Lìzé yíyīn 麗則遺音
Surviving Notes of the Beautiful-and-Regulated by 楊維楨 (撰), edited by 陳存禮 (編)
About the work
A four-juǎn collection of 32 fù (rhapsodies) by Yáng Wéizhēn 楊維楨, edited by his disciple Chén Cúnlǐ 陳存禮 and cut in print at Qiántáng. Yáng’s Zhìzhèng 2 rénwǔ (1342) self-preface explains: these 32 fù are his examination sīnǐ (private practice) drafts from his early years preparing for the Yuán kējǔ (he passed the jìnshì in 1327, so the bulk of these fù date c. 1320–1326). The title Lìzé yíyīn invokes Yáng Xióng’s distinction in the Fǎyán: “Shīrén zhī fù lì yǐ zé; círén zhī fù lì yǐ yín” — “the poet’s fù is beautiful by rule; the rhetor’s fù is beautiful by license”. Yáng adopts the lìzé “beautiful-and-regulated” — the proper poet’s line — for the title, against the perceived decline since Sòng Yù and Sīmǎ Xiàngrú. The Sìkù compilers note that Yáng’s other biéjí (Dōngwéi zǐ jí KR4d0585 and Tiěyá wén jí) contain only three fù among them (the Tǔguī, Liánhuālóu, Jìlǐgǔ chē pieces); the bulk of Yáng’s fù production is uniquely preserved here. The collection also contains an appendix of 5 Jīngshān pú fù — the HóuGuǎng xiāngshì (HúGuǎng provincial-examination) topic of Zhìyuán yǐhài (1335), an Yuán-era model fù-set that Máo Jìn 毛晉 happened to acquire alongside the Lìzé yíyīn and appended to his Míng-末 re-cut.
Tiyao
Lìzé yíyīn, 4 juǎn. By Yáng Wéizhēn of the Yuán. Wéizhēn’s Dōngwéi zǐ jí does not contain his ancient fù; in the Tiěyá wén jí there are only three pieces — Tǔguī, Liánhuālóu, Jìlǐgǔ chē — and no other fù are reached. This collection has 32 fù, all his examination-period sīnǐ drafts of chéngshì (regular-examination) works, edited by Wéizhēn’s disciple Chén Cúnlǐ and cut in print at Qiántáng. Wéizhēn wrote a self-preface in Zhìzhèng 2 (1342). Later it gradually was lost and not transmitted. The Míng shǐ yìwén zhì lists Wéizhēn’s writings comprehensively but does not name this collection. At the end of the Míng, Máo Jìn of Chángshú happened to acquire one volume of the Yuán yǐhài class HúGuǎng provincial examination Jīngshān pú fù, and this collection was actually appended at the back of that volume; Máo first re-cut it for circulation. The five Jīngshān pú fù are also appended at the back to preserve the old form. The Yuán dynasty set up the kē by the regulation of gǔfù; the practice had been running long and piāoqiè xiāngréng (mutual plagiarism). In the last years this was especially severe. Pieces like Liú Jī’s Lónghǔ tái fù, taken as masterworks of chǎngwū (the examination hall) and passed around in his day, are one in a hundred. Wéizhēn’s talent and force are bountiful and vigorous — the air of huífēng chí tíngjī (whirlwind racing the lightning-strike) sub-bows to the rules of the examination authorities; the gélǜ (rule and law) is not changed but his shéncǎi (spirit and color) is distinctly different. To compare them with shīrén fù — though not easy to say — yet within examination prose they may be said to be juǎnshū fēngyún tǔnà zhūyù (scrolling-spreading wind-cloud, spitting-and-swallowing pearl-jade). Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng forty-sixth (1781), twelfth month. Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; head proofreader: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Lìzé yíyīn is the unique surviving witness of Yáng Wéizhēn’s fù output. Although these are examination-preparation pieces from before his 1327 jìnshì-passing, the Sìkù compilers explicitly judge them as transcending the conventional Yuán-era chǎngwū fù — even where Yáng obeys the form, his spirit and color are markedly different. The collection is therefore an important documentary anchor for Yuán-era examination fù practice and for the question of how literary individuality can register within a heavily-constrained generic form. The 1342 self-preface contains an explicit programmatic statement of Yáng’s fù poetics — invoking Yáng Xióng’s Fǎyán and the Shīrén line — and is a major mid-Yuán literary-critical text in its own right. The transmission history — lost in independent transmission, re-found by Máo Jìn at the end of the Míng appended to a Yuán examination-model volume — is one of the better-documented Yuán-era recovery cases.
The appended five Jīngshān pú fù — by various 1335 HúGuǎng candidates — are a significant supplementary documentary anchor for Yuán kējǔ practice, preserving the actual student responses to an officially set topic.
Composition window: from c. 1320 (Yáng’s examination preparation begins) through to c. 1326 (just before his 1327 jìnshì passing); the Zhìzhèng 2 (1342) preface dates the editorial recension.
Translations and research
- The collection is a principal source for studies of Yuán-era examination fù: see Chinese-language studies of Yuán kējǔ practice.
- Yáng Wéizhēn’s fù poetics and its relation to his yuèfǔ manner is treated in studies of Yuán literary criticism.
Other points of interest
- The 1342 self-preface is one of the better-known mid-Yuán statements of shīrén (poet’s) versus círén (rhetor’s) fù — Yáng Xióng’s Fǎyán distinction taken explicitly as the model for Yuán fù practice.
- The appended Jīngshān pú fù (5 pieces by various 1335 HúGuǎng candidates) is a documentary anchor for actual Yuán examination fù student responses.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1222.3, p145.