Jīngjì wénjí 經濟文集
The Statecraft Prose Collection by 李士瞻 (撰), edited by 李伸 (編)
About the work
A 6-juǎn collected works of Lǐ Shìzhān 李士瞻 (1313–1367), enfeoffed Chǔguógōng and ending as Hànlín xuéshì chéngzhǐ. Edited by his great-grandson Lǐ Shēn 李伸. The collection is weighted toward correspondence-letters (jiǎnzhá) — 70+ of them, “jǐ jū quánjí zhī bàn” (nearly half the collection). The principal contribution of the collection is documentation of late-Yuán court affairs: indecisive policies, military mistakes, fānchén báhù (regional military men growing autonomous) — Shùndì shíshì fills the gaps of the Yuánshǐ, which is itself unusually thin on the Shùndì reign.
Tiyao
Jīngjì wénjí, 6 juǎn. By Lǐ Shìzhān of the Yuán. Shìzhān zì Yànwén. Family seat Xīnyě, relocated to Jīngmén. Zhì-zhèng-era jìnshì by the Dàdūlù roll. Zhōngshū called him to fill yòusī yuán; appointed Xíngbù zhǔshì. Rose sequentially to Hùbù shàngshū, went out to direct Fújiàn hǎicáo; appointed xíngshěng zuǒchéng; called back as cānzhī zhèngshì; transferred Shūmì fùshǐ; appointed Hànlín xuéshì chéngzhǐ; enfeoffed Chǔguógōng; died Zhìzhèng 27 (1367). The Yuánshǐ does not establish a biography for him; only the Shùndì běnjì records his Zhìzhèng 22 (1362) memorial as Shūmì fùshǐ — jí yán shízhèng — fán èrshí shì — jùliè qí mù — broadly the jíwù (urgent affairs) of the time — also a dǎngzhí (forthright) man. The collection edited by his great-grandson Shēn begins at Yòusī yuán and ends at fèngshǐ Mǐnzhōng — therefore the Yuánshǐ-recorded shízhèng shū is not in it. But the wǎnglái jiǎnzhá recorded reach 70+ — jǐ jū quánjí zhī bàn (nearly half the collection). Although mostly yīshí chóudā (just acknowledgments of the day), the cháozhèng zhī gūxī (court-policy’s gūxī = quietude/indecision), the bīngshì zhī guāifāng (military affairs’ guāifāng = mistakes), the fānchén zhī báhù (regional military men’s báhù = autonomy) — much can be inferred. His míféng kuāngjiù, wěiqū zhōuxuán, quánquán yōuguó zhī chén (saving-the-disease, devoted-to-the-state heart) — also not below the shízhèng shū. The Yuánshǐ on Shùndì shíshì is zuì chēng shūlüè (called most thinly recorded); preserving this one collection is shēn zú wèi kǎozhèng zhī zhù (deeply supplies the help for kǎozhèng) — not merely for the prose. Respectfully collated.
Abstract
Jīngjì wénjí is the principal documentary source for the late-Zhì-zhèng court — the Yuánshǐ Shùndì běnjì being itself unusually thin. The 70+ correspondence-letters describe military, administrative, and policy debates from the last decade of the dynasty as seen by a deputy Shūmìyuàn officer. The collection’s title “Jīngjì” (Statecraft) — used in the broad pre-modern sense of “regulating the times” — is fitting; the collection is more administrative-historical than literary. Composition window: from Lǐ’s earliest documented compositions (c. 1340, after the jìnshì) to his 1367 death.
Translations and research
- Yáng Lián. 2003. Yuán-shī shǐ.
- John W. Dardess. Conquerors and Confucians.
Other points of interest
The fact that the catalog meta and the Sìkù tíyào both identify jiǎnzhá (correspondence) as nearly half the collection makes it an unusually pure shūzhá source for late-Yuán political history.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1214.4, p433.