Cháwēng shī jí 槎翁詩集
Poetry Collection of the Old Man of the Raft by 劉嵩 (撰)
About the work
Cháwēng shī jí 槎翁詩集 in eight juǎn is the principal verse collection of Liú Sōng 劉嵩 (1321–1381), zì Zǐgāo 子高 (originally named Chǔ 楚), native of Tàihé 泰和 (Jiāngxī). Cháwēng 槎翁 (“Old Man of the Raft”) is his self-given sobriquet. The Sìkù tíyào treats Liú Sōng as the founding voice of the Jiāngyòu 江右 (Jiāngxī) poetic school of the early Míng, the analogue and contemporary of the four other regional schools that the early Míng critics identified: the Wú 吳中 school under 高啟 KR4e0039 KR4e0040, the Yuè 越中 school under 劉基 KR4e0005, the Mǐn 閩中 school under 林鴻 KR4e0044, and the Lǐngnán 嶺南 school under 孫蕡 KR4e0048.
Tiyao
Examined respectfully: Cháwēng shī jí, eight juǎn, by Liú Sōng of the Míng. Sōng, zì Zǐgāo 子高, originally named Chǔ 楚, native of Tàihé 泰和. At the end of the Yuán he was jǔrén in the local xiāngshì 鄉試. In Hóngwǔ 3 (1370) he was recommended for office on grounds of talent and appointed Zhífāng lángzhōng 職方郎中 (Director of the Operations Bureau); transferred to Běipíng Ànchá sī fùshǐ 北平按察司副使. Sentenced for an offence to shūzuò 輸作 (forced labour) at the capital. In Hóngwǔ 13 (1380) an imperial chì recalled him as Lǐbù shìláng 禮部侍郎 with concurrent acting Lǐbù shàngshū 禮部尚書, on which he retired. In Hóngwǔ 14 (1381) recalled again as Guózǐ sīyè 國子司業, but died within ten days. Sōng could compose poetry at seven; growing up, he composed one piece daily; he read in winter weather with hands cracked from cold without pausing. In office, by solitary lamplight he chanted till midnight without rest — his lifelong addiction to verse and severe application were both at this pitch, so that the older he grew, the more refined his poetry became. Liú Yǒngzhī 劉永之 of Qīngjiāng 清江 [[KR4e0022]/[KR4e0023]‘s relative], Sòng Lián 宋濂 of Jīnhuá 金華, and others all greatly praised him.
In the early Míng, talents of stature stood up on every side: the Wú poetic school began with 高啟 髙啟, the Yuè school with 劉基 劉基, the Mǐn school with 林鴻 林鴻, the Lǐngnán school with 孫蕡 孫蕡, and the Jiāngyòu school with Liú Sōng — who guided the younger generation with a clear, harmonious, restrained voice. After 楊士奇 楊士奇 and his successors arose, the Yùzhāng 豫章 (Jiāngxī) literati turned to the broad, expansive táigé tǐ 臺閣體, but its bones became weak, and over time the school slid into prolixity and looseness. Lǐ Mèngyáng 李夢陽 of Běidì 北地 and Hé Jǐngmíng 何景明 of Xìnyáng 信陽 took advantage of these weaknesses and vigorously attacked them, thereby dividing the schools of the Zhèngdé and Jiājìng eras [Former Seven Masters]. But Liú Sōng’s even, classical voice does not deserve to be implicated in the failings of the line he founded. Reverently collated on the third month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780). General compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General collator: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Liú Sōng’s lifedates 1321–1381 (catalog meta 1321–1382 — the discrepancy of one year reflects the Hóngwǔ 14 = xīnyǒu 辛酉 = 1381 lunar / 1382 Western calendar boundary; CBDB and Goodrich & Fang follow 1321–1381). His Yuán jǔrén status, his early Hóngwǔ-era office in the Operations Bureau (1370), demotion to shūzuò in the late 1370s, recall in 1380–1381, and rapid death in office in the latter year are recorded both in the Sìkù tíyào and in his Míng shǐ j. 137 biography. The collection contains verse only; his prose, if any, has not survived. The Sìkù tíyào’s evaluation of Liú as the Jiāngyòu school founder is canonical and is the principal frame in which subsequent MíngQīng poetic criticism reads him.
Translations and research
- Goodrich & Fang. 1976. Dictionary of Ming Biography. Columbia UP, 1:961–963 (entry on Liú Sōng).
Other points of interest
- The Sìkù tíyào’s typology of five founding-Míng regional schools — Wú / Yuè / Mǐn / Lǐngnán / Jiāngyòu — is the locus classicus for the regional-schools model that has dominated subsequent Míng-poetry historiography.
Links
- Liu Song (Wikipedia, Chinese)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng biéjí).