Jìngsī jí 靜思集
Quiet-Thought Collection by 郭鈺 (撰)
About the work
A ten-juǎn poetry collection by Guō Yù 郭鈺 (sobriquet Jìngsī, “Quiet Thought”), a late-Yuán / early-Míng Jíshuǐ literatus and recluse, who refused both late-Yuán service and the Hóngwǔ 4 (1371) summons as xiùcái. The collection’s two prefaces — by Luó Dàyǐ 羅大已 (style-name Bógāng) of Lúlíng dated Hóngwǔ 2 jǐyǒu = 1369, and by the much later Luó Hóngxiān 羅洪先 (the eminent Jiājìng-era zhuàngyuán-statesman of Jíshuǐ) dated Jiājìng 40 xīnyǒu = 1561 — anchor the work as a YuánMíng transition record privately preserved by the Guō family for nearly two centuries before its first print. The text is organized poorly: the tíyào notes that Guō’s eighth-generation grand-nephew Tíngzhāo 廷昭, who arranged the print, “did not know the method of editorial ordering, so the front and back are mixed up without any yìlì (organizational principle)“. The Sìkù compilers explicitly preserve this disorder rather than re-collating.
Tiyao
Jìngsī jí, 10 juǎn. By Guō Yù of the Yuán. Yù, style-name Yànzhāng, was a man of Jíshuǐ. The Jiāngxī tōngzhì says of him: in the late Yuán he met the disorder and lived in seclusion without service; in the early Míng he was summoned as màocái but declined on illness and did not go. The collection’s opening has Luó Dàyǐ of Lúlíng’s preface of Hóngwǔ 2 (1369), which also says he had statesman-and-economic talent and could keep himself. Now examining: the collection contains the piece “In autumn xīnhài the edict raised xiùcái. I, being deaf-eared and lame-footed, was pressed by the county office contrary to my intent — therefore I composed this short verse.” Xīnhài is Hóngwǔ 4 (1371) — two years after the xù. So “could keep himself” is indeed true. Also: in the “Guǐchǒu first month” poem there is “blind-and-ruined, weary of labelling new cyclical years; drunk now, I prattle of the old mountains and rivers; the Zhēn-yuán-era courtmen — who now remains? — the Dōng-guō先生 every time pities himself”. So his not-forgetting-the-old-country and resistant-walking chants — his determination is evident in outline. Also: “Yǐmǎo new-year sixtieth birthday poem” — so he had been in the Míng eight years by then. To trace his life: largely tossed about in warfare, displaced on the road, eye-witness to the imperilment of the times — so his chants are often full of bitter-grieving language. Pieces like Bēi Lúlíng “Mourning Lúlíng” and Bēi Wǔchāng “Mourning Wǔchāng” are forthright and fervent. On the late-Yuán bandit destruction of prefectural towns, he speaks with documented certainty — particularly able to supplement what is missing from the standard histories. His left collection was kept in the family. In the Jiājìng era Luó Hóngxiān first wrote a preface and circulated it, but his grandson Tíngzhāo and others did not know the method of editorial ordering: front and back are mixed up without any organizational principle. Since it has long circulated thus, we now also preserve it in its old form. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng forty-sixth (1781), tenth month. Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; head proofreader: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Jìngsī jí is a major late-Yuán warfare witness, anchored by Guō Yù’s named Bēi Lúlíng and Bēi Wǔchāng pieces — both treating the destruction of major Jiāngxī cities by the Red Turban armies in the early 1350s. The tíyào compilers explicitly commend it as a supplementary historical source. Composition window: from the early 1350s (the Lúlíng / Wǔchāng destruction) through to the late 1370s / early 1380s (the yǐmǎo sixtieth-birthday poem of 1375 is the latest secure date). Two firm dating anchors in the tíyào’s argument: xīnhài (1371) for the refusal of summons; guǐchǒu (1373) for the cyclical-year yílǎo practice; yǐmǎo (1375) for the sixtieth birthday — implying birth in bǐngchén = 1316 (CBDB id 35122 also gives 1316). The Luó Hóngxiān preface of 1561 is a major piece of mid-Míng Yangming-school recovery work; Luó identifies Guō as a member of his own ancestral kin-network and frames the Jìngsī jí as a moral document. The chain of editorial transmission (Guō family private → Tíngzhāo with Luó Hóngxiān’s prefacing → Míng print → Sìkù WYG) is intact.
Translations and research
- The Bēi Lú-líng / Bēi Wǔ-chāng pieces are routinely cited in studies of late-Yuán Jiāngxī warfare; see e.g. John Dardess on the Red Turban armies and the destruction of Jiāngxī cities in the 1350s.
- Luó Hóng-xiān’s preface is treated in studies of mid-Míng Yangming-school recovery work on Yuán yílǎo texts.
- No substantial Western-language dedicated treatment located.
Other points of interest
- The Sìkù compilers’ deliberate preservation of the poorly ordered editorial sequence is unusual and is a useful documentary case for understanding their conservative stance on inherited bad editing.
- The Guō family Confucian lineage (Liú Zǐchéng → Guō Línjiàn → Xīchuāng → Dīxī → Guō Yù) is a useful regional-lineage anchor for Lúlíng Zhū Xī learning in the late Yuán.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1219.4, p155.