Yìfēng jí 義豐集
The Yì-fēng Collection by 王阮 (撰)
About the work
Yìfēng jí 義豐集 in 1 juǎn is the surviving fragment of the literary collection of Wáng Ruǎn 王阮 (d. 1208, zì Nánqīng 南卿, of Déān 德安 in modern Jiāngxī). Wáng was the great-grandson of Wáng Sháo 王韶 (the HéHuáng kāituò / Huáng River-and-Mín River frontier-development general of the Northern-Sòng Xīníng era). Jìnshì of Lóngxīng 1 (1163); held office to Zhī Fǔzhōu; summoned to imperial audience; Hán Tuōzhòu wished to see him, but Wáng refused — Hán retaliated with a sinecure-temple appointment, after which Wáng retired to Mt. Lúshān 廬山 and died there. The collection contains principally his poetry; the prose corpus is lost. Liú Kèzhuāng 劉克莊’s bá on his poetry locates Wáng’s poetic genealogy: “Gāo (high) places press Língyáng (Hán Jū) and Cháshān (Zēng Jǐ)”; Yuè Kē 岳珂’s Tīngshǐ records that Wáng studied with Zǐwēi — i.e., Zhāng Xiàoxiáng 張孝祥. The collection thus represents an unusual confluence: the Jiāngxī school via Língyáng and Cháshān; the Sūshì school via Zhāng Xiàoxiáng; and the HánSū shared lineage via independent reading. Wáng’s editorship of Wáng Zhì’s 王質 Xuěshān jí KR4d0228 is the principal cross-reference.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: the Yìfēng jí in 1 juǎn was composed by Wáng Ruǎn of the Sòng. Ruǎn’s zì was Nánqīng, of Déān. Great-grandson of Wáng Sháo. Jìnshì of Lóngxīng 1 (1163); held office to Zhī Fǔzhōu. Summoned to audience; Hán Tuōzhòu wished to see him, finally did not go. [Hán] in anger sent him on a sinecure-temple appointment; he returned to Mt. Lú and finally died there.
Ruǎn in youth visited Master Zhū at Kǎotíng; when Master Zhū knew Nánkāng Ruǎn again followed him in study — hence the collection has chàngchóu (back-and-forth) compositions. Ruǎn’s returning — Master Zhū lamented, calling him having cáiqì shùlüè (talent-and-spirit, art-and-strategy) above-others, but liúluò bùǒu (drifted-and-fallen, opportunities-not-meeting).
The collection’s front has Wú Yú’s 吳愈 Chúnyòu guǐmǎo (1243) preface saying his prose has-no-character-without-source; on frontier-affairs CháoJiǎ qí lún (Cháo Cuò and Jiǎ Yì in his line); on jìmíng (records-and-inscriptions) HánLiǔ qí yà (Hán Yù and Liǔ Zōngyuán close-second).
The prose-collection is now no-longer-seen; what survives is only one juǎn of poetry — perhaps the transmitter took the entire collection’s preface to set at the front of the poetry. Liú Kèzhuāng once wrote a bá on his poetry — said the high places press Língyáng and Cháshān. Língyáng is Hán Jū; Cháshān is Zēng Jǐ.
Yuè Kē’s Tīngshǐ says Ruǎn studied with Zǐwēi; records his Wànshānsì chànghé juéjù and Chóng guò Wànshānsì juéjù. Zǐwēi is Zhāng Xiàoxiáng. Zēng’s poetry takes-as-master Huáng Tíngjiān; Zhāng’s poetry takes Sū Shì for imitation; Hán’s poetry comes-and-goes between Sū and Huáng. Now examining Ruǎn’s poetry — galloping between the two schools, each obtaining one body — Kèzhuāng and [Yuè] Kē’s accounts both indeed close-to-truth.
[Yuè] Kē further records Ruǎn’s composed poetry called Yìfēng jí, carved by-the-side-of-the-river; the xiàoguān Féng Yǐ wrote its preface. So Ruǎn’s poetry originally had a separate-circulating běn; we do not know how it was lost. [Féng’s] preface was replaced with Wú [Yú]‘s preface. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 10th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Wáng Ruǎn is one of the most documented late-Southern-Sòng cases of a senior official whose career was halted by Hán Tuōzhòu’s purge: summoned to audience, Wáng refused to be received by Hán; Hán retaliated with a sinecure post; Wáng retired to Mt. Lúshān and died there in 1208 — the year of Hán’s own assassination. He had earlier been close to Zhū Xī (visiting at Kǎotíng and following Zhū at Nánkāng); Zhū’s lament that Wáng had cáiqì shùlüè but missed his opportunity is one of the principal Zhū Xī tributes to a contemporary.
His distinctive poetic interest: a confluence of the Jiāngxī school (via the Hán Jū / Zēng Jǐ line) and the SūShì school (via Zhāng Xiàoxiáng 張孝祥 in the Wànshānsì chànghé juéjù exchange). His chief editorial achievement was the 40-juǎn recension of his friend Wáng Zhì’s 王質 Xuěshān jí KR4d0228, also lost.
The transmission: the original Yìfēng jí (with Féng Yǐ preface) circulated separately as a poetry-collection but was lost. The Sìkù editors recovered 1 juǎn of poetry, prepended with Wú Yú’s Chúnyòu guǐmǎo (1243) preface (originally a preface to the lost prose-collection). Wáng’s prose is entirely lost.
The dating bracket: 1163 (his jìnshì year) through 1208 (his death year per CBDB id 35278 — death year only).
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The convergence of Jiāngxī and Sū-school influences in Wáng’s poetry is noted by the Sìkù editors as a distinctive late-Southern-Sòng poetic stance — i.e., a deliberate refusal of the Sìdàjiā / Jiānghú / Jiāngxī school choices in favor of an integrative reading. Wáng’s friendship-and-editorship of Wáng Zhì gives a documentary cross-reference between this collection and KR4d0228.