古梅遺稿

Gǔméi yígǎo 古梅遺稿

Remnant Manuscripts of Gǔ-méi (Old-Plum) by 吳龍翰 (撰)

About the work

The surviving literary remains of Wú Lónghàn 吳龍翰 (1233–1293), zì Shìxián 式賢, hào Gǔméi 古梅 (after an ancient plum tree at his Shèxiàn 歙縣 residence), a late-Sòng xiānggòng literatus of Huīzhōu 徽州 who passed the local examination in the Xiánchún era and was recommended to office as a biānjiào (collator) in the Imperial Historiographical Office and Veritable Records Office. After the Sòng fall (Zhìyuán bǐngzǐ = 1276) the prefectural school invited him to serve as Instructor; he soon resigned and lived as a private literatus. The collection in six juàn preserves his shī and a small amount of prose, conspicuously including poetic exchanges with Liú Kèzhuāng 劉克莊 KR4d0367 (the great late-Sòng Jiānghú poet), Fāng Yuè 方岳 (hào Qiūyá 秋崖) — whose 100-rhyme harmonization is appended at the end of the collection — and Fāng Huí 方回 方回, who praised Wú’s poetry as containing “startling lines” (jīngrén yǔ). Wú had also a marked interest in inner and outer alchemy (nèidān / wàidān); the Sìkù editors compare him to Yú Yǎn 俞琰 in this regard.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit: Gǔméi yígǎo in six juàn was composed by Wú Lónghàn of the Sòng. Lónghàn’s zì was Shìxián 式賢, a man of Shèxiàn. Through xiānggòng (provincial-recommendation) in the Xiánchún era and by recommendation he was appointed biānjiào of writings in the Imperial Historiographical Office and Veritable Records Office. In Zhìyuán bǐngzǐ (1276) the prefectural school invited him to fill the post of Instructor, [but] he soon abandoned [the position] and left. His residence had an old tree, whence he took “Gǔméi” (Old Plum) as his hào; he composed a fù on it, and used it likewise to name his collection. He is mentioned in Liú Hòucūn’s 劉後村 [Kèzhuāng] poems, in which it is said: “Your poetic gourd has wandered through half the empire / much obliged to my elder for the awakening stick-blows.” Again, at the end of the work is appended Fāng Qiūyá’s harmonized 100-rhyme verse; in [Fāng’s] colophon he calls himself [Wú’s] disciple and states that “with poetry as the true Dharma-eye I received the prophecy from the servant.” Again, Fāng Huí once said that Lónghàn’s verse contains “startling lines,” and was deeply fond of the yuèfǔ pieces. The “Bào Yúnlóng” with whom [Lónghàn] was most intimate during the Huángshān travels was also a famous figure of the time. From this it can be known that the moisture and immersion among his teachers and friends went deep; therefore the poetry he produced is fresh and sustained, possessing substance of thought, and endures the chewing of recitation — utterly different from the conventions of slippery surface and stale imitation. Chéng Yuánfèng’s 程元鳳 preface allows that his lines are “old and his meaning new” — this is hardly empty flattery.

In the collection there are nèidān poems and wàidān poems; again, the “Paying respects at the tomb of Lǐ the Banished Immortal” (i.e. Lǐ Bái) says: “Managing the zǐhéchē (purple river chariot), squandering the merit of ten years; the golden cauldron tamed the crow and the hare, and the blazing cinnabar-light is red.” Again “Mad chant from the upper-story chamber” says: “The reclining-moon furnace is deep, the purple breath floats; red lead, black mercury, six elixir heads” — by this it is shown that Lónghàn had separate attainments in the arts of furnace and cultivation; he was likewise of the lineage of Yú Yǎn.

Respectfully collated, tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief-Compiler Officers Jì Dì 紀旳 (sic, for Jì Yún 紀昀 — typographical slip in the source), Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅; Chief-Collation Officer Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.

(The frontmatter also preserves the original preface by Chéng Yuánfèng 程元鳳, praising Wú’s verse for the maturity of its lines and freshness of its conceptions, and exhorting him not to rest on poetic accomplishment alone but to cultivate moral dé through the Classics.)

Abstract

Wú Lónghàn (CBDB 35283, 1233–1293, fl. 1276) is a representative late-Sòng jiānghú poet of Huīzhōu, attached to the literary circle around the older Liú Kèzhuāng (Hòucūn 後村) and the contemporary Fāng Yuè (Qiūyá 秋崖) and Fāng Huí (Xūgǔ 虚谷, Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ compiler). The collection preserves both his exoteric poetry — landscape, friendship and Huángshān travel verse — and an unusually rich body of alchemical poetry, both nèidān and wàidān; the Sìkù editors place him in the lineage of the SòngYuán Daoist literatus-alchemist Yú Yǎn 俞琰 KR3j0023. The poetic exchanges with Liú Kèzhuāng and Fāng Yuè document the Jiānghú poetic milieu in its mid-thirteenth-century mature phase. The composition window is essentially Wú’s productive lifetime, principally from his Xiánchún xiānggòng (1265) through his withdrawal and death (1293). The collection survives in this WYG six-juàn recension, gathered from the Yuán-era family transmission; the original Chéng Yuánfèng preface is preserved. CBDB and the Anhui local gazetteers concur on the lifedates 1233–1293.

Translations and research

• Zhāng Hóng-shēng 張宏生, Jiāng-hú shī-pài yán-jiū 江湖詩派研究 (Běijīng: Zhōng-huá shū-jú, 1995), pp. 297–305 — Wú Lóng-hàn in the jiāng-hú school taxonomy.
• Wáng Zhī-fāng 王志芳, “Wú Lóng-hàn Gǔ-méi yí-gǎo yán-jiū” 吳龍翰《古梅遺稿》研究 (MA thesis, Ānhuī shī-fàn dà-xué, 2014). The principal modern monograph.
• Quán Sòng shī 全宋詩 vol. 67 (Běijīng dà-xué chū-bǎn-shè, 1998) collects Wú Lóng-hàn’s verse from this base text, with collation notes.

Other points of interest

Wú Lónghàn is conventionally credited as the first historical figure to scale the Tiāndūfēng 天都峰 of Huángshān (Yellow Mountain) — recorded in his preface to the Huángshān jìyóu 黃山紀遊, where he describes the 1242 ascent with Bào Yúnlóng 鮑雲龍 and Sòng Fù 宋復. The Huángshān prose is one of the early literary documents of the mountain.

Links

• WYG SKQS V1188.9, p841.
• CBDB person 35283 (Wú Lónghàn)
• Wikipedia, 吳龍翰