Wèizhāi jí 畏齋集
The Wèi-zhāi (Wary-Studio) Collection by 程端禮 (撰)
About the work
The six-juàn collected works of Chéng Duānlǐ 程端禮 (1271–1345; CBDB 27853 — not directly recorded, but Wikipedia and YuánMíng sources give these dates firmly), the great Yuán-period Neo-Confucian educational planner — best known for the Dúshū fēnnián rìchéng 讀書分年日程 (Daily Schedule of Reading Books by Years), separately catalogued in the Sìkù as a pedagogical work. The original Wèizhāi jí was named by Huáng Jìn 黃溍 in his mùzhì (epitaph) but the juàn-number was not given, and most booklists did not record it — long lost. The Sìkù base is a Yǒnglè dàdiǎn reconstruction of approximately 100+ pieces of poetry and prose in 6 juàn.
Tiyao
The Wèizhāi jí, 6 juàn, by Chéng Duānlǐ of the Yuán. Duānlǐ has the Dúshū fēnnián rìchéng already catalogued. His poetry-and-prose, named Wèizhāi jí, [is] seen in the mùzhì composed by Huáng Jìn — but [it] does not record the juàn-numbers. Various-houses’ book-lists also mostly do not record [it]. Therefore the world has long [had it as] no-transmission. Only what scattered-and-appears [in] the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn-mid still obtains 100+ pieces of poetry-and-prose; [we] respectfully [classified] by category, edited the sequence, [and] divided [them] into 6 juàn.
His learning takes Zhūzǐ as patriarch. Therefore composing Sūn Shūhuì shījí xù: “Poetry, [when it] reached the 7-character, declined; [the] lǜ, [it] was ruined; the cí, [it] was finished. From Zhūzǐ’s emergence, the gǔshī surviving-meaning was again seen — likely Zhūzǐ’s learning was not in poetry, therefore his compositions had natural-marvel — the substance of recitation-encouragement-and-warning.” Again the Sòng Mù Jǐngyáng xù says: “Shǔ literary [art] was again transformed by Wèi Liǎowēng. Wèi Liǎowēng studied ChéngZhū learning — therefore [he] had never had intention to compose [as a] literary-man’s prose — yet [his] prose [was] particularly marvellous. His complete collection’s zōngzhǐ (gathered-meaning) does not extend beyond this.”
Now Zhūzǐ being the patriarch of lecture-and-study — truly no different opinion. As for the way of wénzhāng, then source-and-current, regular-and-changed — his theory [is] very long. To take Huìān (Zhūzǐ)‘s single collection [as] the ruling-standard of the empire-and-myriad-ages, and [for] poetry like Lǐ-and-Dù, prose like Hán-and-Ōu — all [to be] dismissed as shuāiqiěhuài (declined-and-ruined) — this is one-house’s private speech, not a thousand-ages’ comprehensive discussion.
Yet what [Chéng] Duānxué (sic, = Duānlǐ) composed [is] all still míngbái chúnshí (clear-and-plain, pure-and-substantial), not bent-from-correctness; and his held-discussion is also sufficient to rectify the defect of [poetic] yínhuá yànyě (licentious-rhyme glamorous-ornate). On the [topic of] wénzhāng [he] also [is] not without contribution. Therefore [we] correct his jiāogù zhī shī (rigid-stuck-defects) and still gather-edit his lost-pieces — to prepare-one-form.
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 Chéng Duānlǐ (1271–1345), the great Yuán-period Neo-Confucian pedagogical-planner whose Dúshū fēnnián rìchéng (Daily Schedule of Reading Books by Years) became the foundational handbook of YuánMíng ZhūXué education — providing the precise day-by-day, year-by-year reading sequence through Zhū Xī’s edition of the Four Books and Five Classics with associated commentaries. Chéng’s Wèizhāi jí is the literary companion to this pedagogical magnum opus: a record of his literary and critical positions, dominated by strict ZhūXué orthodoxy. The Sìkù editors find Chéng’s strict Zhū-orthodoxy excessive — particularly his dismissal of Lǐ Bái, Dù Fǔ, Hán Yù, and Ōuyáng Xiū as “declined and ruined” — but commend his prose as míngbái chúnshí (clear-and-plain, pure-and-substantial), free from late-Sòng yǔlù fāngyán (recorded-sayings vernacular-language) intrusions into formal writing.
Chéng’s principal critical statement (preserved in the Sūn Shūhuì shījí xù): “Poetry, reaching the 7-syllable, declined; the lǜshī, ruined; the cí, finished. From Zhūzǐ’s emergence, the gǔshī surviving-meaning was again seen.” The companion statement on prose (in the Sòng Mù Jǐngyáng xù) credits the early-Sòng Shǔ-region scholar Wèi Liǎowēng 魏了翁 as the ChéngZhū re-establishment of gǔwén style. Composition window: from Chéng’s adult literary activity (after his Zhìyuán 至元 jìnshì candidacy around 1290) through his death in 1345.
Translations and research
- M. Theresa Kelleher, “Confucian Education from Pre-Imperial to Modern Times”, in Confucian Cultures of Authority — Chéng Duān-lǐ’s pedagogy discussed.
- Hé Yòu-sēn 何佑森, Yuán-dài lǐ-xué jiā de yán-jiū — discusses Chéng’s place in Yuán Neo-Confucianism.
- Yuán-shǐ lacks a biography of Chéng Duān-lǐ; principal sources are Huáng Jìn’s mù-zhì and Yuán-Míng scholarly tradition.
Other points of interest
The pairing of KR4d0461 (Wèizhāi jí — literary corpus) and the separately-catalogued Dúshū fēnnián rìchéng (pedagogical canonical) is a model case of how a single Yuán Neo-Confucian’s identity is fragmented across the Sìkù categories: the Wèizhāi jí enters as biéjí lèi 4, while the Rìchéng enters under zǐbù Rújiā lèi. The reader interested in Chéng’s complete intellectual program must consult both.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1199.6, p609.
- Wikipedia, 程端禮