Biànshān xiǎoyǐn yínlù 弁山小隱吟錄
The Recitations of the Small-Recluse of Mt. Biàn by 黃玠 (撰)
About the work
The two-juàn poetic collection of Huáng Jiè 黃玠** (no firm CBDB lifedates; active fl. c. 1310–1345), zì Bóchéng 伯成, native of Cíxī 慈谿 (modern Zhèjiāng); migrated to Mt. Biàn 弁山 at Wúxīng (Húzhōu, Zhèjiāng) — hence the collection’s title. The author’s self-preface (dated Zhìzhèng yǐyǒu = 1345) preserves substantial biographical and ideological context: Huáng’s lineage descends from a Sòng Xiángfú (1008–1016)-era ancestor of Wēnzhōu’s Lèqīng 樂清 who relocated to Cíxī; family devotion to Confucian study for generations; the family lost its property in the 1276 Bǐngzǐ jiā huǐ yú kòu (SòngYuán transition warfare); Huáng himself migrated west to Mt. Biàn and lived as a teaching-priest for over 40 years, providing for his elder uncle’s family. The Sìkù editors evaluate Huáng’s verse: “[He] does not compose recent-style [verse]; [for his] gāo [poetry he] has [the legacy of] Yuán Jié’s surviving-meaning; [for his] cì (next-best) [verse he] approximates Bái Jūyì — yet does not reach the broad-and-vast deep-and-solid of these two persons.” Substantially exhortation-and-admonition verse; gāngfāng jísú (rigid-correct, hating-vulgar) in disposition.
Tiyao
The Biànshān xiǎoyǐn yínlù, by Huáng Jiè of the Yuán. Jiè, zì Bóchéng, [was a] Cíxī man — sojourning at Mt. Biàn. Therefore [he] used [it as] name-of-collection. His poetry [is] not composed-as recent-style; [for] high [poetry he] has Yuán Jié’s surviving-meaning; [for] cì (next-best) [verse he] approximates Bái Jūyì — only [he does] not reach the two-persons’ broad-vast deep-thick [achievement]. Inside [there is] much quànjiè (exhortation-and-admonition) words — likely also [a man] gāngfāng jísú (rigid-correct hating-vulgar) [is he].
Preceded by [the] self-preface, called: “Nothing-and-distinguished virtue, [I] dare not call [it] reclusion; uniquely [my] suǒdé yú tiānzhě bó (obtained-from-heaven [is] sparse) — therefore [I] will withdraw-store to finish my person.” Also says [the] Wénzhōng (Master Wāng Tōng)‘s words call “wishing the shàngzhī rén (those-above-people) to correct [their] selves and cultivate [their] virtue, [to] cause [the] times peaceful, the year abundant — already [I have] received the gift” — particularly cuìrán yǒudé zhī yán (purely-and-completely virtue-possessing word) — surpassing those who jiǎoyǔ gāodǎo (artificially-words and high-stepping) [in their pose].
Respectfully collated, fifth month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777). 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 collection of Huáng Jiè (fl. c. 1310–1345), a Cíxī (modern Zhèjiāng) yímín of Sòng descent whose family had lost its property in the 1276 SòngYuán transition warfare. Huáng migrated west to Mt. Biàn at Wúxīng (Húzhōu) and lived as a teaching-priest for over 40 years, providing for his elder uncle’s family. The collection presents Huáng’s poetry as a self-conscious literary practice in the Yuán Jié 元結 (Táng-era recluse-poet) and Bái Jūyì traditions, with substantial quànjiè (admonitory) content reflecting his moral severity. The Sìkù editors single out Huáng’s adoption of the Wénzhōngzǐ (Wáng Tōng’s) doctrine — “wishing those above to correct themselves and cultivate virtue, causing the times to be peaceful and the year to be abundant” — as a particularly “virtue-possessing” Confucian-moral statement, “surpassing those who artificially-step-high in their pose”.
The self-preface is dated Zhìzhèng yǐyǒu (1345) twelfth month — placing Huáng’s literary maturity in the late Yuán. Composition window: from Huáng’s adult literary activity (after c. 1310) through 1345 (the self-preface date).
Translations and research
- Yuán-shǐ lacks a biography of Huáng Jiè. Principal source: the self-preface.
- Standard Yuán-poetry references.
Other points of interest
Huáng Jiè’s self-positioning as not a yǐn (recluse) but only a xiǎoyǐn (small-recluse) — withdrawing because his suǒdé yú tiānzhě bó (heaven-given allocation is sparse) — preserves a humble-modest SòngYuán transition yímín posture distinct from the more assertive Sòng-loyalist recluse poetic tradition.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1205.1, p1.
- The Huáng Jiè CBDB entry is uncertain; multiple 黃玠 records exist without firm lifedates.