Dàoyuán xuégǔ lù 道園學古錄
The Dào-yuán (Dào-Garden) Studying-the-Ancients Records by 虞集 (撰)
About the work
The 50-juàn monumental collection of Yú Jí 虞集 (CBDB 10801, 1272–1348), zì Bóshēng 伯生**, hào Dàoyuán 道園 (“Dào-Garden”). Senior Yuán Hànlín scholar-statesman, posthumous shì Wénjìng 文靖. Native of Shǔjùn 蜀郡 (Sìchuān). The foundational mid-Yuán Hànlín literary patriarch; with Yáng Zài 楊載 KR4d0495, Fàn Pèng 范梈 KR4d0496, and Jiē Xīsī 揭傒斯 KR4d0497 forming the canonical mid-Yuán four-master quartet (YúYángFànJiē 虞楊范揭). Yú Jí’s collection was edited by his disciple Lǐ Běn 李本 from over 10,000 surviving pieces.
The SBCK base preserves the standard transmitted text via several Yuán-era cuts: (1) Liú Jī 劉基 (Liú Bówēn, the early-Míng founding-figure) prepared a large-character cut; (2) the Wūkèzhāng 烏克章 Jiànníng cut. Later editors added a Dàoyuán lèigǎo compilation; the relations between Lèigǎo and Xuégǔ lù show partial overlap.
Opening preface (the YōngYú gōng wén xù, by an anonymous mid-Yuán Hànlín colleague — likely a senior contemporary): Yú Jí was repeatedly identified by Hànlín colleagues as one with whom to entrust the future of sī wén (this wén tradition). At the Zhìzhì (1321–1323) and Tiānlì (1328–1330) eras, “[the] Yōng Yúgōng [Yú Jí] held official office [in the Hànlín] — wén also was [in his] luxuriance for a time. The state-temple and imperial-court’s diǎncè (canonical-investiture documents), the gōngqīng dàfū (senior officials’)‘s bēibǎn (stele-and-tablet inscriptions) — all came-forth from the gentleman’s hand. Cuìrán zì chéng yī jiā zhī yán (purely-and-completely self-completing one-house’s words). The mountain-forest’s men, fěngyè zhī shì (cottage-living scholars), obtaining his presentation-words — [they take it as if] obtaining gōngbì (folded-jade emblems). The gentleman’s encountering-the-text — suí shì chóuzuò (according-to-affairs reciprocating-composing) — zàocì tiānchéng (sudden-as-coming, heaven-completed). Originally without yīháo shàngrén zhī xīn (one-iota of striving-to-surpass-others mind); also without jūjū rán bùqū gǔrén zhī yì (constrained-walking-of-the-ancients meaning). Jīyòng zìshú, jìngqù zìshēng, zuǒyòu féngyuán (mechanism-application self-mature, atmosphere-interest self-arising, left-right encountering-source) — each recognizing its appropriate-office.”
Abstract
The literary monument of Yú Jí (1272–1348), the singular mid-Yuán Hànlín literary patriarch and the principal Yùtáng (Hànlín) state-paper composer of the Zhìzhì and Tiānlì eras (1321–1330). Yú’s career as state-paper composer made him the principal author of the Yuán imperial diǎncè (canonical documents) and of the bēibǎn (steles-and-tablets) for the senior Mongol-aristocratic and Hàn-Confucian elite. Sū Tiānjué’s Yuán wénlèi canonized Yú alongside 馬祖常, 袁桷, and Wáng Gòu 王構 as the Dàdé / Yányòu mid-Yuán literary-imperial quartet — with Yú Jí as the senior member.
Family origins. Maternal grandfather Yáng Wénzhòng 楊文仲, Sòng Héngyáng magistrate; the maternal-uncle’s-great-grandson Yáng Chūn 楊椿 of Méishān composed the preface for the Dàoyuán yígǎo KR4d0494 in Zhìzhèng jǐhài (1359).
Collection structure (per the SBCK base):
- 22 fù in juàn 1 — antiquarian and architectural rhapsodies including the Dǎoyóu fù, Yúnlín fù, Xuányúnshí fù, Yùguīzhàng fù, Tóngbǎiguàn fù (the Daoist-establishment rhapsodies), Lèshuǐtú fù, Yújiànzhāi fù, Xīzhāi fù, Níngyúnshí fù, Jiǔhuátái fù, Mòzhú fù, Sùxuān fù, Dōngwō fù, Róngxuān fù, Fùān fù, Nǐ Shàntíng fù, Yǐnjūtú fù — the major Yuán antiquarian / architectural-poetic corpus
- sāo / cí in juàn 2 — 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 poetic and prose corpus
Imperial state-paper function. Per the opening preface: “Cháotíng zhī diǎncè, gōngqīng dàfū zhī bēibǎn — xián chū gōng shǒu” (the court’s canonical-investiture documents, the senior officials’ stele-and-tablet inscriptions — all came out of the gentleman’s hand). This places Yú Jí as the senior composer of Yuán imperial state-papers and aristocratic memorial inscriptions in the Zhì-zhì-and-Tiān-lì period.
Position in Yuán literary history. Yú Jí is the principal Yuán literary-imperial figure of the mid-Yuán cultural climax. The Sìkù editors elsewhere characterize him as the Wénzhèng zhī jiānzhě (cultivator of wénzhèng — refined-correct) — i.e. the canonical Yuán literary patriarch. CBDB 10801 (1272–1348). Yuánshǐ j. 181 (Yú Jí biography). The Wilkinson manual treats Yú Jí extensively in §28, §35, §42.
Composition window: from Yú Jí’s earliest preserved compositions (after his 1286 recruitment to the Yuán court by Chéng Jùfū 程鉅夫 KR4d0466, when Yú was 14) through his death in 1348.
Translations and research
- Yuán-shǐ j. 181 (Yú Jí biography) — the standard biography.
- David Gedalecia, A Solitary Crane in a Spring Grove — broader Yuán-Confucian context.
- John D. Langlois (ed.), China under Mongol Rule — multiple chapters discuss Yú Jí.
- Hok-lam Chan, “Chinese Official Historiography at the Yüan Court” — discusses Yú’s Hàn-lín role.
- Numerous Yuán-poetic and Yuán-prose handbook treatments.
Other points of interest
The mid-Yuán four-master quartet (Yú Jí, Yáng Zài, Fàn Pèng, Jiē Xīsī) is the canonical formulation of mid-Yuán literary culture in subsequent YuánMíng literary historiography. Yú Jí as the senior member established the mid-Yuán Hàn-lín-imperial-Confucian literary standard. The 50-juàn Dàoyuán xuégǔ lù + 6-juàn Dàoyuán yígǎo KR4d0494 together preserve Yú’s complete surviving corpus.
Links
- SBCK V0526.
- WYG SKQS V1207.1, p1.
- CBDB person 10801 (Yú Jí)
- Wikipedia, 虞集
- Yuánshǐ j. 181