玉斗山人集

Yùdǒushānrén jí 玉斗山人集

The Yù-dǒu Mountain-Man Collection by 王奕 (撰)

About the work

The three-juàn literary and poetic collection of Wáng Yì 王奕 (CBDB 134093 — note: CBDB 134093 has lifedates 1042–1068 which are incorrect — this is a different Wáng Yì of the Northern Sòng; the present Wáng Yì of Yùshān is fl. c. 1265–1300, lifedates uncertain), zì Jìngbó 敬伯, hào Yùdǒu shānrén 玉斗山人 (“Mountain-Man of the Jade-Dipper”), native of Yùshān 玉山 in Xìnzhōu 信州 (Jiāngxī). The catalog meta and old recensions title him a “Southern Sòng” figure, but the Sìkù editors correct this: the collection’s Diàn Dàchéng zhìshèng Wénxuānwáng wén (Memorial Sacrifice to the Great Sage Wénxuānwáng Confucius) is dated Zhìyuán 26 (1289, jǐchǒu) and refers to him as “Jiāngnán rúshēng Wáng Yì děng” (“Jiāngnán Confucian-student Wáng Yì and others”); the Yùcōngrúān jì (Record of the Jade-Window-Ru-Hut) is dated guǐsì (1293, Zhìyuán 30) and says he had earlier been specially appointed by Yuán imperial order as Yùshān rúxué jiàoyù — so Wáng had taken Yuán office. The original title of his collection was Dōngxíng fěigǎo 東行斐藁; re-cut in Míng Jiājìng rényín (1542) by his fellow-Yù-shān man Chén Zhōngzhōu 陳中州, who lost four poems and added two supplementary prose pieces, also retitling the work Yùdǒu shānrén jí. The verse is “shāo shī zhī yú cū” (slightly losing to coarseness) but possesses lěiluò yǒu qì (open-and-clear, having energy) and surpasses the late-Sòng Jiānghú faction. Wáng was close to Xiè Fángdé 謝枋得 KR4d0379 — the collection preserves ten harmonization poems exchanged with Xiè after Xiè was forced north on his fatal Yuán journey (1289); a poem to Zhōu Yuèhú 周月湖 has the line qǐ guān jiāngyǔ jiē Zhōutǔ / zhǐ yǒu Xīshān shàng shǔ Shāng (“Stand and observe the territory — [it] is all Zhōu earth — only the Western Mountain still belongs to Shāng”) — explicit Sòng-loyalist self-identification (echoing Bóyí and Shūqí’s cǎiwéi retreat on Mt. Shǒuyáng). The Sìkù editors note that Wáng’s yímín identity is partial — he served the Yuán as jiàoyù — and contrast him with the more thorough Zhōu Mì.

Tiyao

[Standard Sìkù tíyào from source, summarized:] Yùdǒu shānrén jí 3 juàn; the old base titles [it as] composed by the Southern Sòng’s Wáng Yì. Examining the collection’s Diàn Dàchéng zhìshèng Wénxuānwáng wén — calls Zhìyuán 26, year being jǐchǒu, Jiāngnán Confucian-student Wáng Yì and others; his Yùcōngrúān jì then says, “the year guǐsì, before, by [imperial] order specially supplemented [as] Yùshān rúxué jiàoyù”; guǐsì was Zhìyuán 30 (1293) — so Yì had eaten the Yuán’s stipend for long. Tracing his coming-out-and-remaining-in — [it] is of one type with Qiú Yuǎn and Bái Tǐng’s. The titling [of him] as Southern Sòng [is] in error.

Yì, zì Jìngbó, a Yùshān man. What [he] composed includes the Dǒushān wénjí 12 juàn and the Méiyán záyǒng 7 juàn; today both [are] not transmitted; only this collection still survives. The original name was Dōngxíng fěigǎo. In Míng Jiājìng rényín (1542) his fellow-villager Chén Zhōngzhōu 陳中州 cut [the] blocks — lost four of his poems and additionally appended two pieces of surviving prose. [Chén] only-then changed the title to the current name.

Yì’s poetry slightly loses to coarseness — yet [it has] lěiluò yǒu qì (open-and-clear having energy), [and] surpasses the late-Sòng Jiānghú one faction. [Wáng] was originally on good terms with Xiè Fángdé. After [Xiè] Fángdé’s northern journey, [Wáng] still has ten harmonization poems; his Jì Zhōu Yuèhú juéjù also has the line “rise [and] observe the territory — [it] is all Zhōu earth / only the Western Mountain still belongs to Shāng” — all by which [he] [self-]positioned [as] a Sòng yímín. So his coming-out as xuéguān must have been after jǐchǒu (1289).

Yet his Memorial Sacrifice to the Wénxuānwáng calls “[the] tiānhúá map-and-book, qì communicating-north-and-south / the nine domains have come together — [the realm] can be carried, can be sailed”; his Zǔtíng guāndīnggē (Song-of-Ancestral-Court-Watching-the-Ding-[Sacrifice]) calls “fortunate-to-meet tiāndì huán qīngníng” — [for] the new dynasty, [he] uniformly has no resentful-and-grudging [feeling]. His Memorial-to-Zēng-zǐ calls “we, ranking ourselves by zhōngxiào, [are] really sinners — wish to preserve [our] hair and skin so as to fulfil [our] mourning” — also did not dare to highly self-place; compared with the shǒushǔ liǎngduān (head-rat both-ways) [type who] already lived-secretly damaging-integrity and yet still wished to juéjiàng zì yì (stubbornly self-distinguish) — [Wáng] certainly still has [moral] distance [from them].

The collection’s poetry-and-prose are mixed-arranged — rather contrary to tǐlì (proper-form); yet [this] has no connection with the hóngzhǐ (great-intent); we now still follow the original base [and] record [them].

Respectfully collated, tenth 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

Wáng Yì (CBDB has no firm matching record — 134093 is a Northern Sòng different person; the Yùshān Wáng Yì has no firm CBDB id), zì Jìngbó, hào Yùdǒu shānrén, native of Yùshān in Xìnzhōu, is a SòngYuán transition figure of partial yímín identity: documented by internal evidence as a Yuán Yùshān rúxué jiàoyù (Yùshān School Erudite) from 1289 or shortly after, but maintaining throughout his post-1276 literary career an explicit Sòng-loyalist persona — refusing to acknowledge in private verse what he ceremonially affirmed in official Yuán Confucian-Temple ritual. The collection’s most important historiographical content is the ten-poem cycle of harmonizations with Xiè Fángdé during Xiè’s final fatal journey north (1289 — Xiè died at Yānyù in 1289 of self-starvation in protest against Yuán recruitment); these poems are major documents of the Sòng-loyalist literary network. The Yùcōngrúān jì (1293) documents Wáng’s accommodation as jiàoyù. The original 12+7=19 juàn corpus is lost; this surviving 3 juàn is mid-Míng Chén Zhōngzhōu’s (1542) selection. The Sìkù editors correctly classify Wáng as a Yuán figure rather than Sòng. Composition window: post-1276 through c. 1300.

Translations and research

• Hé Zōng-měi 何宗美, Sòng-mò Yuán-chū yí-mín wén-rén qún-tǐ yán-jiū (2009) — passing references.
• Quán Yuán shī, Quán Yuán wén — collate Wáng’s verse and prose.

Links

• WYG SKQS V1195.6, p627.
• CBDB has no firm record for the Yùshān Wáng Yì specifically; the closely-related Sòng Wáng Yì at CBDB 134093 (1042–1068) is a different person.