Xīyǐn jí 西隱集
Collection from the Western Retreat by 宋訥 (撰)
About the work
Xīyǐn jí 西隱集 in ten juǎn is the principal surviving literary collection of Sòng Nè 宋訥 (1311–1390), late-Yuán jìnshì and second Guózǐ jìjiǔ 國子祭酒 of the Míng (Master of the Imperial College). The title Xīyǐn 西隱 (“Western Retreat”) is from Sòng’s sobriquet, taken from his villa, the Báiyún máowū 白雲茅屋 (“White-Cloud Thatched Cottage”). The first four juǎn are fù and verse; the remaining six are prose. Appended at the end are four imperial chì of the Hóngwǔ emperor 朱元璋 addressed to Sòng, the two-piece Báiyún máowū fù 白雲茅屋賦, and a jì for the villa.
Tiyao
Examined respectfully: Xīyǐn jí, ten juǎn, by Sòng Nè 宋訥 of the Míng. Nè, zì Zhòngmǐn 仲敏, native of Huá xiàn 滑縣. Yuán jìnshì of the Zhìzhèng 至正 reign; appointed Yánshān yǐn 鹽山尹, then resigned and went home. In the early Míng, summoned to be Guózǐ zhùjiào 國子助教; rose to Wényuāngé dàxuéshì 文淵閣大學士; transferred to Guózǐ jìjiǔ 國子祭酒, in which post he died. In the Zhèngdé reign-period (1506–1521) he was posthumously granted the title Wénkè 文恪. The facts are in his Míng shǐ biography.
劉三吾 Liú Sānwú’s tomb-inscription for Sòng records his Xīyǐn jí as seventeen juǎn; the Míng shǐ yìwén zhì 明史藝文志 and Huáng Yújì’s Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù 千頃堂書目 both record ten juǎn. The present book has a postface by Liú Shīlǔ 劉師魯 of Dōnglái 東萊 that says the collection was first transcribed by hand by Zhāng Qū 張趨 of Shànghǎi 上海; Wáng Chóngzhī 王崇之 of Huáxiàn 滑縣, when serving as Magistrate of Shànghǎi 上海, sought it out from Zhāng’s descendants and cut blocks for it. As the blocks decayed with time, Liú Shīlǔ assembled craftsmen and re-cut it, evidently using the ten-juǎn recension. Perhaps Zhāng Qū in transcribing had made cuts and consolidations, so that the result does not match the tomb-inscription’s count.
The first four juǎn of the collection are fù and verse; the last six are miscellaneous prose. Appended are four imperial chì of Tàizǔ, two Báiyún máowū fù, and one jì. Báiyún máowū was the name of a separate villa Sòng built. Sòng held the office of Chéngjūn zhòuzǐ 成均胄子 (i.e. Guózǐ jìjiǔ) and his discipline of the shīdào [teacher’s way] was strict and upright, a model of his time. His prose is rich, sincere, classical, and elegant. The Tàixué bēi 太學碑 [Stele Inscription for the National University] that he composed by imperial command was greatly admired by the Míng founder and is fully included in the collection. There are also poems from Rénzǐ year [壬子, Hóngwǔ 5 = 1372] composed at the qiūwéi 秋闈 examinations as harmonies to Yè Shūzé 葉叔則, Zhàomó 照磨 of the Běipíng Branch Secretariat, and Qiūwéi jíshì 秋闈即事 poems. Rénzǐ is Hóngwǔ 5 [recte: Hóngwǔ 5 is rénzǐ]; Sòng had once served as examiner at Běipíng, a fact that neither his biography nor his tomb-inscription records. His nineteen poems on passing the old Yuán palace are tangled and grief-stricken, with the sentiment of Shǔlí 黍離 and Màixiù 麥秀; reading them, one is enabled to mourn the depth of his intent. Reverently collated on the sixth month of Qiánlóng 44 (1779). General compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General collator: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Sìkù tíyào gives Sòng Nè’s career in summary: Yuán jìnshì of the Zhìzhèng period; briefly Yánshān yǐn before retiring under the late-Yuán disorders; Hóngwǔ-era appointment as Guózǐ zhùjiào 國子助教 (assistant instructor); promotion to Wényuāngé dàxuéshì and Guózǐ jìjiǔ (the office that head the Guózǐ jiān 國子監, the imperial university); died in office at age 80 in 1390. Posthumous title Wénkè 文恪 granted in the Zhèngdé period (1506–1521). The catalog meta lifedates (1311–1390) are confirmed by CBDB and the Míng shǐ j. 137 biography (which states he died at 80 in Hóngwǔ 23 = 1390).
The textual history (Sòng’s tomb-inscription says seventeen juǎn, but the surviving collection is ten juǎn) implies that an early-Míng intermediary editor — most likely the Shànghǎi transcriber Zhāng Qū 張趨 — collapsed the original seventeen-juǎn manuscript. The transmission then proceeds: Zhāng Qū manuscript → Wáng Chóngzhī (Magistrate of Shànghǎi) cutting → Liú Shīlǔ re-cutting. The Sìkù WYG copy descends from the Liú Shīlǔ re-cut.
The two specially noted bodies of material are: (a) the Tàixué bēi 太學碑 [National-University Stele], composed by imperial command and a major early-Míng monument of state Confucianism; (b) the nineteen poems on the old Yuán palace, which use the canonical Shījīng allusions of Shǔlí (《王風·黍離》) and Màixiù (Jīzǐ’s lament on the fall of the Shāng) to invoke loyalty to the lost Yuán dynasty — a remarkable case of yímín sentiment in a senior Hóngwǔ official.
Translations and research
- Goodrich & Fang. 1976. Dictionary of Ming Biography. Columbia UP, 2:1218–1219 (entry on Sòng Nè).
- Thomas H. C. Lee. 2000. Education in Traditional China: A History. Brill. Discusses Sòng Nè’s role at the early-Míng Guó-zǐ jiān.
Other points of interest
The catalog meta is silent on Sòng’s earlier Yuán-period magistracy of Yánshān 鹽山; the Sìkù tíyào records it explicitly and it is important for understanding the yímín-sentiment of the nineteen palace-poems.
Links
- Song Ne (Wikipedia, Chinese)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng biéjí).