Qīngróng jūshì jí 清容居士集
The Qīng-róng (Clear-and-Composed) Recluse-Layman Collection by 袁桷 (撰)
About the work
The 50-juàn monumental collection of Yuán Juè 袁桷 (CBDB 10389, 1266–1327), zì Bózhǎng 伯長, hào Qīngróng jūshì 清容居士 (“Clear-Composed Recluse-Layman”), posthumous shì Wénqīng 文清, posthumously enfeoffed Chénliú jùngōng 陳留郡公. Native of Qìngyuánlù 慶元路 (modern Níngbō 寧波, Zhèjiāng). Great-grandson of the Southern-Sòng zhī Shūmìyuàn shì Yuán Sháo 袁韶 — the family one of the principal “southeastern old-households of [SòngYuán] transmission of moral-and-cultural inheritance” (dōngnán gùjiā yíxiàn 東南故家遺獻). The SBCK base preserves the complete 50-juàn corpus from the Yuán-period cut.
The collection’s structure is encyclopaedic, reflecting Yuán Juè’s senior Hànlín career:
- juàn 1: 22 fù (rhapsodies) — including topographic-architectural pieces (Yúnlín fù, Tóngbǎiguàn fù, Chūntáng fù, Rénshòutáng fù, Lèshuǐtú fù, Yújiānzhāi fù, Xīzhāi fù, Jiǔhuátái fù, Mòzhú fù, Sùxuān fù, Dōngwō fù, Róngxuān fù, Fùān fù, Yǐnjūtú fù) — major Yuán antiquarian-and-architectural documentation
- juàn 2: sāo / cí — including the Mǐnshì, Guǎngzhāo, Qīguān, Yuèlùtú cí, Yōurángé cí, Jīntí cí, Shítián shānfáng cí, Xuějiāngtú cí, Chuílúntíng cí, Jùfēng cí, Yúnzhōng cí
- (subsequent juàn): substantial poetry of all forms; major prose (xù, jì, bēimíng, mùzhìmíng, tíbá, shū, zhìgào, yuèfǔ); zòuyì memorial-discussions
Abstract
Yuán Juè (1266–1327) is the principal Yuán-period scholar-statesman of the southeastern Sòng-aristocratic family-tradition. Great-grandson of the Sòng Vice-Censor Yuán Sháo, Yuán Juè inherited the Qìngyuán (Níngbō) Yuánshì family’s substantial Sòng-Yuán-transition library and ritual-cultural standing. His career trajectory traversed:
- Lìzé shūyuàn 麗澤書院 at Wùzhōu (modern Jīnhuá) — shānzhǎng of the academy founded in honour of Lǚ Zǔqiān 呂祖謙 (the great Sòng Wùzhōu Confucian) — placing Yuán Juè in the direct Wùzhōu Sòng-orthodoxy lineage
- Hànlín Guóshǐyuàn — recommended to the Hàn-lín-Historical Academy as jiǎnyuèguān; rose through senior offices to Hànlín shìjiǎng xuéshì 翰林侍講學士 (Hànlín Lecturer-in-Waiting Academician) — the principal late-Yuán imperial-historical-Confucian office
- Retirement and posthumous promotion: Cānzhī zhèngshì of the JiāngZhè xíngshěng; enfeoffed Chénliújùngōng; shì Wénqīng
The collection’s significance:
- The largest single Yuán-period imperial-literary corpus from the southeastern aristocratic perspective, preserving the SòngYuán transition through to the Yuán mid-period (1290–1327). 50 juàn.
- Foundational mid-Yuán Hànlín state-papers, particularly bēimíng and mùzhìmíng for the Yuán imperial and Sòng-remnant elite — including Yuán Juè’s mùzhìmíng for Ān Xī 安熙 (preserved in 蘇天爵’s Yuán wénlèi)
- Major antiquarian-and-architectural fù corpus (juàn 1)
- Substantial gazetteer-historiographical context for Qìngyuán / Sìmíng — Yuán Juè composed the Yánjiā Sìmíng zhì KR2k0025 in 1320 at the request of zǒngguǎn Mǎ Zé 馬澤
CBDB 10389 (1266–1327 firm). Yuánshǐ j. 172 (Yuán Juè biography). His lost works (per Sū Tiānjué’s mùzhìmíng) include the Yì shuō and Chūnqiū shuō.
Translations and research
- Yuán-shǐ j. 172 (Yuán Juè biography) — the standard biography.
- Hok-lam Chan, “Chinese Official Historiography at the Yüan Court” — discusses Yuán Juè’s role in Yuán imperial historiography.
- Various Sòng-Yuán transition studies treat Yuán Juè substantially.
Other points of interest
The Yuánshì of Qìngyuán is one of the principal SòngYuán transition family-archives — the family preserved its Sòng-aristocratic ritual-cultural identity through three generations of Yuán imperial service, maintaining the Wùzhōu Sòng-Confucian library and learning traditions while adapting to Yuán imperial-Confucian institutionality. Yuán Juè’s editorial role in Yánjiā Sìmíng zhì (1320) makes him one of the principal Yuán-period gazetteer-compilers.
Links
- SBCK V0402.
- CBDB person 10389 (Yuán Juè)
- Yuánshǐ j. 172