Shuāngxī zuìyǐn jí 雙溪醉隱集
The Shuāng-xī Drunken-Recluse Collection by 耶律鑄 (撰)
About the work
The six-juàn literary collection of Yēlǜ Zhù 耶律鑄 (CBDB 29281, 1221–1285), zì Chéngzhòng 成仲, hào Shuāngxī 雙溪 (“Twin Streams”) / Zuìyǐn 醉隱 (“Drunken-Recluse”). Ninth-generation descendant of the Liáo Dōngdānwáng 遼東丹王 (Yēlǜ Bèi 耶律倍, 899–937, Liáo crown-prince scholar-of-Hàn-culture). Son of the great Mongol-Khitan minister Yēlǜ Chǔcái 耶律楚材 (1190–1244, zhōngshūlìng under Ögödei Khan). Yēlǜ Zhù served three terms as Yuán Zhōngshū zuǒ chéngxiàng (Left Chief Councillor); enfeoffed Yìníngwáng 懿寧王 with posthumous shì Wénzhōng 文忠. Yuánshǐ j. 146 gives the standard biography (paired with his father in j. 146).
The Sìkù base is a Yǒnglè dàdiǎn reconstruction. The original Shuāngxī jí was lost; only Qián Pǔ’s Nèigé shūmù recorded the title (Yēlǜ chéngxiàng Shuāngxī jí in 19 cè). The Yǒnglè dàdiǎn preserved the Qiánjí, Xīnjí, Xùjí, Biéjí, and Wàijí sub-collections separately, plus prefaces by Zhào Zhù 趙著, Má Gé 麻革, and Wáng Wànqìng 王萬慶 written for Yēlǜ Zhù’s youthful Shuāngxī xiǎogǎo. The Sìkù editors collated all together into one collection of 6 juàn, preserving the original Shuāngxī xiǎogǎo prefaces and postfaces at front and back.
Tiyao
The Shuāngxī zuìyǐn jí, 6 juàn, by Yēlǜ Zhù of the Yuán. Zhù, zì Chéngzhòng, [is the] ninth-generation descendant of the Liáo Dōngdānwáng — son of the Zhōngshūlìng [Yēlǜ] Chǔcái. [He] accumulated office [up to] Zhōngshū zuǒ chéngxiàng; died; posthumously promoted Yìníngwáng; shì Wénzhōng. His deeds [are] in the Yuánshǐ běnzhuàn. [Yēlǜ] Chǔcái assisted the Yuán Tàizǔ (Chinggis) and Tàizōng (Ögödei) in pacifying the empire — establishing the framework, laying-out the order — all came-out from his planning. [Yēlǜ] Zhù [from] youth was intelligent-and-quick, especially skilled at horse-riding-and-archery. Following Xiànzōng (Möngke) on campaign against Shǔ [he] accumulated meritorious deeds; afterward three times [entered the] Zhōngshū, fixing legal regulations and producing court-music — much beneficial [to] economy-and-administration — not unworthy of his father. And his prose-and-poetry also possess the father’s style — therefore Yuán Hǎowèn and Lǐ Yě and various men all kept-friendship[-bond] with [him]. Yet [Yēlǜ] Chǔcái’s Zhànrán jūshì jí still has a manuscript [copy]; [while Yēlǜ] Zhù’s collection [is] long-lost-and-not-transmitted. Book-collecting families to the [point of being] unable to give his name-and-style — only the Míng [scholar] Qián Pǔ’s Nèigé shūmù has Yēlǜ chéngxiàng Shuāngxī jí in 19 cè. Also not detailed [as to] its juàn-divisions.
Examining-and-collating the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn-received [Yēlǜ] Zhù’s Shuāngxī zuìyǐn jí — the pieces are rather many — having qiánjí, xīnjí, xùjí, biéjí, wàijí various names. Also separately recorded [are] Zhào Zhù, Má Gé, Wáng Wànqìng — various prefaces-and-postfaces — these are for Zhù’s youthful poetry titled Shuāngxī xiǎogǎo and composed [for that]. So various composed collections [were] originally each their own juàn-volumes — rather having the suspicion of suǒsuì (fragmented-and-petty). [We] respectfully gather-and-edit-the-sequence [it] all into one collection, and still take the Shuāngxī xiǎogǎo original prefaces-and-postfaces, distributing [them] at front and back — using to preserve their outline.
[Yēlǜ] Zhù [from] early followed [the army on] military-conquest — [his] footsteps traversed-and-passed [territories], much in the northwest extreme-far regions. Therefore what [he] narrates [regarding] beyond-the-frontier geography and diǎngù (precedents) is often detailed-and-accurate. [Things] like according-to the Hé-lín-city Táng Mínghuáng imperially-composed Quētèqín bēi [Kül Tegin stele], proving [that] the Xīn and Jiù Tángshū writing “tèlè” is in error; the Chǔyuè, Dīnglíng two notes — [his] discussions are rather detailed. [Things of] this category all are beneficial to kǎozhèng (textual research).
Also his family in the JīnYuán interim [was] for accumulated-generations guìxiǎn (nobility-and-prominence) — ánxí cháotíng jiùwén (familiar-with old-court-anecdotes). The collection’s Qiónglínyuán, Lónghégōng — various fù — xùshù (narrate) the yìshì (anecdotes) of [the] Hǎilíng [Wáng of Jīn] and Zhāngzōng, and the gōngshì zhìdù (palace-room-system) — much [of what] the Jīnshǐ does not reach. The other tíyǒng are also much connected [with] Yāndū (Beijing) gùshí (former-affairs/precedents) — and the Dìjīng jǐngwù lüè and various books all do not record [them] — also sufficient for bóshí zhī zī (broad-knowledge consultation).
As for the Jīnshǐ Yēlǜ Lǚ zhuàn and the Yuánshǐ Yēlǜ Chǔcái zhuàn both do not record their native-place — for historical convention rather not-in-conformity. Now examining [Yēlǜ] Zhù’s Yù Lìtíng shī note says “My family at Liáoshàng; later home at Yīwúlǘ”; also the Wǔhú biéyè shī note says “I previously lived at Hélín, later sojourned at Wěitái; now [I have] bo-cut [a homestead at] Jǐnyún Wǔhú biéyè” — narrates his migration-traces rather thoroughly. This is particularly sufficient to supplement the histories’ lacunae.
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
The literary collection of Yēlǜ Zhù (CBDB 29281, 1221–1285), the Khitan-aristocratic Yuán Chief Councillor, son of the founding Mongol-administrative architect Yēlǜ Chǔcái 耶律楚材. The collection is a Sìkù Yǒnglè dàdiǎn reconstruction unifying five originally-separate sub-collections (qiánjí, xīnjí, xùjí, biéjí, wàijí) into a single 6-juàn compilation.
The collection’s principal historiographical interest, per the Sìkù editors, lies in three dimensions:
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Northwest frontier geography and Inner-Asian historical philology. Yēlǜ Zhù accompanied Möngke Khan’s Sichuan campaign and other Inner-Asian expeditions; his notes on the Kül-Tegin stele (the Táng Míng-huáng-inscribed Quētèqín bēi at Karakorum / Hélín 和林) prove that the Xīn / Jiù Tángshū’s writing tèlè 特勒 is erroneous (correct: tèqín 特勤). His notes on the Chǔyuè 處月 and Dīnglíng 丁零 are foundational Inner-Asian ethnonymic philology.
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HǎilíngWáng and JīnZhāngzōng palace anecdotes. Yēlǜ Zhù’s Khitan-aristocratic family preserved palace-anecdote materials lost from the Jīnshǐ. The Qiónglínyuán fù and Lónghégōng fù preserve unique narrative material on Jīn-period palace architecture and court life under HǎilíngWáng and Zhāngzōng.
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Yāndū (Beijing) topographical history. His occasional poetry preserves Beijing topographical material absent from the standard Dìjīng jǐngwù lüè and similar gazetteers.
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Personal-migration biographical material. Annotations to Yù Lìtíng shī and Wǔhú biéyè shī preserve Yēlǜ Zhù’s own migration sequence: Liáoshàng → Yīwúlǘ → Hélín (Karakorum) → Wěitái → Jǐnyún (Wǔhú biéyè) — supplementing the Jīnshǐ and Yuánshǐ which omit Yēlǜ family native-place data.
Composition window: from Yēlǜ Zhù’s earliest preserved compositions (the Shuāngxī xiǎogǎo of his youth, c. 1235) through his death in 1285.
Translations and research
- Igor de Rachewiltz, “Yeh-lü Chu (1221–1285)”, in In the Service of the Khan (Wiesbaden, 1993). Major English-language biographical study.
- Yuán-shǐ j. 146 (Yē-lǜ Chǔ-cái biography, with Yē-lǜ Zhù appended).
- Various studies of Yuán Inner-Asian historical geography draw on the Shuāng-xī zuì-yǐn jí for primary documentation.
Other points of interest
The Khitan-aristocratic provenance of the Shuāngxī zuìyǐn jí makes it one of the few Yuán-period biéjí that preserves both Hàn-classical literary tradition (the family’s adoption of Hàn-cultural sensibility through nine generations) and Inner-Asian eyewitness documentation (Yēlǜ Zhù’s frontier campaigns and Karakorum residence). The Kül-Tegin stele tèqín / tèlè correction is one of the most-cited Yuán-period contributions to Inner-Asian historical philology.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1199.3, p355.
- CBDB person 29281 (Yēlǜ Zhù)
- Yuánshǐ j. 146