Jīzhāi jí 積齋集
The Jī-zhāi (Accumulation Studio) Collection by 程端學 (撰)
About the work
A 5-juǎn reconstructed collection of Chéng Duānxué 程端學 (Yuán; Chūnqiū sānzhuàn biànyí author, already in catalog as KR1c0024). 1 juǎn shī + 4 juǎn wén. Chéng’s wénjí is not recorded in his Yuánshǐ biography and was not transmitted; only the Wényuāngé shūmù listed it. The Sìkùguǎn editors recovered scattered fragments from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and assembled the present recension. The famous Sìlíng fù 四靈賦 — which had won Chéng his Zhìzhì guǐhài (1323) Zhèshěng exam selection (championed by Ōuyáng Xuán 歐陽玄 against another examiner who would have failed it) — is lost; only Chéng’s Yángsuì fù 陽燧賦 survives.
Tiyao
Jīzhāi jí, 5 juǎn. By Chéng Duānxué of the Yuán. Duānxué has Chūnqiū sānzhuàn biànyí already in the catalog. His wénjí is not recorded in the Yuánshǐ biography, nor is a transmitted copy seen anywhere — only the Wényuāngé shūmù records it. We have now checked the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn’s various yùn — fragments are still scattered. According to Cáo Ān’s 曹安 Lányán chángyǔ: Ōuyáng Xuán was an examiner for Zhèshěng; one panel got a Sìlíng fù — words and meaning lofty and remote; the fùkǎoguān said it was not in the fù genre and wanted to fail it; Ōuyáng argued strongly, saying: “if his fù in the exam-arena is like this, his jīngyì must be excellent” — he ordered the zhǎngjuǎnguān to bring the běnjīng, which was “wěirán lǎochéng zhī bǐ”; on opening the juàn, it was Chéng Duānxué. Ōuyáng wrote Chéng’s mùzhì which also says: “Zhìzhì guǐhài’s Zhèwéi qiūshì second-test Sìlíng fù — cíqì lofty and remote — and so he was selected” — so the Sìlíng fù made Chéng’s name and must be in the collection. Now only Yángsuì fù survives, and this fù is lost — so dispersal has been considerable. Carefully gleaning the residue, we have arranged 1 juǎn shī + 4 juǎn wén, to preserve one Yuán yījiā. Duānxué’s Chūnqiū exegesis was bold in self-trust and quick to doubt antiquity — not free from the defect of piānzhí jiāogù (one-sided rigidity); but the man’s rénpǐn is upright and careful, his learning is also pure — therefore his prose is closely structured, having a hóngshēn sùkuò “deep and weighty” fēngfàn. Hence Cáo Ān also records his huìshì jīngyì cè topping the field, the examiners reporting to the prime minister: “this man’s reading is impossible without 30 years’ learning.” Roots are deep; he conquers by lǐ, not by cí. His verse still sets in the late-Sòng manner. The mùzhì says Duānxué in early Tàidìng was on imperial procession to Shàngdū; at that time Yú Jí was Guózǐ sīyè and held him in high regard — but the present recension has hardly any exchange-poetry between the two — so Duānxué did not specialize in this. Respectfully collated.
Abstract
The Jīzhāi jí is one of the more substantial Sìkùguǎn reconstructions from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn among Yuán biéjí, recovering the literary side of a scholar otherwise known mainly for his Chūnqiū exegesis KR1c0024. The loss of the Sìlíng fù — which had been the pivotal exam-piece of Chéng’s career, championed by Ōuyáng Xuán in defiance of a hostile co-examiner — is the principal lacuna. Chéng’s intellectual position (Confucianism with bold yígǔ tendencies in Chūnqiū) explains the piānzhí jiāogù note in the tíyào. Composition window: from Chéng’s earliest preserved compositions (after c. 1310) through his exam success in 1323 and to his death (year not preserved in the tíyào, conventionally c. 1336).
Translations and research
- Yuán-shǐ j. 190 (Chéng Duān-xué biography).
- Yáng Lián. 2003. Yuán-shī shǐ.
Other points of interest
The recovered Chéng / ŌuyángXuán exam anecdote (with the unnamed hostile fùkǎoguān) is the kind of detail that the Sìkù tíyào preserves precisely because the literary work concerned has been lost.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1212.2, p311.