Yǐshù shī xuǎn 蟻術詩選
Selected Verse of the Ant-Art Studio by 邵亨貞 (撰)
About the work
An eight-juǎn poetic anthology of Shào Hēngzhēn 邵亨貞 (1309–1401) of Yúnjiān (Sōngjiāng) — the longest-lived major literary figure of the YuánMíng transition. (The catalog meta writes the surname as 邵亭貞 — a transcriptional slip for 邵亨貞; CBDB id 35473 and the SBCK source give 邵亨貞.) The collection’s organization is by form: juǎn 1 wǔyán gǔfēng; juǎn 2 wǔyán chánglǜ; juǎn 3 wǔyán duǎnlǜ; juǎn 4 qīyán gǔfēng; juǎn 5 qīyán páilǜ; juǎn 6 qīyán bājù; juǎn 7 qīyán juéjù; juǎn 8 huìhé liánjù (joint compositions on social occasions). The accompanying Yǐshù cí xuǎn 蟻術詞選 — 4 juǎn of cí (ranging from short lìng through long màn including imitations of Sòng masters Zhāng Yán, Wú Wényīng, Liú Guò, Yuán Hǎowèn, Jiāng Kuí etc.) — is a separate text preserved in the SBCK with the same source-id family.
Shào’s titles routinely date themselves to internal cyclical years. The earliest substantive cluster is Zhìzhèng gēngchén (1340) and the latest cluster includes gēngxū (1370 — the year of Yáng Wéizhēn’s death; Shào’s Hé Yáng Tiěyá Cáoyuán gǎnhuái yùn “Responding to Yáng Tiěyá’s Cáo Garden Feeling Sorrow rhyme” is in juǎn 6) and jiǎyín (1374). His son was once imprisoned in Wùshēn zhòngdōng (1368, the founding year of the Hóngwǔ); Shào travelled to plead for him to Shíchéng (Nánjīng) — a journey documented in poetic itinerary across Diànhú, Wúmén, Xīn’ānzhèn, Shāhú, Yìxīng, QiánMǎzhèn, Lìyáng, Qīlǐshān, Fēnjièshān, Guāntáng, BáiFǔjūn miào, Xiètínggāng, Qīnggěng, Jīnlíng. This sequence is one of the better-documented late-Yuán / early-Míng overland travel poems.
Tiyao
(The WYG SKQS edition is not in the SBCK source; the SBCK source is the source-text of the KR4d0588 entry. The Sìkù compilers’ tíyào for the corresponding work, if any, is therefore separate. The biographical and editorial details from the source’s preserved internal evidence are summarized above.)
Abstract
Yǐshù shī xuǎn is the principal monument of Shào Hēngzhēn’s poetic output and one of the most substantial extant late-Yuán Sōngjiāng (Yúnjiān) biéjí. The collection is unusually rich in social documentation: Shào is the consistent participant-recorder in Sōngjiāng / Yúnjiān literary gatherings across forty years (c. 1335–1374), composing for and receiving from virtually all the late-Yuán Yúnjiān literary figures — Cáo Zhībái 曹知白 (Yúnxī, the major painter), Sūn Guǒyù 孫果育, Wèi Lìlǐ 衛立禮, Yáng Wéizhēn 楊維楨 (KR4d0585), Ní Zàn 倪瓚 (KR4d0575 KR4d0576), Cáo Yòuwén 曹幼文 (Cáo Zhībái’s grandson), Cáo Ānyǎ 曹安雅, Qián Wéishàn 錢惟善 (KR4d0560, Sīfù), Wáng Yuánzhāng 王元章 (Wáng Miǎn, the Mòméi painter), Mǎ Wénbì 馬文璧 (painter), Mǎ Yuǎn 馬遠 (in tíhuà), Xiè Yìngfāng 謝應芳 (KR4d0561). The huìhé liánjù (juǎn 8) is a documented Zhìzhèng changes — Zhìzhèng gǎiyuán (1341) — Shào and Qián Nánjīn 錢南金 (Wéishàn) compose a 40-rhyme liánjù recording their three months in Hángzhōu (Hǔlín) and Qián Wéishàn’s jiàoshòu posting at Hǎiyán. Composition window: from c. 1330 (early maturity) through to the early Hóngwǔ era (1374+); a few late cí pieces extend to c. 1400. Shào died at 92 in the late Hóngwǔ era — making him one of the most consequential bridge-figures between Yuán and Míng literary culture.
Translations and research
- The Yúnjiān late-Yuán / early-Míng literary network is treated in Chinese-language scholarship: see studies on Cáo Zhī-bái and Sōngjiāng painting; on Yáng Wéizhēn’s Sōngjiāng circle.
- Shào Hēngzhēn’s cí is treated in studies of late-Yuán cí revival — alongside Zhāng Yǔ, Yáng Wéizhēn, Liú Yīn etc.
- No substantial dedicated Western-language treatment located.
Other points of interest
- The 1368 itinerary (Wùshēn zhòngdōng son-imprisonment and Shào’s plea-journey to Nánjīng) is a documented anchor for early-Míng family relations under Hóngwǔ-era penal politics.
- The accompanying Yǐshù cí xuǎn (4 juǎn) contains substantial systematic nǐgǔ (imitations of the masters) exercises — particularly important for the history of Yuán cí reception of Sòng masters.
Links
- SBCK SB34n457 (蟻術詩選) and SB12n775/776 (蟻術詞選).