Dōngjiàn jí 東澗集
East-Stream Collection by 許應龍 (撰)
About the work
Dōngjiàn jí 東澗集 in 14 juǎn is the biéjí of Xǔ Yìnglóng 許應龍 (1168–1248, zì Gōngfǔ 恭甫), a Southern Sòng official from Mǐnxiàn 閩縣 (Fúzhōu). Xǔ was a Jiādìng 1 (1208) jìnshì; he served as Provincial Education Officer (Tīngzhōu jiàoshòu), rising to Guózǐ sīyè, jìjiǔ, acting service in both the Secretariat and Hanlin Academy, and finally Duānmíngdiàn xuéshì and Qiānshū Shūmìyuàn shì (administering the Bureau of Military Affairs). The work is a Yǒnglè dàdiǎn reconstruction; the original juǎn-count was already lost, the title not recorded in the Sòngshǐ Yìwén zhì or in Qián Pǔ’s 錢溥 Mìgé shūmù. The collection is dominated by edicts (zhìgào) — Xǔ Yìnglóng was one of the most accomplished imperial-edict drafters of the Lǐzōng court, famous for once drafting three documents in a single late-night summons (the so-called yīyè sānmá incident).
Tiyao
The minister-editors respectfully report. Dōngjiàn jí in 14 juǎn by Xǔ Yìnglóng of the Sòng. Yìnglóng’s zì was Gōngfǔ, a man of Mǐnxiàn. Jìnshì of Jiādìng 1 [1208]; transferred to be jiàoshòu of Tīngzhōu, ascending through office to Guózǐ sīyè, jìjiǔ, quánzhí in both the Shèrényuàn and Xuéshìyuàn, ending in office at Duānmíngdiàn xuéshì, qiānshū Shūmìyuàn shì, tíjǔ Dòngxiāogōng. His career is in his Sòngshǐ biography. His collection is not seen in the Yìwén zhì; the original-book juǎnmù can no longer be examined. The Mìgé shūmù edited by Qián Pǔ of the Míng already does not list its name — so by early Míng it had already been scattered.
Only the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn preserves his poetry and prose scattered [in places]. We extracted and arranged them — the various genres are in rough completeness. The zhìgào category in particular is exceptionally abundant. Xǔ Yìnglóng under Lǐzōng successively held charge of inner and outer drafting (zhǎng nèiwài zhì); once at rìzé (sun-declined, late afternoon) he received [imperial] command and at midnight the xuānsuǒ (sealing of the gates) — within two drum-watches he composed three má (imperial appointment-edicts on the highest paper-grade). [Contemporaries] all admired his speed. The standard history says: when Zhèng Qīngzhī 鄭清之 and Qiáo Xíngjiǎn 喬行簡 were each removed from the chief-councillorship, the dismissal-zhì was in both cases drafted by Yìnglóng, and the emperor commended him highly for excellence. Both zhì are now in the collection — typographically severe, stylistically weighty, truly capable of grasping the manner of dàiyán (drafting on behalf of the throne).
His other [edicts] are likewise mostly substantial-and-direct, going-to-the-point. Furthermore, on the names, official ranks, transfers, appointments, removals of contemporary chief councillors, generals, attendant officials and various ministers — items that the standard biographies do not specify — [these edicts] can be relied on for verification, particularly useful for historical investigation.
Furthermore Yìnglóng was deeply engaged in policy-and-administrative practical matters. As Prefect of Cháozhōu, when bandit-disturbance pressed on the borders, he set up defenses according to circumstance and [in the end] all the bandits were entirely pacified. His Cháozhōu administrative achievements were ranked alongside Lǐ Zōngmiǎn’s 李宗勉 governance of Tāizhōu. When [later] he was Minister of War, when Qiáo Xíngjiǎn implemented the chèngtí chǔbì policy (the controlled-quotation of paper currency) and the people found it inconvenient, Yìnglóng memorialized to abolish it — that zhāzǐ too is preserved in the collection. Roughly: [his memorials] are unobstructed-and-flowing, getting straight at the heart of matters, striving to be useful — they are not mere ornamental composition.
Although his style-strength is somewhat weak, [his work] is gentle-and-elegant, harmonious-and-cultivated, in the inner-court of the Southern Sòng [imperial drafting circle] he can be called a craftsman of the first rank. We respectfully arrange [the work] by genre, divide it into 14 juǎn, register it on record, that it not be allowed to perish in posterity. Qiánlóng 46 [1781], 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Dōngjiàn jí survives in 14 juǎn in the Sìkù reconstruction from Yǒnglè dàdiǎn; the original recension and juǎn-count are unknown, the work having been lost since at latest early Míng. Dating: Xǔ Yìnglóng 1168–1248 (CBDB 24274), with composition activity through ca. 1248. The catalog gives Xǔ’s death as 1248; CBDB confirms the bracket. The earliest datable composition activity is post-1208 (his jìnshì year and entry into office); the bracket is therefore 1208–1248.
The Sìkù editors’ assessment is straightforward: the 14-juǎn recension is dominated by imperial zhìgào drafting, an area in which Xǔ Yìnglóng was one of the most efficient and stylistically proficient drafters of the Lǐzōng court. The collection is now used principally as a documentary source for the late-Sòng court chronology — the dismissals of chief councillors Zhèng Qīngzhī (1233) and Qiáo Xíngjiǎn (later) are preserved here as Xǔ’s drafts, and these edicts retain high primary-source value for the prosopography of late-Sòng officialdom. The zhāzǐ on the abolition of Qiáo Xíngjiǎn’s chèngtí chǔbì (paper currency stabilization scheme) is similarly important for late-Sòng monetary history.
The Sìkù editors’ final judgment — that Xǔ’s style-strength is “somewhat weak” but the work is nonetheless “gentle, elegant, harmonious” and Xǔ was a top-rank inner-court drafter — gives an honest middle-of-the-road appraisal: this is an institutional-historical source rather than a literary masterpiece.
Translations and research
- 何忠禮. 南宋政治史. Beijing: 人民出版社, 2008. Uses Dōngjiàn jí as a primary source for Lǐzōng-era court politics.
- Quán Sòng wén 全宋文 collects Xǔ Yìng-lóng’s prose comprehensively from this source.
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
Hartwell’s CBDB activity record adds (from external sources beyond the Sìkù tíyào): Xǔ was appointed Jiānshū Shūmìyuàn shì in 1239 and dismissed from that position later the same year — i.e., his tenure at the Bureau of Military Affairs was very brief. The yīyè sānmá anecdote (drafting three má edicts in a single night) is the standard biographical commonplace defining Xǔ’s career.