Shěngzhāi jí 省齋集
The Shěng-zhāi Collection by 廖行之 (撰)
About the work
Shěngzhāi jí 省齋集 in 10 juǎn is the Sìkù-reconstructed biéjí of Liào Xíngzhī 廖行之 (1137–1189, zì Tiānmín 天民), of Héngzhōu 衡州 (modern Héngyáng, Húnán; the family came originally from Yánpíng 延平 in Mǐn and migrated south during the Five Dynasties). Jìnshì of Chúnxī jiǎchén (11th year, 1184); held office as Yuèzhōu Bālíngwèi; resigned to support his elderly parents and was reassigned Níngxiāng zhǔbù but died before taking up the post. Famous for his role in the establishment of the Shígǔ shūyuàn 石鼓書院 lands. The collection was first cut by his son Liào Qiān 廖謙; the present 10-juǎn recension is reconstructed from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and includes Dài Xī’s 戴溪 Shàoxī 2 (1191) preface and the appended xíngzhuàng.
Tiyao
[The standard Sìkù tíyào, here translated:] The Shěngzhāi jí in 10 juǎn was composed by Liào Xíngzhī of the Sòng. Xíngzhī’s zì was Tiānmín; his ancestors were of Yánpíng; in the Five-Dynasties period [the family] moved to Héngzhōu. Jìnshì of Chúnxī jiǎchén (1184); once held office as Yuèzhōu Bālíngwèi; with old parents he begged-leave to support [them] and returned; was assigned Níngxiāng zhǔbù but did not take up the post. According to Tián Qí’s [composed] xíngzhuàng, calling his lifetime inner-conduct cultivated-and-disciplined, attentive to jīngjì (statecraft); in office he also recorded many achievements; yet his name-and-rank were not flourishing — therefore [his] surname-and-style do not appear in the shǐzhuàn; his writings the various scholars also rarely catalog. This collection: his son Qiān cut the original 10 juǎn; now from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn gathering-and-collecting, [the] piānzhì (chapters-and-leaves) are quite numerous, like that day’s full-collection-included; respectfully arranging-by-order, examining-and-correcting, [we] still divide into 10 juǎn to restore the old. The original 17 postfaces, the xíngzhuàng and mùmíng — 3 in total — are still appended at the back to provide for examination. His prose is by-and-large excluding zǎohuì (algae-coloring), striving to take zhìpǔ (substance-plain) as the principle. Sometimes cannot avoid being near pǔsài (plain-coarse); therefore Dài Xī composing the preface did not greatly praise it. Yet his cíyì are sincerely-substantial, close-to-shìlǐ, also enough to imagine his person. As to his sìliù compositions, then compared to other prose more flowing-elegant. Qián Fūjìng’s postface says his biǎoqǐ often appear cross-seen in Zhōu Bìdà’s collection — indeed because Bìdà also has the [hào] Shěngzhāi, therefore mutually mixed-confused. Now examining-and-collating Bìdà’s full collection, in fact not one piān is duplicated [with this collection] — must be from later persons knowing the error-of-record, then cutting-and-removing [it]. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 3rd month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Shěngzhāi jí preserves the relatively obscure but well-attested corpus of Liào Xíngzhī, who held only minor offices but played a notable role in the Shígǔ shūyuàn (Stone-Drum Academy) endowment at Héngzhōu. Dài Xī’s preface, the principal contemporary documentation, calls Liào “broadly learned, much-heard, filial and brotherly, urgent for righteousness”. The collection’s sìliù parallel-prose is reportedly more flowing than its main prose, which the Sìkù editors note is plain to the point of coarseness. The dating bracket: 1184 (Liào’s jìnshì) through 1191 (Dài Xī’s Shàoxī 2 preface). Liào himself died in 1189 per CBDB id 27711.
The Sìkù editors’ textual-critical observation that Zhōu Bìdà 周必大 also held the hào Shěngzhāi — explaining historical confusion between the two collections — is a useful caveat for any future bibliographer.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The role of Liào Xíngzhī in the Shígǔ shūyuàn endowment makes the collection a useful source for the social history of Sòng-era academies — Liào’s Tiánjì (field-record) preserved in the collection documents the academy’s land-acquisition process.