Huátíng bǎiyǒng 華亭百詠
One Hundred Songs of Huá-tíng by 許尚 (撰)
About the work
Huátíng bǎiyǒng 華亭百詠 in 1 juǎn is a sequence of 100 quatrains by Xǔ Shàng 許尚 (self-named Héguāng lǎorén 和光老人), of Huátíng 華亭 (modern Sōngjiāng), composed during the Chúnxī period (1174–1189). The form: each piece describes a historical site in the Huátíng area, with the title bearing an explanatory note. Of the 100 pieces, 29 lack notes — the Sìkù editors infer copyist loss. Companion to and predecessor of KR4d0271 Jīnlíng bǎiyǒng by Zēng Jí — both products of the late-Sòng bǎiyǒng (hundred-songs) sub-genre.
Tiyao
[The standard tíyào, here translated:] The Huátíng bǎiyǒng in 1 juǎn was composed by Xǔ Shàng of the Sòng. Shàng self-hào Héguāng lǎorén; a man of Huátíng; his beginning-and-end cannot be examined. This compilation was composed during Chúnxī, taking Huátíng ancient sites — for each one matter, [composing] one quatrain — with notes under each title. Yet of 100 pieces, those without notes total 29 — and within them are many [whose poems are] not-clear-without-notes — by example reasoning, at the time it could not have been not-noted; surely xiě (transmission) loss-and-omission. Lament-the-ancient shī by-and-large does not exit jīnxī (now-and-then) feeling — from Táng Xǔ Hún and various persons already could not break out from the mold; as for one place’s scenery extended into 100 pieces — after several pieces the speech-and-meaning are roughly the same — and that is also how it must be. Lì È in composing the Sòng shī jìshì only recorded his Lù Jīrōng, Sānnǚ gāng, Zhēngběi jiāngjūn mù, Gù tínglín, Báilóng dòng, Yútáng Pǔzhào sì, Lù Mǎo yǎngyú chí, Lìhè tān, Húguāng tíng — 10 pieces — also because their seldom-encountered new-startle. Yet the géyì (frame-meaning) although mostly fùyǎn (duplicated-overflow), the diction is xiūjié (cultivated-clean), still not losing yǎyīn (elegant tone). The notes although simple-and-sketchy — yet his time is 500–600 years before today; the old traces still not entirely vanished — the locales pointed-at and the names’ origins are also still enough to provide for zhìshèng (gazetteer) reference. Among shī-people he is no different from the crowd; in yújì (gazetteer-records) [literature] then compared to later-generation zhīlí fùhuì (broken-and-forced-association) [the work] is much superior. Qiánlóng 46 (1781), 10th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Huátíng bǎiyǒng is a textbook example of the late-Southern-Sòng bǎiyǒng sub-genre — 100 short pieces (almost always quatrains) on local-historical topography. The Sìkù editors’ candid evaluation — the form is repetitive, but the work has documentary value as a fāngzhì (gazetteer) supplement — is fair. The dating bracket: 1174 (start of Chúnxī) through 1189 (end of Chúnxī); Xǔ Shàng’s lifedates are otherwise unknown.
Translations and research
- No substantial secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The bǎiyǒng genre flourished in the late Southern Sòng as a localized response to jiāshān (home-mountain) sentiment after the nándù; Xǔ Shàng’s Huátíng bǎiyǒng and Zēng Jí’s Jīnlíng bǎiyǒng are its principal surviving examples.