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淸江貝先生文集

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Text ID
KR4e0023
Date
1340–1380
Dynasty
明

Qīngjiāng Bèi xiānshēng wénjí 淸江貝先生文集

The Prose Collection of Master Bèi of Qīngjiāng by 貝瓊 (撰)

About the work

Qīngjiāng Bèi xiānshēng wénjí 淸江貝先生文集 in thirty juǎn is the principal prose collection of Bèi Qióng 貝瓊 (1314?–1379), zì Tíngchén 廷臣 (also Tíngjù 廷琚; once known by the single-character name Bèi Què 貝闕), native of Chóngdé 崇德 in Jiāxìng 嘉興 (Zhèjiāng). The collection was assembled posthumously by his son Bèi Áo 貝翱 (Chǔfǔ jìshàn 楚府紀善), who travelled four thousand lǐ to obtain a preface from Xú Yīkuí 徐一夔 (the author of KR4e0026 Shǐfēng gǎo 始豐稿), then prefect of Hángzhōu prefectural school. The thirty-juǎn recension represents the SBCK base edition, descending from a Hóngwǔ-era printing that became scarce in the Wànlì period; this SBCK printing reproduces the Hóngwǔ-board copy that the Jiāqìng bibliophile Bèi Yōng 貝墉 (a clan descendant) obtained in 1808 (Jiāqìng wùchén) from Huáng Pīliè 黃丕烈 / Huáng Yáopǔ 黃蕘圃 of Wújùn for twenty taels of silver. The complementary Qīngjiāng shījí 清江詩集 in ten juǎn is catalogued separately as KR4e0022.

Tiyao

The Qīngjiāng shījí in ten juǎn and wénjí in thirty-one juǎn — by Bèi Qióng of the Míng. Qióng, zì Tíngjū, alternate name Què, zì Tíngchén, native of Chóngdé. At the end of Yuán he was raised by the xiāngjiàn 鄉薦; encountering the turmoil he withdrew to live at Shūshān 殳山. In the early Míng he was summoned to compile the Yuán shǐ, and appointed Guózǐjiàn zhùjiào 國子監助教. His record is appended in the Míng shǐ biography of Sòng Nè 宋訥. Considering Chéng Qìngliù 程慶琉’s Shēngwén huìxuǎn 聲文會選, which treats Bèi Què and Bèi Qióng as two persons — but Táo Zōngyí 陶宗儀’s Chuògēng lù 輟耕錄 records the matter of the courtesan Zhēnzhēn 真真 and says “Bèi Què of Jiāxìng has a poem”; now the “Zhēnzhēn qū” 真真曲 is included in this collection — so it is established that Qióng also went under the single-character name Què. The LiǎngZhè míngxián lù 兩浙名賢錄 records Qióng’s collection in twenty juǎn; the Wànlì edition cut only three juǎn. This present recension comprises the poetic collection in ten juǎn; the prose collection divided into Hǎichāng jí 海昌集 in one, Yúnjiān jí 雲閒集 in seven, Liǎngfēng jí 兩峯集 in three, Jīnlíng jí 金陵集 in ten, Zhōngdū gǎo 中都稾 in nine, Guītián gǎo 歸田稾 in one. Only manuscript copies circulated; in Kāngxī dīnghài (1707) Jīn Tán 金檀 of Tóngxiāng purchased it and first cut blocks for it. Qióng studied poetry under 楊維楨 Yáng Wéizhēn, but in matters of prose he said: the standing word lies not in the steeply abrupt and cuttingly sharp but in the gentle and even, which is worth looking upon; not in the wild and dangerous but in the rich and stout, which is delightful. Thus though out of Wéizhēn’s school, he took what was good in him and not what was bad; his cardinal direction did not slavishly follow his master.

Zhū Yízūn 朱彝尊 in Jìngzhìjū shīhuà says of his poetry: “crisp like Wāng Guǎngyáng 汪廣洋; even and adorned as 劉基 Liú Jī; round and fine surpassing 林鴻 Lín Hóng; pure-paced approaching 袁凱 Yuán Kǎi; in colour and bloom second only to 高啟 Gāo Qǐ; in clarity exceeding 張羽 Zhāng Yǔ; in luxuriance outdoing 孫蕡 Sūn Fén — sufficient to lead his age.” Such xiāngqū 鄉曲 words may be overstated; yet in the warm and generous, Qióng’s poetry of itself stands high and fine. His prose too is mild and harmonious, with the yīchàng sāntàn 一唱三歎 cadence. The Míng shǐ records that Sòng Lián 宋濂 when sīyè 司業 proposed establishing four colleges, ranking Shùn, Yǔ, Tāng, Wén as supplementary sages; Qióng wrote a Shìdiàn jiě 釋奠解 to rebut him, and connoisseurs largely sided with Qióng. So his investigation of ancient rites was anchored in evidence — and not merely a matter of stylistic skill.

Abstract

Bèi Qióng’s lifedates: per the friend Wú Sīt’íng 吳思亭’s Xù yínián lù 續疑年錄 (cited by Bèi Yōng), Qióng was 48 suì when first raised by the xiāngjiàn; under Zhāng Shìchéng 張士誠 he was repeatedly summoned and declined. Working back from this, his birth year falls in Yuán Yányòu 延祐 (1314–1320). The catalog meta gives a death date of 1379, which is consistent with the postscripts here (the Wénjí was compiled by his son shortly after his death) and with the Míng shǐ notice. CBDB (id 27835) gives birthyear blank and deathyear 1379, also consistent. He thus belongs to the same generation as Sòng Lián and Liú Jī.

The composition history is as follows: Qióng studied poetry under Yáng Wéizhēn but rejected the Tiěyá master’s eccentric tendencies. After the Yuán collapse he was summoned to compile the Yuán shǐ (1370), then served as Guózǐjiàn zhùjiào 國子監助教 from 1372, transferred to Zhōngdū (Fèngyáng) in 1375. The internal sub-collections of the wénjí — Hǎichāng, Yúnjiān, Liǎngfēng, Jīnlíng, Zhōngdū, Guītián — track his life by phases (the Zhōngdū gǎo 中都稾 is the Fèngyáng-period prose; Guītián gǎo 歸田稾 the brief retirement before his death). The SBCK base is the Hóngwǔ recension owned by Bèi Yōng 貝墉; the WYG Qīngjiāng shījí in ten juǎn + wénjí in thirty-one juǎn (KR4e0022) descends from Jīn Tán’s 1707 Kāngxī printing as transmitted into Wāng Rúzǎo 汪如藻’s family copy. Qióng’s Shìdiàn jiě refuting Sòng Lián’s proposal to elevate ShùnYǔTāngWén as supplementary sages is preserved here.

Translations and research

  • L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Entry on Bèi Qióng (vol. 2, pp. 1097–1098).
  • Chen Boqi 陳伯齊. Bèi Qióng shī wén yánjiū 貝瓊詩文研究. Master’s thesis, National Taiwan Normal University, 2008.
  • 王學玲, “貝瓊及其詩文研究”, in periodical literature on Yuán–Míng bié-jí.

Other points of interest

The single-character name Bèi Què 貝闕 under which the same author appears in Yuán-era sources (Táo Zōngyí’s Chuògēng lù) had been confused with Bèi Qióng as a separate person by Míng compiler Chéng Qìngliù; the Sìkù editors’ resolution that Què and Qióng are one person, based on internal evidence from the “Zhēnzhēn qū” 真真曲 included in this collection, is the standard view today.

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