水雲村稾

Shuǐyúncūn gǎo 水雲村稾

Manuscripts from the Water-and-Cloud Village by 劉壎 (撰)

About the work

The fifteen-juàn (of originally twenty) collected works of Liú Xūn 劉壎 (CBDB 35354, 1240–1319), zì Qǐqián 起潛, hào Shuǐyúncūn 水雲村 (after his residence in Nánfēng 南豐, Jiāngxī), native of Nánfēng. Born Sòng Jiāxī gēngzǐ (1240); passed the běnjùnshì (prefectural examination) first place in Xiánchún gēngwǔ (1270, age 30); after the Sòng’s fall in 1276 entered Yuán service by recommendation as Yánpíng jiàoshòu (Jiàoshòu of Yánpíng, modern Fújiàn); died in Yányòu 6 (1319) at age 80. His important separately-catalogued work the Yǐnjū tōngyì 隱居通議 KR3i0041 is a kǎojù biànhuò-type miscellaneous-philosophical-historical compilation, the standard Yuán-period bibliographic compendium in its line. The literary collection survives in two variant Míng recensions: (a) the Shuǐyúncūn míngǎo (Míng Hóng-wǔ-era manuscript copy by descendant Sūn Yīng 孫瑛, drawn largely from the Yǐnjū tōngyì — duplicates this collection); (b) the present base, edited by Liú’s descendant Liú Níng 劉凝 in the late Míng / early Qīng, more comprehensive but with juàn 16–20 lost (which contained qīngcí and zhùwén of minor consequence). The corpus is dominated by Liú’s piánlì sìliù (parallel-prose four-six) — for which he was particularly renowned — and includes substantial biǎo, jiān, qǐ, zhá of his pre-1276 Sòng-period court service (Liú’s Yǐnjū tōngyì self-records his finest pieces as DàiWújùn xiè jiànkǔn biǎo, the Diào Wújùn wén, DàiZhào Bìjié xiè miàotáng qǐ, Tōng Dīng Yìngkuí qǐ — all not in the present recension, indicating substantial loss). Composition window: pre-1276 (the bulk of the qǐ) through 1319.

Tiyao

[Standard Sìkù tíyào from source, summarized:] Shuǐyúncūn gǎo 15 juàn by Liú Xūn of the Yuán. Xūn, zì Qǐqián, a Nánfēng man — Shuǐyúncūn was his place of residence, so [he] used [it] as a hào. Born Sòng Jiāxī gēngzǐ (1240); in Xiánchún gēngwǔ (1270) passed the běnjùn examination first; entered the Yuán by recommendation as Yánpíng jiàoshòu; in Yányòu 6 died, aged 80. What [he] composed includes the Yǐnjū tōngyì — quite encyclopedically broad, [worth] taking, already separately entered in the catalog.

His literary collection has two old bases: one called Shuǐyúncūn míngǎo — being what the Míng Hóng-wǔ-era grandson Yīng manuscript-copied — mostly miscellaneously extracts language from the Yǐnjū tōngyì gathered together to make a compilation; the prose-pieces are likewise all duplicated with this base. The other [base] is this — being what his descendant-grandson Níng collected the surviving lost [pieces] and additionally arranged in sequence; what is collected of various forms is rather more detailed-and-complete. Only the original table-of-contents is 20 juàn but the current base preserves only 15; the juàn 16 and below are already missing — must be that the transcriber lost them. But examining the original table-of-contents: what these 5 juàn contained were originally qīngcí (Daoist liturgical prayer-texts) and zhùwén (prayer texts) — works without connection to the tǐyào (essential matter); their preservation-or-loss is also of no weight.

Xūn was vigorous-and-free in cáilì (talent-energy); particularly skilled in sìliù qǐlì (parallel-four-six elegant composition). The qǐzhá loaded in the collection are mostly composed in the Sòng age. Examining the Yǐnjū tōngyì — [he] self-narrates his déyì zhī bǐ (proud-brushwork) [pieces] — like the Dài Wújùn xiè jiànkǔn biǎo (Standing-in for Wújùn / Wú Jùnfǔ in Thanking [for being made] jiànkǔn), the Diào Wújùn wén (Elegy for Wújùn), the Dài Zhào Bìjié xiè miàotáng qǐ (Standing-in for Zhào Bìjié in Thanking the Court Hall), the Tōng Dīng Yìngkuí qǐ — today all are not seen in the collection. So those that have been lost are also no small [number]. But [taking] what survives to observe — putting down brush and casting word, [there is] still much that reveals refined-colors. [Liú] Xūn once said himself that Zhào Bìjié had praised his being able to “use prose to do sìliù” — exactly slice-and-section discourse, not like the worldly [way of] drawing-yellow and matching-white but the xuèmài (blood-vessels) do not connect — though [it is] not without exaggerating-praise words, yet his lifetime’s [point of] gaining-strength — [he] has the bitterness-and-sweetness that he himself can speak-of.

As for his other gǔwén — then [they] are mostly composed after entering the Yuán; hàohàn (broad-and-vast) flowing-turning, particularly possessing clear-elegant qì; though sometimes mixed with páijù qǐyǔ (parallel sentences and elegant words) intermingled — [it] is rather contrary to diǎnzé (standard rules) — unavoidably [it] lacks one peg [in standing]. Especially [for the] late-Sòng / early-Yuán yíwén yìshì (surviving stories and unusual deeds) [it] occasionally shows one-or-two — also sufficient to provide for the use of kǎojù (factual verification).

Respectfully collated, fourth month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780). 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

Liú Xūn (CBDB 35354, 1240–1319) is the foundational piánlì sìliù master of the early-Yuán Jiāngxī region and the author of one of the most-cited Yuán-period bǐjì (the Yǐnjū tōngyì). His career — Sòng 1270 prefectural-examination first place; post-1276 Yánpíng jiàoshòu — is a model case of late-Sòng Confucian incorporation into the Yuán Sinitic teaching-bureaucracy. The literary collection’s most consequential surviving material is the corpus of court-document qǐ, biǎo, jiān, zhá of his Sòng-period service, which form one of the most substantial Sòng-period piánlì archives surviving in any single biéjí. His self-evaluation, recorded in the Yǐnjū tōngyì, of his finest pieces being the now-lost surrogate-pieces for Wújùn and Zhào Bìjié documents the technical specialization of piánlì surrogate-composition in the late-Sòng administrative culture. Composition window: pre-1276 (most qǐ) through 1319. CBDB 35354; the Yuánshǐ has no separate biography but local Nánfēngxiàn gazetteers confirm 1240–1319.

Translations and research

• Cài Měi-fēn 蔡美芬, Liú Xūn yán-jiū 劉壎研究 (Hāng-zhōu shī-fàn dà-xué MA thesis, 2010).
• Hé Zōng-měi 何宗美, Sòng-mò Yuán-chū yí-mín wén-rén qún-tǐ yán-jiū 宋末元初遺民文人群體研究 (2009).
• Yǐn-jū tōng-yì 隱居通議 KR3i0041 — Liú’s own bǐ-jì preserving the self-evaluation of his prose.

Links

• WYG SKQS V1195.3, p335.
• CBDB person 35354 (Liú Xūn)
• Wikipedia, 劉壎