Liánfēng jí 蓬峯集
The Lián-fēng Collection by 史堯弼 (撰)
About the work
Liánfēng jí 蓬峯集 (literally “Lotus-peak Collection” — the title’s first character is variously written 蓬 in the catalog and 蓮 in the source) in 10 juǎn is the Sìkù-reconstructed biéjí of Shǐ Yáobì 史堯弼 (zì Tángyīng 唐英, of Méizhōu 眉州, modern Sìchuān). His career was meteoric and brief: noticed at age 14 (the jiěyuán with Lǐ Tāo) for poetry composed in fěnhóng kù (pink trousers); studied with Zhāng Jùn 張浚 (Wèigōng) and Zhāng Shì 張栻; passed jìnshì in Shàoxīng dīngchǒu (1157, 27th year — listed alongside his younger brother Shǐ Yáowén 史堯文); died young, evidently before holding any substantive office. Original collection 30 juǎn (per Jiāo Hóng’s Guóshǐ jīngjí zhì); the present 10-juǎn recension is reconstructed from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn.
Tiyao
The Liánfēng jí in 10 juǎn was composed by Shǐ Yáobì of the Sòng. Yáobì’s zì was Tángyīng, a man of Méizhōu. His official career is not seen in the shǐzhuàn. Jiāo Hóng’s Guóshǐ jīngjí zhì [records] Yáobì’s Liánfēng jí in 30 juǎn; in the world there is also no transmitted běn; therefore those recording Sòng shī mostly cannot raise his surname-and-name. Only the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn contains this collection’s two original-prefaces. One was composed in Qiándào bǐngxū (1166), self-signed Shěngzhāi — unknown what person. One is Rén Qīngquán’s preface composed in Jiādìng guǐyǒu (1213), saying Yáobì from tóngzhì age was distinctly extraordinary; in his youth, with [his] Gǔ yuèfǔ and Hóngfàn discussions and others, went-to-meet Zhāng Jùn — Jùn called his great-similarity to Dōngpō — kept-him in residence at Tán with Zhāng Shì roving — often opened-him with the zhèngdà learning. In the year dīngchǒu (1157), with his younger brother Yáo-wén登-第 — and so on. Yet [the preface] also did not state his ending. Examining Zhōu Mì’s Hàoránzhāi yǎtán: “Lǐ Tāo, eighteen suì, was Méizhōu jiěkuí; at the time the second-place was Shǐ Yáobì, just 14 suì — people doubted his prose was not yet skilled. Going to the Lùmíng yàn he still wore fěnhóng kù; the tàishǒu commanded fēnyùn composing shī; Yáobì got the character jiàn; took up the brush and immediately composed: ‘Four [years of] age, still less than Fáng Xuánlíng / Seven steps, not yet yielding to Cáo Zǐjiàn’. Afterwards [he was] Zhāng Wèigōng’s guest; unfortunately died young” — and so on. What it records agrees with Rén Qīngquán’s preface. Further the Jiānghú xùjí contains a Zhāng Wěi tí Liánfēng jí shī — also has the line “One stem of jiānghú guest; / Three reigns of zhōngyì family”. With these various books mutually-investigated and verified: indeed Yáobì after dēngdì before he was授官, died. Yáobì’s tiānzī (heaven-given talent) was leaping-extraordinary; his shī are zònghéng páidàng, shaking off ordinary paths. His lùncè various piān: clear-and-bright, unfolding-fluent, rolling-without-end — also has unbridled qì. By-and-large there is the family-Sū’s [Sū Shì 蘇軾] [hometown’s] heritage fēng (style). Only because his summer-green frosted-and-withered, [he] could not — like Lǐ Tāo — write books and transmit to posterity. Yet judging his prose, [we] still call him not unworthy of being a cáishì (talented gentleman). Rén Qīngquán’s preface — because the collection has lùnxué compositions — therefore took Zhāng Shì’s youthful self-attainment as Yáobì’s mólóng jìnguàn (polishing and immersing) work — wishing to draw [him] into the Dàoxué line. Yet the ménhù biāobǎng (gate-and-place faction-flag) habit — the [reverse] effect is: not enough to display Yáobì. His prose — already in the Sòng — much was scattered-fallen. This collection is what his great-grandson Shǐ Shīdào re-cut. Now also cannot be re-seen. Respectfully from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn gathering-collecting, dividing into 10 juǎn, [we] record [it] in the lù, in order that huáicái jīzhì (carrying talent, weighty ambition) gentlemen will not have the shēngchén yìrú (sound-and-dust covered-up) lamentation. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Liánfēng jí preserves the brief literary corpus of Shǐ Yáobì, a Sìchuān prodigy who passed jìnshì in 1157 and died young before being assigned office. The two original prefaces (anonymous Shěngzhāi preface of 1166 and Rén Qīngquán preface of 1213) plus Zhōu Mì’s Hàoránzhāi yǎtán anecdote provide the principal biographical evidence. Shǐ studied with Zhāng Jùn (the famous chief-councillor and recovery-faction leader, who pronounced him “greatly resembling [Sū] Dōngpō”) and with Zhāng Shì at Tánzhōu, but the Sìkù editors push back against Rén Qīngquán’s attempt to draft Shǐ retrospectively into the Dàoxué canon: “the ménhù biāobǎng (factional flag-waving) habit is, in [reverse] effect, insufficient to display [the actual] Yáobì.” A useful documentation of Sìkù-period skepticism about Dàoxué canon-formation. The dating bracket: 1157 (Shǐ’s jìnshì) through 1213 (Rén Qīngquán’s preface — a terminus ante quem for the principal recension; Shǐ himself died young and the precise year is unrecorded).
Translations and research
- No substantial secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù editors’ resistance to Rén Qīngquán’s Dàoxué recruitment of Shǐ Yáobì is one of the more revealing moments of Sìkù editorial practice — they preserve Rén’s preface but explicitly correct his interpretive frame, treating the collection as a cáishì (talented-scholar) corpus rather than a Dàoxué corpus.