Wénguòzhāi jí 聞過齋集
Collection of the Studio for Hearing One’s Faults by 吳海 (撰), edited by 王偁 (編)
About the work
An eight-juǎn prose-and-verse collection by Wú Hǎi 吳海, a Fújiàn loyalist recluse who declined Yuán and Míng service. The contents are heavily skewed to prose: juǎn 1–2 are xù (prefaces, mostly to family genealogies and academy postings); juǎn 3–4 are jì (records of buildings, studios, and excursions); juǎn 5 is funerary prose; juǎn 6 is letters and āicí / zhuàn (laments and biographies); juǎn 7 is zhēnmíngtíbázàn (admonitions, inscriptions, colophons, eulogies); and juǎn 8 is zázhù and jìwén (miscellaneous and sacrificial pieces). The original preface is by Xú Qǐ 徐起, dated xīnsì 辛巳 (1401) at Yǒngjiā. The collection was assembled by Wú’s student Wáng Chēng 王偁 (the son of Wáng Hàn) and printed under the patronage of Hú Bóníng 胡伯寧 (a sub-prefect of salt transport at Mǐn) and Ruì Zhìwén 芮志文 (Jiànníng prefect).
Tiyao
Wénguòzhāi jí, 8 juǎn. By Wú Hǎi of the Yuán. Hǎi, style-name Cháozōng, was a man of Mǐn County. In the late Zhìzhèng era he was caught in the disorders of war and abandoned all thought of office. In the early Hóngwǔ a shǒuchén (local supervising official) wished to recommend him to court; he firmly declined and was excused. Then he was summoned to the Shǐjú; he again firmly declined and did not go. His career is in the Míngshǐ, yǐnyì zhuàn. This collection was edited by his disciple Wáng Chēng. In the beginning Hǎi was on friendly terms with Wáng Hàn of Yǒngfú. After the Yuán fell, since Hàn had served the Yuán, Hǎi urged him to die in keeping with his moral debt, and himself raised Hàn’s orphan to maturity — namely Chēng. The Shǐ records that his prose is yánzhěng diǎnyǎ (grave-and-disciplined, elegant), all returning to lǐ (principle). It further records that Hǎi once said: “YángMò, Buddhism and Daoism are robbers of the Sage’s Way; GuǎnShāngShēnHán are robbers of the Way of governance; bàiguān and yěchéng (apocryphal histories) are robbers of the Way of historiography; mannered zhīcí yànshuō (digressive ornate stuff) are robbers of literature. Those above should command Classically-erudite high officers to gather the zhūrú and fix [orthodox] categories, promulgate them to the realm: ordinary households shall not possess these, and bookstalls shall not sell them” — etc. Though this argument is somewhat chivalric and falls short of the ancients’ jiānzī bókǎo (broad-spectrum inquiry) ideal, the rectitude of his orientation is herein visible. Concerning the studio name Wénguò (Hearing One’s Faults): Hǎi was throughout his life of xūhuái lèshàn (open-mindedly loving the good); when someone admonished him for an error he would gladly stand corrected at once, and so named his studio “Wénguò”. Chēng took this name for the collection as well. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng forty-first (1776), fifth month. Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; head proofreader: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Wénguòzhāi jí is the principal documentary monument of the Fújiàn loyalist recluse cohort in the YuánMíng transition. Wú Hǎi’s Yǒushí shānrén mùzhìmíng and Yǒushí xiānsheng zhuàn (in juǎn 5 and 6 respectively) are the standard testimonies for the biography of Wáng Hàn 王翰 — see KR4d0551 — and the Mǐn guǎfù zhuàn “Biography of a Mǐn widow” is another widely-cited piece. The opening preface dating (1401, Yǒngjiā) places the print recension in the early Yǒnglè era, fifteen years after Wú’s own death (per Xú Qǐ’s preface). The catalog meta gives Wú as fl. 1367; his deathdate is presumably c. 1385–1390 from the print-preface count. Wú’s polemic against doctrinal pluralism, quoted at length by the tíyào, is one of the more striking statements of late-Yuán literary purism. The work is also a major source for late-Yuán Fújiàn local society — many of the jì describe specific Fúzhōu-area buildings and academies. Wú’s reception of Wáng Chēng 王偁 as orphan-student is the documentary anchor for Wáng Chēng’s later editorial career (see KR4d0551).
Translations and research
- John Dardess and others have used Wú’s polemical statement as a documentary anchor for late-Yuán literary orthodoxy debates.
- Treated in Chinese-language studies of the Yuán-Míng transition in Fújiàn (e.g. work on Chén Yǒu-dìng).
Other points of interest
The Mǐn guǎfù zhuàn “Biography of a Mǐn widow” is widely cited in studies of late-Yuán Fújiàn gender history.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1217.3, p143.