Fānglánxuān jí 芳蘭軒集
The Fragrant-Orchid Studio Collection by 徐照 (撰)
About the work
Fānglánxuān jí 芳蘭軒集 in 1 juǎn (with appended bǔyí of 9 poems gathered from the Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ, Dōngōu shījí, and Dōngōu xùjí) is the surviving biéjí of Xú Zhào 徐照 (d. 1211, zì Dàohuī 道暉, alternate zì Línghuī 靈暉, self-named Shānmín 山民), of Yǒngjiā 永嘉 in Wēnzhōu. Xú Zhào is one of the late-Sòng Yǒngjiā Sìlíng 永嘉四靈 — the four poets whose zì or hào contained the character líng 靈, breaking with the Jiāngxīpài on the model of late-Táng poetry: Xú Zhào (Línghuī), Xú Jǐ 徐璣 (Língyuān 靈淵), Wēng Juàn 翁卷 (Língshū 靈舒), and Zhào Shīxiù 趙師秀 (Língxiù 靈秀). All four were associated with Yè Shì 葉適 葉適, who wrote Xú Zhào’s tomb-inscription. Note: The Sìkù tíyào is preserved in the source file KR4d0298_000.txt (immediately preceding the tíyào of the companion work).
Tiyao
[The standard tíyào, here translated:] The Fānglánxuān jí in 1 juǎn was composed by Xú Zhào of the Sòng. Zhào’s zì was Dàohuī, alternate zì Línghuī, a man of Yǒngjiā. With Xú Jǐ, Wēng Juàn, Zhào Shīxiù — also has fame for shī; at the time called the Yǒngjiā sì líng. Zhào self-hào Shānmín; therefore his collection is also named Shānmín jí. Zhào Shīxiù’s Qīngyuànzhāi jí has the Āi Shānmín shī — sufficient as evidence. Yet Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí uniquely says Zhào self-hào Tiānmín — unknown what is the basis. Should be a transmission-cutting error. The Sìlíng with the late-Táng tǐ once-changed the Xījiāng (i.e., Jiāngxī) tail-stream — all once roamed in Yè Shì’s gate; therefore [Yè] Shì’s composing of [Xú] Zhào’s mùzhì praises [Xú]‘s “having shī in several hundred [pieces], [whose] forging-of-thought is especially marvelous, all crossing-over and suddenly-rising, ice-suspended snow-crossing, making the reader change-and-leap, alarmed-and-stirred, gripped — chanting and lamenting, unable-to-stop themselves; yet without strange-words, all what people know — only people cannot say so”. Therefore the praise is most-extreme. But Wú Zǐliáng’s Jīngxī línxià ǒután says: “Yè [Shì] although did not bury [Xú]‘s strengths, yet at the end was not satisfied with him; therefore his postface to Liú Qiánfū’s poetry-juǎn further has the line “advancing toward antiquity and not stopping — what need for Sìlíng?” Later persons, not knowing, take Shuǐxīn [Yè Shì] as honoring late-Táng — that is an error. Indeed the Sìlíng’s shī although carve-mind-and-kidney, intentionally diāozhuó, but the route taken is too narrow — in the end cannot avoid the defects of broken-fragmented-and-sharp-sour. Zhào among the various authors was especially qīngshòu (clear-and-thin) — like his Jì Wēng Língshū shī “the tower’s height — gazing at the boats” line — Fāng Huí took it as “before-the-eye matters; once-said, it becomes new”. And the Dōngrì shūshì shī “Plum-late, [I] think of the leap-month; / maple-far, [I] mistake spring’s flowers” line — Huí also took the sī character and wù character as bearing the deliberation of more-than-one [revision] — only then attained-it. These are all what the collection acclaims as good lines — what it raises as qīngjùn (clear-piquant) is in this; that bēimí (low-and-vapid) is also in this. The fēnghuì (wind-meeting) of rise-and-fall — there is something he cannot self-cover. Zhào’s collection’s original-běn was 3 juǎn; this běn is only 1 juǎn — unknown what person merged. Further from the Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ obtained 6 poems; from the Dōngōu shījí obtained 2 poems; from the Dōngōu xùjí obtained 1 poem; combined-listed as bǔyí (supplements), appended at the back.
Abstract
Fānglánxuān jí is the surviving 1-juǎn recension (originally 3 juǎn) of Xú Zhào’s poetry, the principal record of one of the four Yǒngjiā Sìlíng poets. The Sìlíng movement is one of the principal late-Sòng poetic alternatives to the orthodox Jiāngxīpài, looking back to late-Táng quatrain-style poetry (especially Yáo Hé and Jiǎ Dǎo) and emphasizing qīngyún xīnjìng (clear-cleansed new-purified) precision over Sòng-era discursive poetics. The Sìkù editors’ candid evaluation — that the Sìlíng aesthetic, while clear and crisp at its best, narrows into pòsuì jiānsuān (broken-fragmented, sharp-sour) at its worst — is one of the more substantive evaluations of the school in pre-modern criticism.
The Sìkù tíyào also corrects a transmission error in Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí, which gave Xú’s self-hào as Tiānmín 天民; the correct form (per Zhào Shīxiù’s preserved Āi Shānmín shī “Lament for Shānmín”) is Shānmín 山民. The dating bracket: 1190 (around the start of Xú’s substantive poetic activity) through 1211 (Xú’s death year per CBDB id 44992). Xú was the senior member of the Sìlíng and the first to die.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language monographic literature located.
- 莫礪鋒. 1996. 《永嘉四靈研究》. Hangzhou. Standard PRC monograph on the Sì-líng movement.
- 周泉根. 2002. 《永嘉四靈詩研究》. Standard PRC scholarship on the Sì-líng aesthetic.
Other points of interest
The Yǒngjiā Sìlíng movement is one of the principal late-Sòng late-Táng-revivalist poetic schools, and Xú Zhào’s collection is its earliest substantial textual record. The Sìkù editors’ use of Wú Zǐliáng’s Jīngxī línxià ǒután to qualify Yè Shì’s apparent praise of the Sìlíng is a useful corrective to over-reading the Yǒngjiā school’s institutional support of the movement.