Bùxìzhōu yú jí 不繫舟漁集
The Untethered-Boat-Fisherman Collection by 陳高 (撰)
About the work
A 15-juǎn + 1 juǎn fùlù collection of Chén Gāo 陳高 (1315–1367), zì Zǐshàng. Zhìzhèng 14 (1354) jìnshì; abandoned office; wandered through Fújiàn and Zhèjiāng as the war years arrived; in 1356 sailed to Shāndōng to consult with the Yuán-loyalist Hénánwáng Kuòkuòtièmùěr (Köke Temür; Qiánlóng Kùkùtèmùěr) at Huáiqìng on Jiāngnán strategy — discussed secretly — Kuòkuòtièmùěr wanted to appoint him; Chén fell ill and died. Sòng Bóhéng 蘇伯衡 in early Hóngwǔ assembled the yíjí as Zǐshàng cúngǎo 子上存稿; an unknown later re-titler renamed it Bùxìzhōu yú jí after Chén’s self-style. The title-confusion warning at the tíyào’s end is important: a different Yuán monk Zǔ Bǎi 祖柏 also had a Bùxìzhōu jí (per Gù Sìlì’s Yuánshī xuǎn); these are different works.
Tiyao
Bùxìzhōu yú jí, 15 juǎn + 1 juǎn fùlù. By Chén Gāo of the Yuán. Gāo zì Zǐshàng, a Wēnzhōu Píngyáng man. Zhìzhèng 14 (1354) jìnshì. Appointed Qìngyuánlù lùshì. Within 3 years self-dismissed. Píngyáng fell — abandoned wife and children — wandered between MǐnZhè. Zhìzhèng 16 (1356) — sailed to Shāndōng — visited Hénánwáng Kùkùtèmùěr (Yuán Kuòkuòtièmùěr; here corrected) at Huáiqìng — mì lùn Jiāngnán xūshí. Kùkùtèmùěr wanted to appoint him — huì jí zuò zú (he fell ill and died). Indeed at guózuò ānwēi (national-fortune-crisis) time still lìmóu kuāngfù (forcefully plotting recovery). Míng Tàizǔ called Wáng-bǎo-bao zhēn nánzǐ (= Kùkùtèmùěr). Like Gāo, although the matter did not succeed, his zhì yì bùkuì Wáng-Bǎo-bao yǐ — not merely shī zhī zúchuán (verse worth transmitting). Míng Hóngwǔ early — Sòng Bóhéng came looking for the yíjí — ordering and arranging into one biān — titled Zǐshàng cúngǎo. This version is titled Bùxìzhōu yú jí — unknown by whom changed. Wéngé pō yǎjié (prose-style rather elegant and clean); his verse — only qīyán gǔtǐ bù shànchǎng (not his strength); juéjù also bù shèn jīngyì (not too painstaking). His wǔyán gǔtǐ — derived from Táo Qián 陶潛; jìntǐ lǜshī — followed Dù Fǔ — miànmù shāo bié, ér shénsī bù yuǎn — also a zhēngzhēng (chiming-sharp) one among Yuán-end men. Yuán also had Jiādìng monk Zǔ Bǎi — his shī also called Bùxìzhōu jí — see Gù Sìlì’s Yuánshī xuǎn. The collection has Tí Ní Zàn Zhīxiù tú shī — so contemporary with Chén Gāo. However his verse is bùjí Gāo yuǎn shèn (greatly inferior to Chén Gāo’s). Now we cannot see his version — because of name-similarity confusion-risk — attach its difference here so future readers will not be confused. Respectfully collated.
Abstract
Bùxìzhōu yú jí preserves the principal monument of a late-Yuán Píngyáng loyalist — Chén Gāo’s zhōngyú trip to consult with Köke Temür on Jiāngnán strategy + his early death — places him in the late-Yuán Yuán-loyalist tradition alongside Liú Rénběn KR4d0541. The Sòng-Bó-héng-edited Hóng-wǔ-era arrangement makes this an unusually early-Míng-transition biéjí. Stylistic line: Táo Qián in wǔyán gǔtǐ, Dù Fǔ in jìntǐ — a high-canonical orientation. The Qiánlóng-era name correction (擴廓鐵木兒 → 庫庫特穆爾) is preserved. Composition window: from earliest preserved compositions (c. 1335) to 1367.
Translations and research
- Yáng Lián. 2003. Yuán-shī shǐ.
- John W. Dardess. Conquerors and Confucians. — Treats Chén Gāo within late-Yuán loyalist literary circles.
Other points of interest
The naming-confusion warning between Chén Gāo’s Bùxìzhōu yú jí and the Yuán monk Zǔ Bǎi’s similarly-titled Bùxìzhōu jí is preserved in the Sìkù tíyào — a useful editorial caution.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1216.2, p121.