松鄉集

Sōngxiāng jí 松鄉集

The Sōng-xiāng Collection by 任士林 (撰)

About the work

The ten-juàn collected works of Rèn Shìlín 任士林 (CBDB 27941, 1253–1309), zì Shūshí 叔實, hào Sōngxiāng 松鄉 (“Pine-Village”), native of Fènghuà 奉化 (Míngzhōu / Níngbō region, Zhèjiāng). Inducted by Hǎo Tiāntǐng 郝天挺 (the foundational Mongol-Confucian scholar and senior advisor at Kublai’s court) as shānzhǎng of the Āndìng shūyuàn 安定書院 (the Yuán-period academy at Húzhōu, foundational site of Yuán-period Sinitic-Confucian academy reconstruction). His “prose deliberately imitates Hán Yù,” but the strength is judged insufficient to match — falling instead into Liú Tuì 劉蛻 and Sūn Qiáo 孫樵 sub-Hán-school manner with jùgé wǎngwǎng àosè (sentence-frame frequently àosè unsmooth-blocked). The collection’s jìzhì (epitaphic-and-stelae) corpus dominates — bēizhì jūduō (steles and epitaphs occupy the majority). Includes fictive-biography parodies modeled on Hán Yù’s Máo Yǐng zhuàn (the Dàoshì zhuàn, Zhèngyī xiānshēng zhuàn, Shòuguāng xiānshēng zhuàn) — judged by the Sìkù editors as falling into the kējiù (cubby-hole, derivative) trap. Zhào Mèngfǔ KR4d0445 saw Rèn’s Lánqióngshānsì bēi wén (Stele Inscription of the Lánqióngshānsì) and was deeply impressed; after Rèn’s death Zhào composed his epitaph — preserved as the Rèn Shūshí mùzhìmíng at the end of Zhào’s Sōngxuězhāi wénjí KR4d0445 juàn 8. Dù Běn 杜本 (the Yuán Tài-dìng-era scholar) also praised Rèn’s Xiè Áo zhuàn (Biography of Xiè Áo) and Hú lièfù zhuàn (Biography of the Hú Heroic Wife). The Sìkù editors locate Rèn in the Yuán-period “rescue-from-late-Sòng-decay” intellectual movement.

Tiyao

[Standard Sìkù tíyào from source, summarized:] Sōngxiāng jí in 10 juàn was composed by Rèn Shìlín of the Yuán. Shìlín, zì Shūshí, hào Sōngxiāng, a Fènghuà man. By Hǎo Tiāntǐng’s recommendation [he was] appointed shānzhǎng of the Āndìng shūyuàn.

This collection’s recordings: bēizhì occupy the majority. Generally [Rèn] cuts-his-meaning to mimic Hán Yù; but his strength is insufficient to oppose [Hán] Yù — therefore the sentence-frames are often àosè (twisted-and-blocked), [and] then-flowed into the manner of Liú Tuì and Sūn Qiáo. [He] also intersperses ǒujù (parallel sentences) as form — [not] pure-and-natural.

His “Dàoshì zhuàn,” “Zhèngyī xiānshēng zhuàn,” “Shòuguāng xiānshēng zhuàn” — these pieces follow the Máo Yǐng zhuàn and make-them — also rather suspect of [being in] kējiù (cubby-hole). However at the late-Sòng end of years, wénzhāng diāobì (literature was already-decayed); the dàoxué one faction with róngtà (lengthy-and-redundant) as detailed-and-clear; the Jiānghú one faction with xiāntiāo (slender-and-frivolous) as elegant-and-handsome — the previous-people’s old methods almost being shaken-down-and-lost-without-residue. [Rèn] Shìlín succeeded the [time of] jíhuài (extreme-decay); resolutely wished to take the step toward the Táng people — although [he was] míng ér wèi róng (bright but not yet merged), in essence [he] also has [the merit of] zhènshuāi qǐfèi (raising-up-the-weak and starting-up-the-discarded). [Among] what should be passed-and-preserved are [his works].

Zhào Mèngfǔ once saw his Lánqióngshānsì bēi wén — [the impression was] deep-and-tilted-with-admiration. Later Shìlín died; [Zhào] Mèngfǔ composed his epitaph. Dù Běn also praised his Xiè Áo zhuàn and Hú lièfù zhuàn as “able to make the bǐngyí hàodé (firmly-grasped, virtue-loving) hearts, qiānzǎi zhāomíng (a-thousand-years brilliantly-shining)”; firmly not [given] crookedly-borrowed-credit.

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

Rèn Shìlín (CBDB 27941, 1253–1309) is one of the principal early-Yuán Sinitic-Confucian academy founders, attached through Hǎo Tiāntǐng (the senior Mongol-court Confucian advisor) to the institutional Sinification of the Yuán. The Āndìng shūyuàn 安定書院 at Húzhōu, of which Rèn was the foundational shānzhǎng, was one of the most important post-conquest Yuán academies and a principal site of late-Sòng / early-Yuán Confucian transmission to high-Yuán Jīnhuá and Wúzhōu schools. His prose, deliberately modeled on Hán Yù, is the early Yuán’s most concentrated attempt at gǔwén stylistic recovery — the Sìkù editors recognize this even as they judge the execution to fall short. The principal historiographical content of the collection is the bēizhì jìxù corpus — particularly the Xiè Áo zhuàn (Biography of Xiè Áo, the foundational Sòng-loyalist poet) and the Hú lièfù zhuàn (Biography of a Yuán-period woman who upheld widow-fidelity at her cost) — both extensively cited in later YuánMíng lièzhuàn tradition. The Zhào Mèngfǔ Rèn Shūshí mùzhìmíng (in KR4d0445) is the principal external biographical source. Composition window: Rèn’s tenure at Āndìng shūyuàn (probably from the early 1280s) through his 1309 death. CBDB 27941 firmly establishes 1253–1309. Wilkinson treats Rèn briefly (§35).

Translations and research

• Cuī Lì 崔麗, Sòng-mò Yuán-chū Sì-míng wén-xué qún-luò yán-jiū (2009) — Rèn in the Sì-míng literary network.
• Sūn Xiǎo-lì 孫小麗, Dài Biǎo-yuán yán-jiū (2014), passim — Rèn and Dài Biǎo-yuán as parallel Sì-míng Yuán-period masters.
• Yuán-shǐ j. 190 (Rèn Shì-lín entry in Rú-xué zhuàn) — the standard biography.
• Quán Yuán shī, Quán Yuán wén.

Links

• WYG SKQS V1196.2, p487.
• CBDB person 27941 (Rèn Shìlín)
• Yuánshǐ j. 190
• Wikipedia, 任士林