ (set-the-guest tune); recently there was a poet who composed Sòng tàishǒu shī — saying “this is gōngguān shī, not worth seeing.” So shèkè qǔ finally has its match. Hence playfully composed a páitǐ shī: “Shèkè originally in qín-among-tunes / Gōngguān still has xuǎnzhōng shī”. So this several pieces — are perhaps the so-called gōngguān shī?
But his poetry, in the early Southern Sòng, particularly stands out: without the Yùzhāng (Huáng Tíngjiān) school’s stiff-and-hard fault, also without the Jiānghú mòpài’s sour-stuffing habit. Fāng Huí composed a bá on this collection, recording Zǐzhī’s saying: “Composing poetry, first strict on rules, then progress to phrasing — I obtained this saying from Zhāng Wénqián and Lǐ Duānshū.” Looking at this discussion, and verifying it against the Zǐzhī shīhuà’s citations, we know that his learning’s source truly emerges from the Yuányòu; hence in the various collections of Zhāng Lái Kēshān, Lónggé yòushǐ, and Qiáojūn xiānshēng he frantically searches through, as if he could not get there in time. As Yè Mèngdé’s Shílín shīhuà says of Kòu Guóbǎo: “his poetry comes from the Sūhuángmén (Sū Zhé) doorway-courtyard, hence inherently different.” Disregarding the man, taking the [poetic] phrasing, will serve. Qiánlóng 44 (1779), 11th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Zhōu Zǐzhī is the principal Southern-Sòng biéjí poet of literary-historical interest who is morally compromised by direct Qín Huì faction-collaboration. The collection’s poetic interest is significant: he is among the latest direct heirs of the SūHuáng circle (specifically, of Zhāng Lěi 張耒 the Liù jūnzǐ poet and Lǐ Zhīyí 李之儀), and his Zhúpō shīhuà is one of the principal Southern-Sòng poetic-criticism texts. The collection’s politico-moral interest is unique: roughly seven cycles of birthday encomia for Qín Huì (in the Wényāngé / Tàishī Qín shǎobǎo style of regular gōngguān (court-affiliated) verse), two for Qín Huì’s son Qín Xī, and a DàSòng zhōngxìng sòng attributing the Shàoxīng Restoration to Qín — pieces the Sìkù editors review with explicit moral condemnation. The collection thus serves as the principal documentary witness to the literary culture of the Qín Huì faction.
The dating bracket: Zhōu obtained his first office only in rénxū (1142) at age 61; his collection’s Wényān peak is in the late 1140s through Qín Huì’s death (1155); the DàSòng zhōngxìng sòng and the post-Lóngxīng peace pieces date through 1163–1165. Death year unfixed.
CBDB id 14228 (no dates). The catalog meta gives “b. 1182” — clearly an error. The internal Mèntí note (“at rénxū I obtained office, age 61”) establishes his birth in 1082, not 1182; followed here.
Translations and research
- Egan, Ronald. 2006. The Problem of Beauty: Aesthetic Thought and Pursuits in Northern Song Dynasty China. Harvard. Discusses the Yuán-yòu poetic transmission to Zhōu and the early Southern Sòng.
- Yoshikawa Kōjirō 吉川幸次郎. 1962. “Sō-shi gaisetsu”. Treats Zhōu in the Yuán-yòu lineage.
- 周裕鍇 (Zhōu Yù-kǎi). 2006. Sòng-dài shī-xué tōng-lùn. Treats the Zhú-pō shī-huà in the Sòng poetic-criticism canon.
Other points of interest
The seven QínHuì birthday-cycle compositions are the most concentrated documentary corpus of Sòng gōngguān shī (court-affiliated verse) directed at the chief minister; their preservation in the WYG recension reflects the Sìkù editors’ principle of preserving the historical record (with explicit moral condemnation in the tíyào) rather than redacting away the politically uncomfortable. Fāng Huí’s bá establishes Zhōu’s genealogy in the Yuányòu poetic tradition.