Yàntáng shīgǎo 燕堂詩稿
The Swallow-Hall Poetry Drafts by 趙公豫 (撰)
About the work
Yàntáng shīgǎo 燕堂詩稿 in 1 juǎn is the surviving recension of the poetry of Zhào Gōngyù 趙公豫 (1135–1212, zì Zhòngqiān 仲謙 or Zhòngmóu 仲謀, a Sòng imperial-clan member by descent who, after the southern crossing, settled at Chángshú 常熟 in modern Jiāngsū). The original 16-juǎn Yàntáng lèigǎo — containing memorials, drafted edicts, court-examination essays, and prose miscellanies — was abridged by the Quánzhōu prefect Jiǎng Yōng 蔣雝 to a small xuǎnběn (selected edition) of poetry only; the present 1-juǎn recension is what survives of that abridgement. The collection is preceded by an anonymous běnzhuàn biography providing the principal biographical documentation.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: the Yàntáng shīgǎo in 1 juǎn was composed by Zhào Gōngyù of the Sòng. Gōngyù’s zì was Zhòngqiān, a man of Chángshú. In the Shàoxīng era he advanced via the jìnshì and was Zhī Zhēnzhōu; rose to Bǎomógé dàizhì. The collection front has a zhuàn in 1 piece — the author’s name not recorded — saying Gōngyù was originally a Sòng imperial-clan member, the family migrating to Chángshú after the southern crossing. But examining the Sòngshǐ imperial-clan genealogy table, none of the various branches’ generations is named with the Gōng (公) generation-character; we cannot determine to which line he belonged.
The zhuàn further says: Gōngyù’s Yàntáng lèigǎo originally in 16 juǎn; zhàogào, biǎo, cè mostly were transmitted and recited at the time; his poetry, due to shǔduì (parallel-couplet structure) being not very fine and pointed, the prefect of Quánzhōu Jiǎng Yōng selected the entire material and pruned it too severely, retaining only this many pieces — so that Gōngyù was strong only in prose, and poetry was not his special skill. This zhì — though only in transcript — has not been gathered by even the Sòng-poetry selectors. Reading his poems now: although the diction is not finely worked, he writes the heart’s contents directly — not failing to be a school of Southern Sòng. The zhuàn further says Gōngyù in office was upright; he often said, “I seek to be a liánglì (good administrator), not to be a jiànlì (vigorous administrator)”; on the day of his leaving office, those holding wine-flagons and clinging to the carriage-shafts were many; and after his death Mǎ Hézhī composed his zhìbiǎo with the heading “Pure-and-Manifest” — his administrative deeds truly worthy of record. By preserving him in his man, his poems are preserved — also as a supplement to history’s gaps. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 4th month, respectfully collated.
The biography’s main content (translated): “Zhào Gōngyù zì Zhòngmóu, originally a clan-member; after the southern crossing migrated to Chángshú, hence registered there. Bright-and-keen as a child; at five-or-six remembered the Zuǒshì zhuàn without erring a character. On reaching majority he traveled the four directions; wherever he went, literary men competed to invite him: as Pútián’s Chén Yuánjǔ Zhāodù, Jīnhuá’s Chén Tiānyǔ Liángyòu, Huátíng’s Xǔ Shàngdá Kèchāng, Lánqī’s Fàn Màomíng (= Fàn Jùn) 范浚, Xīnhuì’s Mǎ Gěngchén Chíguó — all eminent gentlemen of the day, all received him as a guóshì. In his hometown he had Lěng Liángqì as a mònì friend; his fame spread through the jìnshēn (cap-and-belt class). Before long he registered the jìnshì; in Shàoxīng he was Zhī Zhēnzhōu. Gōngyù was sober-hearted, simple-and-grave; in office he was upright. He often said: ‘I seek to be a xúnlì, not to be a jiànlì.’ Hence on the day of his leaving office, those bringing wine-flagons and clinging to the carriage-shafts were many. He rose by stages to Bǎomógé dàizhì and retired. Authored Yàntáng lèigǎo in 16 juǎn. … Died at age 64; buried west of the Fúshuǐ Cliff at Yúshān; the Gōngbù shìláng Mǎ Hézhī of Qiántáng inscribed his memorial ‘Pure-and-Manifest’.”
Abstract
Zhào Gōngyù was a member of the Sòng imperial zōngshì clan whose family had moved south after 1127 and settled in Chángshú 常熟. The Sìkù editors note that the Sòngshǐ imperial-clan genealogy does not record the Gōng (公) generation-character, suggesting that Zhào’s lineage is to be located outside the principal recorded lines — possibly a more distant collateral. He was a jìnshì of the Shàoxīng era, served as prefect of Zhēnzhōu 真州 (modern Yízhēng, Jiāngsū), and retired with the Bǎomógé dàizhì honor. Per his běnzhuàn, his administrative reputation rested on his liánglì / jiànlì maxim — “I seek to be a good administrator, not a vigorous one” — and the popular farewell on his leaving office. Mǎ Hézhī’s epitaph “Pure-and-Manifest” (清顯) is preserved as the principal posthumous testimony.
The original 16-juǎn Yàntáng lèigǎo — comprising drafted edicts, memorials, examination-essays, and miscellanea — was reduced by the prefect Jiǎng Yōng to a small xuǎnběn of poetry only; the present 1-juǎn surviving recension is what came through. CBDB id 14746 (no dates). The biographic zhuàn preserved at the head gives the death age as 64; the catalog’s lifedates 1135–1212 imply 78 years and conflict with the zhuàn’s figure — there may be an unresolved bibliographic confusion.
The dating bracket: 1155 (a conservative notBefore for his Shàoxīng-era jìnshì career) through 1212 (the catalog’s death year, retained provisionally).
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The associations with Fàn Jùn 范浚 (the Xīn zhēn author of KR4d0211), Chén Yuánjǔ, and others sketch a substantial Southern-Sòng literary network around Chángshú and Wùzhōu. Mǎ Hézhī’s epitaph for Zhào and the anonymous zhuàn preserved at the front of the collection are the principal contemporary documentation, since the Sòng shǐ offers no biography.