夷白齋稿

Yíbáizhāi gǎo 夷白齋稿

Drafts of the Yíbái Studio by 陳基 (撰), compiled by 戴良 (in the SBCK source; not listed in WYG persons)

About the work

A thirty-five-juǎn prose-and-verse collection of Chén Jī 陳基 (1314–1370), the principal disciple of the mid-Yuán prose master Huáng Jìn 黃溍. 454 pieces in all. The collection was compiled by Chén’s fellow HuángJìn disciple Dài Liáng 戴良 (see KR4d0569) in Zhìzhèng 24 jiǎchén (1364) summer. Dài Liáng’s preface is one of the most ambitious mid-Yuán literary-historical statements, structuring the entire long arc from Zhōu (with the decline of the shèngrén zhī yíyán) through Hàn (Dǒng Zhòngshū, Sīmǎ Qiān, Yáng Xióng, Liú Xiàng) → Hán Yù under Táng → LiúYángŌuyáng under Sòng → and finally the four great mid-Yuán prose masters Yú Jí 虞集 (Shǔjùn), Jiē Xīsī 揭傒斯 (Yùzhāng), Liǔ Guàn 柳貫 (Jīnhuá), Huáng Jìn 黃溍 (Jīnhuá) — the “YúJiēLiǔHuáng” tetrad — as the climax of pre-late-Yuán Chinese letters. Chén Jī is positioned as the principal heir to this tetrad through Huáng Jìn’s direct teaching, supplemented by Yú Jí, Jiē Xīsī, and Liǔ Guàn’s later mentorship.

The contents are extensive: juǎn 1 fù and yuèfǔ; juǎn 2 gǔshī four-character; juǎn 2–4 gǔshī five-character (with substantial travel sequences — Wúmén → Dàjiāng → Lángshān → Tōngzhōu → Rúgāo → Tàizhōu → Gāoyóu → Huái’ān, all dating to Chén’s Hóngwǔ-era duty as Yuán official under Zhāng Shìchéng); juǎn 5–6 gǔshī seven-character and záyán; juǎn 6 lǜshī wǔyán; juǎn 7–10 lǜshī qīyán (extensive huìhé and presentational verse from his Yuán court / Wúwáng court career); juǎn 11 chánglǜ; liánjù; juéjù; sāo; juǎn 12–13 sòng / míng / zhēn / zàn / záyī; juǎn 14–22 xù; juǎn 23–31 jì; juǎn 32 tíbá; juǎn 33 bēi / mùzhì míng / mùbiǎo; juǎn 34 zhuàn; juǎn 35 jì wén. The collection’s documentary load is unusually wide for the Zhāng Shì-chéng-era southeast: many xù are commissioned for persons named in Tàiwèifǔ / nèishǐ roles.

Tiyao

(The WYG SKQS edition’s compiler tíyào is not in the SBCK source. The Dài Liáng preface — text fully preserved in our source — is the most authoritative mid-Yuán statement on Chén’s place in literary history. The full preface text runs from “Shìdào yǒu shūjiàng, fēngqì yǒu shèngshuāi, ér wényùn suí zhī” — “The fortunes of the times have decline and surge, the climate has prosperity and decay, and the fortune of writing follows them” — through the Zhōu → Hàn → Táng → Sòng → Yuán four-cycle history, identifying YúJiēLiǔHuáng as the mid-Yuán climax. After Yú Jí etc.’s deaths, Wēi Sù 危素 alone remained at court — and now Chén Jī, in jiǎchén 1364, was the surviving voice. Dài Liáng records Chén’s career: Wú→YānZhào→capital→back to Wú→ Zhāng Shìchéng’s Wúwáng court → shūmìyuàn dūshì → chángshěng mùyuán → Tàiwèifǔ cānjūn → nèishǐ. Note: “Wǒ Wúwáng” — Zhāng Shìchéng — is named with the same possessive vocative (“our”) that legitimist Yuán-historical writing reserves for the legitimate dynastic court. This dating is significant: by 1364 Dài Liáng could still write of Zhāng Shìchéng with the wǒwáng honorific. By the time the Sìkù was compiled (1781), this would have been politically very awkward.)

Abstract

Yíbáizhāi gǎo is one of the most documentary-loaded biéjí of the late Yuán, with two distinct registers: (1) the standard mid-Yuán Hànlín-circle prose ascending to the YúJiēLiǔHuáng tetrad, with Chén as principal heir; and (2) the late-Yuán Zhāng Shìchéng / Wúwáng court documents, which preserve much information about the actual administrative operations of the major late-Yuán warlord regime at Sūzhōu. The Dài Liáng preface is one of the most important late-Yuán literary-historical statements, and is widely cited in studies of Yuán literary historiography.

Composition window: from c. 1335 (Chén’s early maturity at the Huáng Jìn school) through to Zhìzhèng 24 (1364, the compilation date). The Wúwáng / Tàiwèifǔ documents largely date to the late Zhìzhèng era (1356–64), when Zhāng Shìchéng had consolidated southeast rule. Chén Jī’s role as nèishǐ under Zhāng makes him a major Yuán-loyalist figure who participated in the Sūzhōu warlord regime — a complicated political position the Sìkù compilers preserve under “Yuán” rather than “Wú” or “Míng”.

Translations and research

• The Dài Liáng preface is widely cited in studies of mid-Yuán literary historiography: see Ronald Egan’s work on Yuán poetics, John Dardess on the Wú-wáng court.
• The Chén Jī / Wú-wáng (Zhāng Shì-chéng) documents have been treated as primary source by John Dardess and others on the late-Yuán warlord regimes.
• No dedicated Western-language monograph on Chén Jī located.

Other points of interest

• The preserved 1364 Dài Liáng preface’s Wǒ Wúwáng honorific reference to Zhāng Shìchéng is one of the more politically charged usages preserved into the Sìkù.
• The travel sequence (Wúmén → Dàjiāng → Tōngzhōu → … → Huái’ān) anchors a documented Yuán-official maritime / canal itinerary in 1352–53 (癸丣 guǐsì in the juǎn 6 dating = 1353).
• Chén’s role as Huáng Jìn → Dài Liáng pair-disciple is significant for Jīnhuá Yuán-period literary lineage.

Links

• WYG SKQS V1222.4, p181.
• SBCK SB12n745.