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 (Sòng-Yuán 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 Sòng-Yuán 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
Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome
- 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 Sòng-Yuán 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.