湛淵集

Zhànyuān jí 湛淵集

The Zhàn-yuān (Deep-and-Clear) Collection by 白珽 (撰)

About the work

The single-juàn surviving collection of Bái Tǐng 白珽 (CBDB 10833, 1248–1328), zì Tíngyù 廷玉, retired at the Jīnshātān 金沙灘 (Golden-Sand-Bank) on the West Lake at Hángzhōu in a hut he called Zhànyuān 湛淵 (“Deep-and-Clear [Abyss]”) — whence his self-style. In late life he also styled himself Qīxiá shānrén 棲霞山人. Native of Qiántáng 錢塘 (Hángzhōu). With Qiú Yuǎn 仇遠 KR4d0447, Bái formed the “QiúBái” 仇白 poetic pair of the late Sòng / early Yuán. The original Zhànyuān jí in 8 juàn (according to the Chénghuà Hángzhōu fǔzhì) was still listed in the Wényuāngé shūmù but had long since been lost; the present recension is an early-Qīng compilation by the Hángzhōu scholar Shěn Sōngtíng 沈崧町, gathering 2 fù (rhapsodies), 63 shī (poems), and 6 wén (prose) — prefaced by Dài Biǎoyuán 戴表元 and with an appended mùzhì (funerary inscription) by Sòng Lián 宋濂.

Tiyao

The Zhànyuān jí, 1 juàn, by Bái Tǐng of the Yuán. Tǐng, zì Tíngyù, [was] a Qiántáng man. By [the] recommendation of Lǐ Kān [he] was awarded the Tàipínglù rúxué zhèng; his office reached Lánxīzhōu pànguān; [he] retired and built a hut at the Jīnshātān of the West Lake, [putting up a] tablet calling [it] Zhànyuān — by which [he] self-styled. In late life [he] further self-styled Qīxiá shānrén.

The Chéng-huà-period Hángzhōu fǔzhì records [Bái] Tǐng’s Zhànyuān jí in 8 juàn; the Wényuāngé shūmù still records [it]; today [it] has long been lost. This base [is] what was recently gathered by the Hángzhōu man Shěn Sōngtíng — altogether 2 fù, 63 shī, 6 wén — prefaced by Dài Biǎoyuán and appended by the mùzhì composed by Sòng Lián. [Dài] Biǎoyuán’s preface praises his poetry as “very much like Chén Qùfēi after [Chén’s] crossing the Yangtze”; [Sòng Lián’s] zhì records Liú Chénwēng’s words praising him as “not engaged in carving-and-petty-trifling, having the [transcendent] Yúnshān sháohù (Cloud-Mountain Sháo-music) sound”; also the eighteenth-place [poet] of the Yuèquán yínshè [poetic society] — Táng Chǔyǒu — was Bái’s pseudonym; Xiè Áo, Fāng Fèng and others also evaluated his form-and-tone as exceedingly high; Táo Jiǔchéng composed the Chuògēng lù, which records his Yǎnyǎ shí shǒu (Performance-of-Refined-Speech Ten Poems). Likely [Bái] Tǐng, during the Sòng Xiánchún era, had already, together with Qiú Yuǎn, become famous for poetry. After [the dynasty’s] entering the Yuán, both men responded to recommendation and became Confucian officials, [but their careers were] kǎnkě bùdá (rough-and-fail-to-arrive); [they] withdrew to old age on Lake and Mountain. Their coming-out-and-resting-conditions also roughly approximate each other.

Their collections were all, after being scattered-and-lost, again gathered by later men [and] retain perhaps a tenth [of the original]. [Qiú] Yuǎn’s Jīnyuān jí the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn completely received; [we, the editors,] respectfully encountering the literary Sage Dynasty [whose imperial wisdom] re-circulated [it] cut for publication; while [Bái] Tǐng’s collection, because the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn did not receive [it], could not be gathered-and-recorded — therefore what was transmitted [is] only this base. In its midst there is also occasional mixing with forgeries — like the Chénghuà Hángzhōu fǔzhì’s recorded “Three-Eighth-Day Passing West-Horse Embankment” one [piece], the middle four lines all the same as the Yuèquán yínshè poem — but the second line’s rhyme-words chéng (-embankment) and qíng (-clear) rhyme with the names — this [shows] in [the time of] Zhìzhèng’s beginning [the early 1340s] [the compilers] had already used the Hóngwǔ zhèngyùn. Its forgery-confusing [character] [is] without question. Yet “jíguāng piànyǔ” (light-fragments and single-feathers) — [these] are after all precious-and-rare. [They] do not preclude [Bái Tǐng’s collection] being transmitted alongside [Qiú] Yuǎn’s.

Respectfully collated, second month of Qiánlóng 44 (1779). 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

Bái Tǐng (CBDB 10833, 1248–1328) is one of the two principal Hángzhōu poets of the SòngYuán transition, paired with Qiú Yuǎn as “QiúBái” 仇白. The two men’s careers run closely parallel: both already poetically famous in the Sòng Xiánchún era (1265–1274); both took Yuán Confucian office on recommendation (Bái: through Lǐ Kān’s 李衎 recommendation, as Tàipínglù rúxué zhèng, eventually Lánxīzhōu pànguān); both retired disappointed in later life to West-Lake hermitage. Bái Tǐng’s collection — once 8 juàn — was almost entirely lost by Qīng times; this 1-juàn recension is an early-Qīng compilation by the Hángzhōu scholar Shěn Sōngtíng 沈崧町. The Sìkù editors note: (1) the recension is heterogeneous, containing some forged pieces (the Yuèquán yínshè eighteenth-place poet Táng Chǔyǒu being Bái’s pseudonym is confirmed); (2) the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn did not preserve Bái’s collection (unlike Qiú Yuǎn’s), making this small compilation the principal surviving witness. Dài Biǎoyuán’s preface evaluates Bái’s poetry as comparable to Chén Yǔyì 陳與義 (1090–1138, zì Qùfēi 去非) post-crossing-the-river — i.e., placing Bái in the major Song-poetic-individuality lineage. Sòng Lián’s appended mùzhì records the critical-judgment of Liú Chénwēng 劉辰翁 (1232–1297): Bái’s poetry is not carved-and-trivial but has the “Cloud-Mountain Sháohù music” sound.

Translations and research

• See KR4d0447 for the closely-related Qiú Yuǎn scholarship.
• Bái Tǐng is briefly treated in standard Yuán-poetry reference works (Yuán shī jì-shì, Quán Yuán shī).

Other points of interest

The contrast between KR4d0447 (Qiú Yuǎn’s Jīnyuān jí, Sìkù Yǒnglè dàdiǎn reconstruction) and KR4d0449 (Bái Tǐng’s Zhànyuān jí, Shěn Sōngtíng’s early-Qīng anthology compilation) is a model case of how the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn selectively preserved Yuán-era poets — Qiú was supervisor-of-compilation Yáo Guǎngxiào’s particular favourite, hence Qiú’s preservation; Bái lacked such a patron and accordingly fared worse in transmission.

Links

• WYG SKQS V1198.3, p87.
• CBDB person 10833 (Bái Tǐng)
• Wikipedia, 白珽