Yànmén jí 雁門集
The Yàn-mén (Yàn-Pass) Collection by 薩都拉 (撰)
About the work
The collected poetry of Sàdūlā 薩都拉 (also transcribed 薩都剌 — zì Tiānxī 天錫, hào Zhízhāi 直齋), Sèmù literatus whose grandfather’s military merit placed the family at Yànmén in the YúnDài region of the Shānxī marches (whence the title). 3 juǎn + 1 juǎn jíwài shī, edited and re-cut by Máo Jìn 毛晉 from an earlier 8-juǎn recension that was no longer transmitted in his day. Sà was Tàidìng dīngmǎo (1327) jìnshì. Most famous for his frontier-and-palace topical poems. Yú Jí, in his preface to Fù Ruòjīn’s collection, characterized Sà as “zuì cháng yú qíng — liúlì qīngwǎn.” Yáng Yǔ’s Shānjū xīnyǔ corrects Sà’s stylistic mistakes (the zǐyī xiǎoduì lines and the Jīngchéng chūnrì yǐnmǎ yùgōu line as not in keeping with guózhì).
Tiyao
Yànmén jí, 3 juǎn, plus jíwài shī 1 juǎn. By Sàdūlā of the Yuán. (Note: Sàdūlā originally written Sàdūcì 薩都剌; here corrected.) Sàdūlā’s zì Tiānxī, hào Zhízhāi. His grandfather Sàlābùhā 薩拉布哈 (originally written Sīlán bùhuā 思闌不花; here corrected) and father Àolāqí 傲拉齊 (originally written Ālǔchì 阿魯赤; here corrected) — by shìxūn (inherited merit) garrisoned the YúnDài region, lived at Yànmén, so the world calls him “Yànmén Sàdūlā” — actually a Měnggǔ (Mongol). The old version has a Gàn Wénchuán preface saying Sàdūlā, translated, means jìshàn (Note: but in Mongol Sàdūlā means jiéqīn “in-laws” — perhaps Wénchuán mis-translated. We follow the original text and note here.) — so this is in fact a three-character Mongol name in transcription. But in the collection’s Xīxíng zhōngqiū wányuè shī he calls himself Sàshì zǐ — quite puzzling. Kǒng Qí’s Zhìzhèng zhíjì says Sà was originally Zhū-surname, not Ào-lā-qí-born. Source unclear. Was he originally not Mongolian, ignorant of Mongolian language, and so mistakenly took his name as a surname? Yí yǐ chuán yí, què suǒ bùzhī kě yǐ. — From his self-preface, he began as a jìnshì, named Jīngkǒu lùshì zhǎng, was conscripted by the Nán xíngtái as yǎn, then by the Censorate as Yānnán jiàgéguān, transferred to Mǐnhǎi liánfǎng zhīshì, advanced to Héběi liánfǎng jīnglì. Gàn Wénchuán’s preface says he was Tàidìng dīngmǎo (1327) jìnshì, yìngfèng Hànlín wénzì, named Yānnán jīnglì, then shì yùshǐ at the Nántái, denounced powerful men, demoted to Zhènjiāng lùshì xuānchāi, later moved to Mǐnxiàn mù. Slight difference from the self-preface; the self-preface is more accurate. Yú Jí’s preface to Fù Ruòjīn’s collection says: “jìnshì Sà Tiānxī — zuì cháng yú qíng — liúlì qīngwǎn.” Reading his collection today confirms this. Yáng Yǔ’s Shānjū xīnyǔ corrects his gōngcí “Zǐyī xiǎoduì zhūzhū yǔ” and Jīngchéng chūnrì “yǐnmǎ yùgōu” lines as not knowing guózhì (the dynasty’s institutions) — the comment is right. But for the Líshān poem to err on lìzhī is not different from Dù Mù’s shīgé. The original collection was 8 juǎn; world rarely transmitted. Máo Jìn obtained another version and printed it, combining into 3 juǎn. Later got the Díbiàn Wángshì old version and made the un-included pieces into a 1-juǎn jíwài shī. So the collection is again complete. Among them the Chéngdōng guānxìnghuā one — now appears in Dàoyuán xuégǔ lù — clearly inserted in error. So the editing is also not very precise. But the 8-juǎn version is no longer obtainable, so we record this one. Máo’s bá also says there is the qiǎotí qīyán bājù bǎishǒu — a separate collection — regrettable that he had not seen it. From Máo’s time another century has passed — its survival is the more uncertain.
Abstract
The Yànmén jí is the principal monument of Sèmù literary culture in the late Yuán — a question complicated by the Sìkù tíyào’s own yí yǐ chuán yí note on whether Sà was Mongolian, Sèmù, or originally Hàn (Zhū-surnamed). The collection preserves Sà’s signature frontier, palace, and yǒngshǐ poems. The Qiánlóng-era name-substitution layer is dense (薩都剌 → 薩都拉; 思闌不花 → 薩拉布哈; 阿魯赤 → 傲拉齊) — extreme even by Sìkùguǎn standards and a useful witness to the systematic 1781 xīyīn (western-name) reform. Composition window: from Sà’s earliest documented compositions (post-1320) through his late career (probably c. 1359, by which date he disappears from the record).
Translations and research
- Yáng Lián 楊鐮. 1985. Sà-dū-lā shēng-píng kǎo-lùn 薩都剌生平考論 (and subsequent studies — the principal modern monograph).
- Yáng Lián. 2003. Yuán-shī shǐ.
- Stephen West and others on Yuán cí — Sà’s Jīn-líng huái-gǔ is canonical.
- Numerous Russian and Chinese-Soviet studies of Sè-mù literary production.
Other points of interest
The Qiánlóng-era ethnic-name substitutions documented in the tíyào (Sīlán bùhuā → Sàlābùhā; Ālǔchì → Àolāqí) are unparalleled in their density; this single tíyào entry contains three such corrections. The Chéngdōng guānxìnghuā mis-attribution from Yú Jí’s Dàoyuán xuégǔ lù is a recurring textual problem.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1212.5, p565.
- Wikipedia, 薩都剌