剩語

Shèngyǔ 剩語

Surplus Words by 艾性夫 (撰)

About the work

The two-juàn reconstructed verse-and-prose collection of Ài Xìngfū 艾性夫 (CBDB 20763, lifedates uncertain — fl. through Yuán Chéng-hua / mid-Yuán), zì Tiānwèi 天謂, native of Fǔzhōu 撫州 (Jiāngxī). One of the “Three Àis” 三艾 of Fǔzhōu — alongside his uncles Ài Shūkě 艾叔可 (zì Wúkě 無可) and Ài Xiànkě 艾憲可 (zì Yuándé 元德) — a Confucian scholar-gentry literary clan documented by the Jiāngxī tōngzhì. Ài was a Sòng xiānggòngshì of the Xiánchún era; opened his home as an academy and gathered disciples (“hémén jiàoshòu, zhíjīng zhě yíngmén”). The collection — variously titled in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn as Ài Xìngfū shèngyǔ or Ài Xìngfū gūshān wǎngǎo (Old-Mountain Late Manuscripts) — was the principal pre-modern source for his verse. The Sìkù editors corroborate Ài’s career from secondary evidence: a daughter of his married Gāo Yīkuí 高一夔 (per Wú Chéng’s Zhīyán jí preserved epitaph), and Cáo Ān’s 曹安 Lányán chángyǔ of Chénghuà 5 (1469) records “Ài Xìngfū JiāngZhè dào tíjǔ” — confirming that Ài took office under the Yuán in late life as the JiāngZhè dào tíjǔ (Supervisor) — with Guàn Yúnshí 貫雲石 (the Mongol-Confucian sǎnqǔ master, 1286–1324) having composed a preface to the now-lost Yuán recension. The collection also preserves an elegy for Xiè Fángdé 謝枋得 KR4d0379 — placing Ài in the late-Sòng Sòng-loyalist network. The verse is in clear-elegant late-Sòng style with strong gǔtǐ; qīlǜ the editors find “too sharp” (tàilà); the juéjù and gēxíng are praised by Cáo Ān as “yǔ duō guān shìjiào” (words much-concerning the world’s instruction). The reconstructed two juàn contain the Tóngquè yàn, Pūmǎn yín, Línqiōng dàoshì zhāohún gē (Calling the Soul of the Dao-shì of Línqiōng) — three signature pieces. CBDB has no firm dates.

Tiyao

[Standard Sìkù tíyào from source:] We respectfully submit: this collection [is] seen in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn — sometimes titled Ài Xìngfū shèngyǔ, sometimes titled Ài Xìngfū gūshān wǎngǎo — but does not state whether [Xìngfū] is a name or a zì; nor does [it] state the time-period.

Examining the Jiāngxī tōngzhì: [it] calls the Fǔzhōu “Three Ài”s — [Ài] Shūkě, zì Wúkě; [Ài] Xiànkě, zì Yuándé; [and] [Ài] Xìng, zì Tiānwèi — all skilled at poetry. [Ài] Xìng closed [his] gates and taught; those holding the Classics filled [his] gate. [He] composed the Gūshān shījí, in accord with the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn’s title Gūshān wǎngǎo. Wú Chéng’s Zhīyán jí has the Gāo Yīkuí qī Àishì mùzhì (Epitaph for the Wife Ài of Gāo Yīkuí), which calls [her] the daughter of the Xiánchún gòngshì Xìngfū, who “in [her family] often [saw] rúxiào (Confucian effects); repeatedly with [these she] sustained her husband” and so on — in accord with the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn’s title “Ài Xìngfū” — [we] suspect the Jiāngxī tōngzhì’s makes “[Ài] Xìng, zì Tiānwèi”; the transmitted-cutting has lost the one fū character.

Examining the collection, there is a Xiè Fángdé wǎnshī (Elegy on Xiè Fángdé) one piece — so [Ài] Xìngfū at the beginning of the Yuán was still alive. Further, [Míng] Cáo Ān’s Lányán chángyǔ says: “In Chénghuà 5 (1469), at the Yuánjiāng schools office’s one family of much book-collection, [I saw] one poetry collection [which] was JiāngZhè dào tíjǔ Ài Xìngfū’s composition; GuànSuānzhāi (i.e. Guàn Yúnshí) composed a preface,” etc. The Sòng has no JiāngZhè dào tíjǔ; presumably his late years had already taken office under the Yuán.

Xìng [Ài] [Xìngfū] is also a learning-and-teaching family; however his poetry is clear-tonality and qīngbá (clean-rising), takes yányǎ (elegant-refined) as its main direction — entirely unlike the late-Sòng’s yǒuyùn yǔlù (rhymed-recorded-sayings — i.e. Lǐxué prose-versified-as-poetry); the five- and seven-syllable gǔtǐ — pen-power páidàng (lined-out, sweeping) — is particularly his strength. Cáo Ān calls his seven-syllable lǜshī “too sharp” (tàilà) — the five-and-seven-syllable juéjù [and] gēxíng — “the words [have] much to do with the world’s instruction”; and singles out the Tóngquè yàn, Pūmǎn yín, Línqiōng dàoshì zhāohún gē three pieces. What [Cáo Ān] discusses is quite well-suited to the case. We respectfully gather-and-arrange in sequence; dividing into two juàn. As to the original book originally divided by jí-arrangement, its juàn table-of-contents can no longer be seen; [and] in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn what is titled Shèngyǔ is rather more — therefore we now use it to mark the name and no longer divide-and-analyze.

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

Ài Xìngfū (CBDB 20763, lifedates uncertain — Xiánchún xiānggòngshì hence likely born c. 1240s, alive at least into the early-Yuán Yuánzhēn 元貞 / Dàdé 大德 era when Xiè Fángdé died in 1289) is a Fǔzhōu Confucian schoolmaster-poet who in late life accepted Yuán recruitment as JiāngZhè dào tíjǔ. He was one of the “Three Àis” of Fǔzhōu — a documented Confucian literary clan — and his daughter married Gāo Yīkuí (per Wú Chéng’s preserved epitaph). The original collection Gūshān shījí / Gūshān wǎngǎo is lost; the two-juàn Shèngyǔ recension is the Sìkù editors’ reconstruction from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn (where the work is variously titled). The original Yuán-period print had a preface by Guàn Yúnshí 貫雲石 (1286–1324, the Mongol-Confucian sǎnqǔ master) — also now lost but documented by Cáo Ān’s 1469 testimony. The verse stands out from the late-Sòng Jiānghú manner in its clean qīngbá tonality and strength in gǔtǐ; the Sìkù editors particularly highlight the Tóngquè yàn, Pūmǎn yín, and Línqiōng dàoshì zhāohún gē. Composition window: post-1275 (the Xiè Fángdé elegy implies post-1289, when Xiè died on hunger-strike against the Yuán) through Ài’s death (late c. 1310). CBDB 20763 has no firm dates. Wilkinson does not single out Ài.

Translations and research

• Méi Xīn-lín 梅新林, Yuán-dài wén-xué shǐ 元代文學史 (2005), passing references.
• Quán Yuán shī — collates Ài’s verse.
• Cáo Ān 曹安, Lán-yán cháng-yǔ 讕言長語 (Míng) — the principal post-Yuán secondary source for Ài’s late-life Yuán office and his lost Yuán recension.

Links

• WYG SKQS V1194.2, p397.
• CBDB person 20763 (Ài Xìngfū)