心泉學詩稿

Xīnquán xuéshī gǎo 心泉學詩稿

Manuscripts of the Xīn-quán Poetic Studies by 蒲壽宬 (撰)

About the work

The six-juàn poetic collection of Pú Shòuchéng 蒲壽宬 (CBDB 14501, fl. through 1271; also written 蒲壽晟 / 蒲壽宬 in variant transmissions), an ethnic-Persian or ethnic-Arab Quánzhōu 泉州 magnate, Méizhōu (modern Méizhōu 梅州, Guǎngdōng) Prefect from Xiánchún 7 (1271), and elder brother of the much more famous Pú Shòugēng 蒲壽庚 — the Shìbósī maritime-trade commissioner of Quánzhōu who in 1276 refused entry to the fleeing Sòng Yìwáng and Guǎngwáng (the two young princes) at Quánzhōu harbor and pivotally surrendered the city to the Yuán, gaining the Píngzhāng honor as reward. The Sìkù editors carefully sift conflicting traditions: the Wànxìng tǒngpǔ records Pú Shòuchéng’s official tenure as Prefect of “Púzhōu” 蒲州 (an obvious misreading) and his frugal-and-honest administration (“a single drop of well-water from old Zēng’s well placed by his seat, with the saying — ‘Old Zēng’s well-spring, eternally cold; Lord Pú’s heart-affairs, of one purity’”). The BāMǐn tōngzhì, by contrast, presents the much darker tradition: that when in late Sòng the Yì and Guǎng princes’ sea-going fleet reached Quánzhōu, Pú Shòugēng kept the gates closed; that this scheme was secretly devised by Shòuchéng — who feigned retreat to the Fǎshí Shān as a jūshì in yellow Daoist headdress and rustic dress, calling himself a chǔshì; that he privately ordered Shòugēng’s surrender to the Yuán; and that after Shòugēng was rewarded with the Píngzhāng office, Shòuchéng too lived in the foremost mansion of Quánzhōu, until one day two anonymous shūshēng presented him with a poem ending “mò dào shānwēng zǒng bù zhī” (“don’t say the Mountain Old Man knows nothing of it”) — and he fled in confusion, never to be seen again. The Sìkù editors decline to adjudicate between the two traditions (“yí yǐ chuányí” — “transmit doubt as doubt”), and on textual grounds preserve him at the very end of Southern-Sòng biéjí. The poetic style they call “calm-and-easy, leisured-and-distant,” “still in the elegant tone of the SòngYuán juncture.”

Tiyao

We respectfully submit: Xīnquán xuéshī gǎo, in six juàn, was composed by Pú Shòuchéng of the Sòng. Shòuchéng’s name is not seen in the histories; his collection too is not entered in the Yìwénzhì. Only the Míng Wényuāngé shūmù records Pú Xīnquán shī one bù one cè. Examining the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn under various rhymes — the records are rather many; the names recorded therein all read “Shòuchéng” 壽宬, but Líng Dízhī’s 凌迪知 Wànxìng tǒngpǔ writes “Shòu-晟” and Huáng Zhòngzhāo’s 黃仲昭 BāMǐn tōngzhì further writes “Shòu-晟” — there are mutual same-and-difference.

Now we examine: the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn’s various juàn all write “宬”; this must not be coincidence — those writing “晟” 或 “&KR0882;” character are presumably scribal-transmission errors. Shòuchéng’s family was originally of Quánzhōu; his official career is not generally seen. Only the Wànxìng tǒngpǔ says that in Xiánchún 7 (1271) he was Prefect of Púzhōu. We examine: Púzhōu is not Southern-Sòng territory; yet in the collection there is a Méiyáng rénshēn shàonóng ǒuchéng shū chéng tóngguān shī (Méiyáng rénshēn year, encouraging agriculture, an impromptu — written and presented to the colleagues poem); rénshēn is Xiánchún 8 (1272); Méiyáng is Méizhōu, now the territory of Jiāyīngzhōu in Guǎngdōng. So Shòuchéng was in fact Prefect of Méizhōu.

The Wànxìng tǒngpǔ further records: “[He was] in office frugal-and-honest; from the people he took not one hair. He built old Zēng’s well-spring, drawing water in two jars, placed by his seat; the people sang of him: ‘Old Zēng’s well-spring, of a thousand antiquities cold; Lord Pú’s heart-affairs, in general pure.‘” — So Shòuchéng was in his day a xúnlì (model magistrate).

The BāMǐn tōngzhì however says: At the late Sòng, when the Yì and Guǎng two princes sailed by sea and arrived at Quánzhōu, the Defending Minister Pú Shòugēng distanced the walled city and would not receive [them]; all coming from the secret scheming of his elder brother Shòuchéng. Shòuchéng pretendedly affected the yellow headdress and rustic dress, [retreated] under the Fǎshí Shān, calling himself a chǔshì; and secretly commanded Shòugēng to submit a memorial-of-surrender to the Yuán. Soon Shòugēng for the “merit of attachment” was bestowed the office of Píngzhāng, his riches-and-honors capping the time; Shòuchéng also resided in the foremost mansion. One day two shūshēng set [their] heels on the door and presented [him with] a poem, in which were the lines “Water sounds, bird-calls — all current affairs / Do not say the mountain old-man knows nothing of it.” Shòuchéng [was] terror-sweated and lost his bearings; chased to find [them] — never seen again, and so on. — Then Shòuchéng [was] further one cunning-and-deceitful turncoat.

The miscellaneous-historical-anecdote books record [these] divergently; the Sòng and Yuán dynastic histories both lack clear text. Who is false-and-who is true — there is no place from which to verify. Now observing his poetry: [it has] quite a “calm-and-mild, leisured-and-distant” quality. At the SòngYuán juncture — [it] still belongs to the yǎyīn (elegant tone). Gathered, recorded, and preserved, divided into six juàn — likewise sufficient to make ready one [poetic] school. As for the man — [we] suspect [the case] and transmit suspicion; [we] simply attach him to the end of the Southern Sòng. Respectfully collated, ninth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief-Compiler Officers Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅; Chief-Collation Officer Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.

Abstract

Pú Shòuchéng 蒲壽宬 (CBDB 14501; fl. through 1272 per the Méiyáng rénshēn internal date) is a historiographically vexed figure: ethnic-Persian or ethnic-Arab Quánzhōu Shìbó (maritime-trade) magnate family; elder brother of the notorious Pú Shòugēng KR2g0040 who refused harbor to the fleeing Sòng princes in 1276 and surrendered Quánzhōu to the Yuán, securing his family’s continuing maritime monopoly under Mongol rule. The case of the elder brother is contested: the Wànxìng tǒngpǔ preserves him as a model magistrate of Méizhōu (Jiāyīngzhōu, Guǎngdōng); the BāMǐn tōngzhì preserves him as the architect of the family’s 1276 betrayal. The Sìkù editors leave the moral verdict open, transmitting both traditions, and place him under “Sòng biéjí” as a tail-end entry; the fùlù annotation in the catalog meta reflects this anomalous status. The poetic corpus contains 200-odd quatrains, lǜshī, and gǔtǐ on landscape, agricultural-encouragement, and the Méizhōu region; the Sìkù editors particularly appreciate the gǔtǐ on Méiyáng natural and agricultural themes. Composition window: pre-1276 (the official Méizhōu tenure, ending presumably with the dynastic collapse). Wilkinson treats the Pú family within the Quánzhōu maritime-trade Persian/Arab Muslim community (§28, §57).

Translations and research

• Liào Dà-kē 廖大珂, Quán-zhōu Pú-shì jiā-zú shǐ 泉州蒲氏家族史 (Xià-mén dà-xué chū-bǎn-shè, 2002). The principal modern study of the Pú-Shòu-chéng / Pú Shòu-gēng family.
• John Chaffee, The Muslim Merchants of Premodern China (Cambridge UP, 2018) — extensive English-language treatment of the Quán-zhōu Pú family and their 1276 pivot.
• Maejima Shinji 前嶋信次, “Hō Jukō no shōgai” 蒲壽庚の生涯, Shigaku 史学 17 (1939) — classic Japanese-language treatment.
• Kuwabara Jitsuzō 桑原隲蔵, Hō Jukō no jiseki 蒲壽庚の事蹟 (Tōkyō: Tōyō Bunko, 1923). Foundational early-20th-century study.
• Hé Bǐng-dì 何丙棣, “On the Identity of Pu Shougeng and his Brother Pu Shoucheng,” T’oung Pao (various) — anglophone discussion of the question.
• Quán Sòng shī vol. 67 collates Pú’s verse.

Other points of interest

The 蒲 (Pú) surname is an Arabic-Persian rendering — likely Abū / Bū — and the Pú family’s prominence in late-Sòng / Yuán Quánzhōu makes them one of the principal documented Muslim-merchant lineages in pre-modern China. Pú Shòuchéng’s poetic collection — relatively conventional in wǎnTáng pài manner — is one of the very few literary monuments of this Sèmùrén sociological grouping in Chinese.

Links

• WYG SKQS V1189.18, p835.
• CBDB person 14501 (Pú Shòuchéng)
• Wikipedia, 蒲壽宬