Kěxián lǎorén jí 可閒老人集
Collection of the Old Man Who Can Be At Ease by 張昱 (撰)
About the work
A four-juǎn poetry collection of Zhāng Yù 張昱 (1289–1371), style-name Guāngbì, originally Yīxiào jūshì (“One-Laugh Gentleman”) and later Kěxián lǎorén — the sobriquet derived from the Míng Tàizǔ’s words “Kě xián” (“You may take ease”) at his audience. Zhāng was a late-Yuán military staff officer under Yáng Wàngzhālè 楊旺扎勒 (the Yuán Zhèjiāng pacifier), with substantial battlefield experience documented in the collection. The text’s original drafts were largely lost. Yáng Shìqí 楊士奇 (the early-Míng grand secretary) recovered fragments from the gěishìzhōng Xià Shí 夏時 and arranged the Zhèngtǒng 1 (1436) print through Zhāng Yù’s wàisūn (daughter’s son) Shí Chāng 時昌, then Fúliáng xiàn chéng. Yáng Shìqí’s preface — preserved in the source — anchors the print to 1436 and the textual archaeology to that effort. The Sìkù compilers note that the same text was later (Kángxī era) acquired by Jīn Kǎn 金侃 from the Máo Jìn family library and re-titled Lúlíng jí, with Jīn Kǎn adding àn annotations; the Lúlíng jí is a copy of this collection, not a separate work.
Tiyao
Kěxián lǎorén jí, 4 juǎn. By Zhāng Yù of the Yuán. Yù, style-name Guāngbì, self-styled Yīxiào jūshì, was a man of Lúlíng. In the late Yuán, the zuǒchéng Yáng Wàngzhālè (the original text writes Yáng Wánzhě; now corrected) was pacifying Zhèjiāng; Yù was cānmóu jūnfǔ, rose to Zuǒyòu sī yuánwàiláng, then Xíng shūmì yuàn pànguān. At the end of the Yuán he abandoned office. Zhāng Shìchéng invited him with rites; he did not yield. The Míng Tàizǔ summoned him; he came to the capital and was received in audience; pitying his age, the emperor said “Kě xián”; richly bestowed and dismissed him home. He changed his sobriquet to Kěxián lǎorén and roamed the mountains and waters. He died at 83. The Míngshǐ wényuàn zhuàn attaches him at the end of Zhào Huīqiān’s biography. Qú Zōngjí (Qú Yòu)‘s Guītián shīhuà records his work from Yáng Wàngzhālè’s military staff and also his late behavior: drunk-and-flush he would chant his own Gēfēng tái poem, beat the table with a writing-ruler, yuānyuān zuò jīnshí shēng, saying “When I die, bury my bones at the lakeside; inscribe ‘Tomb of the Poet Zhāng Yuánwài’ — that’s enough.” One can see his fēngdiào. — His verse method derives from Yú Jí, with the typical mark. The old draft was scattered; in Zhèngtǒng 1 (1436) Yáng Shìqí first obtained the surviving fascicle from the gěishìzhōng Xià Shí, gave it to Fúliáng xiàn chéng Shí Chāng to cut. This text is transcribed from the Zhèngtǒng print; Yáng Shìqí’s preface still at the head. His verse-talent is free and elastic, sometimes lapses into tuítáng (tottering); but pieces like Wǔwáng xíngchūn tú gē (Song on the Five Kings on Spring Tour painting), Gēfēng tái are cāngmǎng xióngsì (broad and bold), with chényù bēiliáng (deep, sad) tone. The Tiānbǎo gōngcí, Niǎnxià qǔ, Gōngzhōng cí pieces are not only excellent in the yǒnggǔ (chant-the-old) form but also supplement the shǐchéng (history). Gù Sìlì’s Yuán shī xuǎn records his verse in the xīn section, with a xiǎozhuàn quoting Yáng Shìqí’s preface — Gù evidently saw this text. The old bǎn (block) has long been lost; transmission is rare. Our dynasty’s Jīn Kǎn obtained the Máo Jìn family’s separate copy, changed the title to Lúlíng jí, and added àn annotations below. But that copy is also transcribed from this text — they are not two books. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng forty-sixth (1781), tenth month. Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; head proofreader: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Kěxián lǎorén jí is a major late-Yuán yùnfǔ (military) poetry collection, anchored by Zhāng Yù’s documented Yáng Wàngzhālè military staff service in the Zhèjiāng pacification campaign. The Tiānbǎo gōngcí, Niǎnxià qǔ, Gōngzhōng cí sub-sequences are particularly significant: the Sìkù compilers explicitly note these as supplementary documentary sources for Yuán-period palace and court life — supplementing material missing from the Yuán shǐ. Zhāng’s biographical fēngdiào anecdote — drunkenly chanting his own Gēfēng tái poem and self-inscribing his desired tombstone as “Tomb of the Poet Zhāng Yuánwài” — is one of the better-known late-Yuán literary self-presentations. The transmission history is well-documented: Yáng Shìqí’s 1436 Zhèngtǒng salvage print is the principal recovery; Jīn Kǎn’s later Káng-xī-era Lúlíng jí is a re-titled copy, not an independent text. Composition window: from c. 1330 (Zhāng’s young military maturity under Yáng Wàngzhālè) through to 1371 (death at 83). The Sìkù compilers’ normalization of Yáng Wánzhě to Yáng Wàngzhālè is a paradigmatic instance of Sìkù-era Mongol-name correction.
Translations and research
- The Tiān-bǎo gōng-cí sequence has been treated in studies of Yuán-period palace history.
- Yáng Shì-qí’s Zhèng-tǒng 1 (1436) recovery preface is widely cited in studies of early-Míng grand-secretary cultural patronage.
- No substantial dedicated Western-language treatment located.
Other points of interest
- The Zhāng Shì-chéng-refusal / Míng Tài-zǔ-acceptance biographical arc is one of the cleaner cases of Yuán-loyalist self-positioning that did not bar Míng-era jiǎorán (cordial) court relations — a contrast to Wáng Hàn (KR4d0551) or Wú Dāng (KR4d0553).
- The Sìkù compilers’ Mongol-name correction (Yáng Wánzhě → Yáng Wàngzhālè) is part of the broader Qiánlóng-era project of normalizing non-Hàn names in pre-Qīng texts.
Links
- WYG SKQS V1222.6, p499.