Zhìzhèng jí 至正集
The Zhì-zhèng-era Collection by 許有壬 (撰)
About the work
The 81-juǎn surviving collected works of Xǔ Yǒurén 許有壬 (1287–1364), zì Kěyòng, native of Tāngyīn (Xiàngzhōu, Héběi). Yányòu 2 (1315) jìnshì; “stood at court 50 years, three times into the zhèngfǔ (chief executive).” Ended at Jíxián dàxuéshì, Zhōngshū zuǒchéng, jiān Tàizǐ zuǒyùdé; retired; died; posthumous name Wénzhōng. The collection was originally 100 juǎn. According to the preface of his brother Xǔ Yǒufú’s 許有孚 Guītáng xiǎogǎo KR4d0509: the ménshēng collation had just finished when Xǔ Yǒurén died; his nephew Xǔ Zhēn 許楨 (Tàicháng bóshì) was suddenly forced south under emergency qǐqiǎn and lightly abandoned his books — and the gǎo perished with them. The collection re-emerged at unknown date, but missing 19 juǎn (note the agreement with Huáng Yújì’s 黃虞稷 Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù — the same incomplete recension). The Sìkù tíyào speculates this is the Yáng Shìqí 楊士奇 family copy. Missing genres include jiānbiǎo, zhuànzhuàng, shūjiǎn — only shī 11 pieces and yuèfǔ 8 pieces are recorded but with text missing. The collection however still contains crucial gōngyí (official statements) — including the Tài-dìng-era memorial against the sons of Tèméndéěr (= Yuán Tiēmùdiéěr) and the case of Píngzhāng zhèngshì Zhào Shìyán; the memorial on the Zhèngshǐ shíshì; and the famously delicate memorial concerning the sister of Tèkèshí (Yuán Tiēshí), urging her exclusion from the palace women — material that the Yuánshǐ biography does not record and that thus supplements the dynastic history.
Tiyao
Zhìzhèng jí, 81 juǎn. By Xǔ Yǒurén of the Yuán. Yǒurén’s zì was Kěyòng, a man of Tāngyīn. Yányòu 2 jìnshì. Held office sequentially up to Jíxián dàxuéshì, Zhōngshū zuǒchéng, concurrently Tàizǐ zuǒyùdé; retired and died; posthumous name Wénzhōng. Career fully recorded in his Yuánshǐ biography. Yǒurén stood at court 50 years, three times entered the zhèngfǔ, kǎnkǎn bùē on great state affairs — much recordable. His wénzhāng is xiónghún hóngsì, satiated and apposite, never empty speech — accounted among the guǎngé jùshǒu of the Yuán. His Zhìzhèng jí was originally 100 juǎn. According to the preface of his brother Yǒufú’s Guītáng xiǎogǎo: the ménshēng collation had just finished its shànxiě when the master died; his nephew Tàicháng bóshì Zhēn was suddenly hurried south, dropped his books, and lost the gǎo. So the collection was lost from immediately after Yǒurén’s death. In Míng Hóngzhì, when his fifth-generation descendant Yóng 顒 printed Guītáng xiǎogǎo, he also had not seen this. Yè Shèng’s 葉盛 Shuǐdōng rìjì records Yóng’s complaint: “xiāngōng’s Zhìzhèng jí 100 juǎn has been lost for long. I heard Yángshǎoshī once had a copy and asked Shūjiǎn shǎoqīng for it; shǎoqīng said it was at Tàihé and uncertain.” The present version’s emergence is unknown but still lacks 19 juǎn. Huáng Yújì’s Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù lists the same juǎn-count — this must be the same surviving version, perhaps the Yáng Shìqí copy. Missing in this recension: jiān, biǎo, zhuàn, zhuàng, shū, jiǎn and others; also recorded-but-text-lost: 11 shī, 8 yuèfǔ. Yǒufú’s preface refers to “discussions of state affairs, jiāyán dǎnglùn visible in the Zhìzhèng jí”; but the present recension contains not one shūgǎo piece — so much is also lost. Still, looking at the Yuánshǐ biography: it records Yǒurén’s Tài-dìng-era memorial on Tèméndéěr (Yuán Tiēmùdiéěr)‘s sons Suǒnán 索南 (Yuán Suǒnán) being privy to great treason, asking that the law be applied; and the Píngzhāng zhèngshì Zhào Shìyán unjust-removal-and-restoration case; and the 10-item Zhèngshǐ shíshì memorial — all visible in the gōngyí class of this collection — sufficient to glimpse the outline. The memorial on Tèkèshí (Yuán Tiēshí)‘s sister, urging she not be allowed to defile the palace, was particularly difficult speech that the Yuánshǐ biography did not record — this is especially valuable for filling shǐquē. Respectfully collated, tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Abstract
Zhìzhèng jí is one of the principal late-Yuán court biéjí, weighted toward gōngwén (official statements). The collection’s preservation history is dramatic: the original 100-juǎn recension was lost in the dynastic transition; recovered partially (missing 19 juǎn), the WYG block preserves an 81-juǎn text whose principal scholarly importance — as the Sìkù tíyào notes — is the supplementation of the Yuánshǐ biography. Three memorials in particular (against the Tèméndéěr sons; the Zhào Shìyán defense; the Tèkèshí-sister palace-exclusion) document a leading court conservative’s role in mid-Yuán political resistance. The Qiánlóng-era name-substitutions (帖木迭兒 → 特捫德爾; 鎖南 → 索南; 帖實 → 特克什) preserved in the tíyào itself are useful philological flags for late-Yuán Mongol-name reception. Composition window: 1315 (Yányòu jìnshì) to 1364 (death in retirement).
Translations and research
- Yuán-shǐ j. 182 (Xǔ Yǒu-rén biography).
- Yáng Lián. 2003. Yuán-shī shǐ.
- John W. Dardess. 1973. Conquerors and Confucians: Aspects of Political Change in Late Yüan China. Columbia UP. Treats Xǔ Yǒu-rén in the context of mid-late Yuán court factions.
Other points of interest
Yáng Shìqí (1365–1444) preserving a copy of this collection — if the Sìkù’s speculation is correct — would establish a direct line from a high-Yuán Hànlín statesman’s library to the early-Míng Hànlín YángShìqí circle, an instance of cross-dynastic guǎngé book transmission.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1211.1, p1.
- Wikipedia, 許有壬