Yīshān wénjí 一山文集
Collected Prose of One-Mountain by 李繼本 (撰), edited by 李伸 (編)
About the work
A nine-juǎn prose-and-verse collection by Lǐ Jìběn 李繼本 (sobriquet Yīshān 一山), a northern-China literatus who passed the Yuán Zhìzhèng dīngyǒu (1357) jìnshì but withdrew from office during the late-Yuán collapse and survived into the Míng. The collection follows the standard biéjí arrangement: juǎn 1 fù and old-style verse; juǎn 2 regulated verse and absolutes (5/6/7-character); juǎn 3–4 xù; juǎn 5 jì; juǎn 6 zhuàn; juǎn 7 wén / zàn / cí; juǎn 8 shū / shuō; juǎn 9 zázhù. A dǎoyǔ wén (rain-prayer text) for the magistrate of Xióngxiàn dates to Hóngwǔ 27 (1394), proving Lǐ was still active deep into the Hóngwǔ era. The collection’s two prefaces — by Lǐ Mǐn 李敏 (his student) and Lí Gōngyǐng 黎公穎 of Hòuguān (Jǐngtài guǐyǒu = 1453) — anchor two distinct editorial campaigns: the first by Lǐ’s sons Fāngshǔ and Fāngxù, the second by his grandson Lǐ Shēn 伸 (the named biān here, who served as jiàoyù of Róngchéng).
Tiyao
Yīshān wénjí, 9 juǎn. By Lǐ Jìběn of the Yuán. Jìběn’s given name was Yánxīng; he used his style-name in life. A man of Dōngān, registered at Běipíng, he passed the Zhìzhèng dīngyǒu (1357) jìnshì, appointed Tàicháng fènglǐ concurrent with Hànlín jiǎntǎo. Examining his dǎoyǔ wén for Xióngxiàn — which mentions Hóngwǔ 27 (1394) — the man was thus still alive in the early Míng. The front of the collection has a preface by Lǐ Mǐn saying that it was compiled by his (Jìběn’s) sons Fāngshǔ and Fāngxù; the Jǐng-tài-era preface by Lí Gōngyǐng says it was edited by his grandson, the Róngchéng jiàoyù Shēn — the meaning evidently being that father and son carried out the work in succession. Zhū Yízūn’s Míngshī zōng gathered material most fully but did not include this collection — presumably because Jìběn did not serve the Míng, on the same example as Yáng Wéizhēn’s omission. Gù Sìlì’s Yuán bǎijiā shī xuǎn also failed to take it in: probably its circulation was rather narrow, and Sìlì did not happen to see it. His verse and prose are strong, expansive, and supple, holding to the ancients’ norms — in the late-Yuán generation rather distinguished. His long-form gē is bold and free, particularly his strong suit. Among them are pieces aiming at Lǐ Bái but lapsing into a Lú Tóng or Mǎ Yì register — but a failing in striving high is preferable to a failing in flabby unrising. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng forty-first (1776), twelfth month. Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; head proofreader: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Yīshān wénjí is one of the better preserved late-Yuán northern-Chinese biéjí, transmitted only because two generations of the author’s descendants invested in its compilation and printing. The tíyào compilers note its exclusion from Zhū Yízūn’s Míng shī zōng (1705), made on the principle of Lǐ Jìběn’s non-service to the Míng; the Sìkù itself includes it under Yuán biéjí. Composition window: the jìnshì passing year of 1357 sets the firm earliest reach; the Hóngwǔ 27 (1394) dǎoyǔ wén is a hard latest fact, so the collection’s compositional span runs at least from 1357 to 1394. Lǐ Jìběn is one of the most under-studied late-Yuán northern figures; his father Lǐ Yánwén / zì Shìzhān had been a Hànlín xuéshì chéngzhǐ under the Yuán. The collection is therefore a major documentary anchor for the family’s place in late-Yuán metropolitan official culture and for the post-1368 reception of these careers under the early Míng.
Translations and research
- Lǐ Jì-běn rarely treated independently. The Lǐ family’s transition is part of the broader question of north-China Yuán jìnshì-elites’ fate under the Míng — see Edward Farmer, Early Ming Government; and various Chinese-language treatments of the late-Yuán Yānjīng literary circle.
- No substantial dedicated Western-language secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
- The preserved 1394 dǎoyǔ wén situates Lǐ in Xióngxiàn (Hébĕi) as a non-official ritual-text author for a county magistrate, a useful illustration of an “old Yuán jìnshì” continuing to function as a local literary resource without serving the new dynasty.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1217.10, p685.