Nánjiàn jiǎyǐ gǎo 南澗甲乙稿
The Nán-jiàn First-and-Second Drafts by 韓元吉 (撰)
About the work
Nánjiàn jiǎyǐ gǎo 南澗甲乙稿 in 22 juǎn is the Sìkù-reconstructed biéjí of Hán Yuánjí 韓元吉 (1118–1187, zì Wújiù 无咎, hào Nánjiànwēng 南澗翁), originally of Yōngqiū 雍邱 in Kāifēngfǔ; after the nándù settled at Shàngráo 上饒 in Xìnzhōu 信州. He is a great-great-grandson (yuánsūn) of the Northern-Sòng Ménxià shìláng Hán Wéi 韓維 (1017–1098), per Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí — the Sìkù editors carefully refute the Jiāngxī tōngzhì’s erroneous claim that he was Wéi’s son (impossible on chronological grounds). Held office to Lǐbù shàngshū; ennobled as Yǐngchuān jùngōng; once served as zhēngJīn shǐ (envoy to the Jīn). Disciple of Yǐn Tūn 尹焞 (and through Yǐn, two generations from the Chéng brothers); friend of Zhū Xī 朱熹; father-in-law of Lǚ Zǔqiān 呂祖謙; correspondent of Yè Mèngdé, Zhāng Jùn, Zēng Jǐ, 曾丰, Chén Yánxiào, Gōng Yízhèng, 章甫, Chén Liàng, 陸游, and Zhào Fān 趙蕃. Originally 70 juǎn (per Mǎ Duānlín’s Jīngjí kǎo) plus a 1-juǎn cí-collection (the Jiāowěi jí 焦尾集); the present recension reconstructs about 22 juǎn from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn.
Tiyao
The Nánjiàn jiǎyǐ gǎo in 22 juǎn was composed by Hán Yuánjí of the Sòng. Yuánjí’s zì was Wújiù, of Yōngqiū in Kāifēng. After the nándù he sojourned at Shàngráo in Xìnzhōu; in the collection he self-signs Yǐngchuān, not forgetting his root. Yuánjí: the Sòngshǐ has no biography. Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí calls him the yuánsūn (great-great-grandson) of the Ménxià shìláng Hán Wéi. The Jiāngxī tōngzhì takes him as Hán Wéi’s son. Examining the Sòngshǐ Wéi’s biography: [Wéi] died in Yuánfú 1 (1098); but the collection has Xìcí jiě xù saying “in Chúnxī wùxū (1178), the year was already 61” — therefore Yuánjí’s birth-time exactly is in Huīzōng Chónghé 1 (1118); from Yuánfú 1 wùyín the gap is fully 20 years; how could he be Wéi’s son? The collection further has Gāozǔ gōngshī wénbiān xù saying “in Shàoshèng (1094–1098) the gōng was banished to Jūnzhōu”; further saying “from Jiànzhōngjìngguó on, [he] was reverted to original office” — entirely consistent with Wéi’s deeds. Therefore the Jiāngxī tōngzhì is in error; Chénshì is correct. Chénshì further says: he and his cousin-elder-brother Yuánlóng both took the cíkē examination unsuccessfully; later [Yuánjí] held office to Lǐbù shàngshū. But [Chén] does not detail his deeds. Now, on the strength of his Fù Xìnmù poem, we know he was first a mùliáo (staff-officer); his Sòng Lián Bìdá xù — knew he once was Zhī Jiànānxiàn. His xièbiǎo zhuàng zhā — outside [the capital], once was Jiāngdōng zhuǎnyùn pànguān, twice Zhī Wùzhōu; further Zhī Jiànníngfǔ; inside, once quán Zhōngshū shèrén, shǒu Dàlǐsì shǎoqīng, Lóngtúgé xuéshì, dàizhì, Lǐbù shìláng; in the middle [he] once went-as-mission to the Jīn-state, twice as tíjǔ Tàipíng xīngguógōng; and as Lǐbù shàngshū further was promoted to Yǐngchuān jùngōng; and retired-old at the Nánjiàn — therefore self-naming Nánjiànwēng — and named the collection accordingly. Two Nánjiàn: one is at Jiànān city’s south, being Zhèngshì’s biéyè, seen in this collection’s shīxù; one is at Guǎngxìn river-south — seen in Shūlù jiětí. Examining: Yuánjí’s office was in Mǐn [Fújiàn], home was in Jiāngyòu — apparently not the Jiànān nánjiàn; should be Guǎngxìn. Yuánjí is fundamentally a wénxiàn shìjiā (literary-records family-person); his postface to Yǐn Tūn’s manuscripts self-names as ménrén (disciple) — therefore his distance from Master Chéng [Yí] is barely two transmissions. Further [he was] best with Master Zhū, once recommending him to substitute for himself; that zhuàng is now in this collection. Therefore his learning-source is rather pure-and-correct. His shī-and-prose correspondents include Yè Mèngdé, Zhāng Jùn, Zēng Jǐ, Zēng Fēng, Chén Yánxiào, Gōng Yízhèng, Zhāng Fǔ, Chén Liàng, Lù Yóu, Zhào Fān, and others — all the leading lights of his time. Therefore his prose’s standard-square also has full instructor-and-transmission. His son-in-law Lǚ Zǔqiān was the world’s general rú; his son named Hú with zì Zhòngzǐ also clearly-pure self-maintained, famous for shī in late Sòng — there is a reason. Master Zhū’s Yǔlèi says: “Wújiù’s shī*-composition is wholly peaceful, has the Zhōngyuán old [tone], without southern zhāzhā sound*” — truly a settled judgment. The collection originally was 70 juǎn; further self-edited his cí as Jiāowěi jí in 1 juǎn; both recorded in the Wénxiàn tōngkǎo. Long lost-and-scattered. Now from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn’s recordings, totaling and gathering as shīfù in 6 juǎn, cí in 1 juǎn, wén in 15 juǎn. Surveying the full collection, shītǐ and wéngé both have Ōu [-yáng Xiū] and Sū [Shì]‘s heritage, not below the southern-Sòng’s various persons — yet sunk-and-untransmitted, almost incomprehensible. Yet sunk-and-obscure for several hundred years — suddenly emerging into the world, brightly emitting the brush-and-ink’s light — is it not the spirit-and-color end-having unable-to-be-erased? — therefore the língwù (spiritual creature) shielded it, [permitting] it to re-emerge today? Qiánlóng 49 (1784), 11th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Nánjiàn jiǎyǐ gǎo preserves the corpus of one of the most well-connected mid-Southern-Sòng senior officials. Hán Yuánjí’s intellectual genealogy — Yǐn Tūn (transmitter of Chéng Yí) → Hán Yuánjí — places him two generations from the Chéng brothers. His friendship with Zhū Xī (whom he recommended as his replacement at the Lǐbù), his father-in-law-ship of Lǚ Zǔqiān, and his correspondence with virtually every leading mid-Southern-Sòng Lǐxué figure (Zhāng Shì, Lù Yóu, Chén Liàng, Yè Mèngdé, et al.) make this biéjí one of the densest social documents of the period. The Sìkù tíyào is unusually substantive in identifying Hán’s career posts (Zhī Wùzhōu twice, Zhī Jiànníngfǔ, Lǐbù shàngshū, Yǐngchuān jùngōng) entirely from internal biǎo-qǐ evidence.
The Sìkù editors’ textual-critical refutation of the Jiāngxī tōngzhì’s claim that Hán was Hán Wéi’s son (impossible: Wéi died 1098, Hán was born 1118) is one of their cleaner methodological demonstrations. Zhū Xī’s appreciative Yǔlèi judgment (“his poetry has the Zhōngyuán old tone, without southern zhāzhā sound”) is preserved here as the locus classicus for Hán’s poetic style. The dating bracket: 1141 (Hán’s earliest dateable composition) through 1187 (his death year per CBDB id 669).
Translations and research
- Tillman, Hoyt Cleveland. 1992. Confucian Discourse and Chu Hsi’s Ascendancy. Hawai’i. Discusses Hán in the Zhū Xī correspondence network.
- Wilkinson §27.1 references Hán’s Jiāo-wěi jí in the cí-author canon.
- No substantial monographic literature located.
Other points of interest
Hán’s relation to Hán Wéi (his great-great-grandfather) connects him to the principal Northern-Sòng Hán clan; his son Hán Hú 韓淲 (zì Zhòngzǐ, hào Jiànquán 澗泉) was a notable late-Sòng poet in his own right. The 1118 birth date — the Chónghé year — is established by the Sìkù editors from Hán’s own Xìcí jiě xù internal date-reference.