蘇平仲文集

Sū Píngzhòng wénjí 蘇平仲文集

The Collected Prose of Sū Píngzhòng by 蘇伯衡 (撰)

About the work

Sū Píngzhòng wénjí 蘇平仲文集 in sixteen juǎn is the principal prose collection of Sū Bóhéng 蘇伯衡 (1329–1392), zì Píngzhòng 平仲, native of Jīnhuá 金華 (Zhèjiāng); great-grandson of the Sòng scholar Sū Chè 蘇澈 of the Sūshì 蘇氏 of Jīnhuá and grandson of Yuán yìmín poet Sū Yìláng 蘇友龍. Recommended to court under Hóngwǔ, served in turn as Guózǐjiàn xuélù 國子監學錄 (1366), xuézhèng 學正 (1367), then Hànlínyuàn biānxiū 翰林院編修 from 1370, and was twice asked by Sòng Lián 宋濂 to be his successor as Hànlín xuéshì chéngzhǐ 翰林學士承旨. Implicated in a piàowén 表文 affair under Hóngwǔ 25 (1392), arrested, and died in prison. The collection opens with Liú Jī 劉基’s 1371 preface and closes with 胡翰 Hú Hàn’s 1375 postface, but the Hòudéān jì 厚德菴記 inside it dates to 1382, showing Sū continued to add to a recension Liú Jī had originally seen in draft. The version transmitted is Lí Liàng 黎諒’s Zhèngtǒng rénxū (1442) reprint cut at Chǔzhōu 處州 prefecture with a preface by Sòng Lián. Of all the early-Míng Jīn-huá-school prose collections, this is the most fully extant.

Tiyao

The Sū Píngzhòng jí in sixteen juǎn — by Sū Bóhéng of the Míng. Bóhéng has the Kōngtóngzǐ gǔshuō 空同子瞽說, already entered in the catalog. The opening of the collection carries Liú Jī’s preface of Hóngwǔ 4 (1371); within it is a Hòudéān jì 厚德菴記 which says “the ān was completed in the rénxū 12th month of Hóngwǔ” — that is, this jì is a composition of Hóngwǔ 15 (1382) or later, so what Liú Jī prefaced was still an undefined first draft. At the end of the collection is a bá by 胡翰 Hú Hàn of Hóngwǔ 8 (1375), saying that Bóhéng was chosen to serve as tàixué official and lived in the tàixué six years. Examining the Míng shǐ, it says Bóhéng was Guózǐxué lù in the bǐngwǔ year (1366); Bóhéng’s own Guózǐxué tóngguān jì says he was promoted xuézhèng in dīngwèi (1367); and his poem on a gēngxū (1370) seventh-month tenth-day royal command on compiling the state history shows his promotion from xuézhèng to biānxiū fell in Hóngwǔ 3, only five years after bǐngwǔ. Hàn was contemporary with Bóhéng and his account should not err; perhaps it is the Míng shǐ that mistakenly shifted the date back a year. The collection was re-cut in Zhèngtǒng rénxū (1442) by Lí Liàng 黎諒, tuīguān of Chǔzhōu 處州. The Sòng Lián preface says of him: “Not seeking to imitate the ancients, yet always being like them.” The Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn says when Sòng Lián 宋濂 retired as Hànlín xuéshì chéngzhǐ, he recommended Bóhéng as his successor, calling his prose “lush, rich, and orderly” — not vain praise. Zhèng Yuán 鄭瑗’s Jǐngguān suǒyán 井觀瑣言 criticizes him for too laboured a conception and too crowded a wording, beyond proper method — but this is over-high a judgement.

Abstract

Sū Bóhéng’s lifedates 1329–1392 are confirmed by CBDB (id 28517: birth 1329, death 1392, with a fl. notice 1392 as his final office year). The catalog meta gives only fl. 1377–1388, narrower than the actual range; the CBDB figures are followed here. Of the Jīnhuá scholars his career was the most prominent next to Sòng Lián and Liú Jī. He twice declined elevation to Hànlín xuéshì chéngzhǐ (Sòng Lián’s own post) on grounds of insufficient ability; finally drawn into a piàowén prosecution under the late Hóngwǔ literary purges, he was arrested with his son Sū Bó 蘇渤 and died in prison Hóngwǔ 25 (1392). Two principal early-Míng prefaces survive at the head of the collection — Liú Jī’s preface of 1371 (when the work was still in draft) and Sòng Lián’s preface of the post-completion recension. Hú Hàn’s bá at the end of the collection (1375) is the principal external evidence for Sū’s career chronology and was used by the Sìkù editors to correct the Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn. The collection includes the Guózǐxué tóngguān jì (a record of his colleagues at the Guózǐjiàn) and the Hòudéān jì of 1382 (his latest dateable prose).

Wilkinson, Chinese History, §28.4, classes the Sū Píngzhòng jí among the principal early-Míng gǔwén models, second only to Sòng Lián’s Wéndǎjí 文憲集 in the Zhèdōng tradition.

Translations and research

• Goodrich & Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644 (1976). Entry on Sū Bóhéng (2:1212–1214).
• John W. Dardess. Confucianism and Autocracy: Professional Elites in the Founding of the Ming Dynasty. Berkeley: UC Press, 1983. Pp. 220–222 on Sū Bóhéng’s role in the Jīn-huá faction.
• Wáng Yāojiā 王瑤甲. Sū Bóhéng nián-pǔ jiǎo-biān 蘇伯衡年譜校編 (in collected articles on Yuán–Míng Jīn-huá scholarship).

Other points of interest

The Sū Píngzhòng wénjí is unusual among early-Míng biéjí in transmitting two prefaces by founder-generation political figures (Liú Jī 1371; Sòng Lián c. 1375–1380) plus a contemporary bá by Hú Hàn (1375) — together a uniquely full witness to the prefatory protocols of the early Hóngwǔ literary establishment.

Links

• Sìkù tíyào, Kyoto Zinbun digital edition
• Su Boheng (Wikipedia, Chinese)
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng biéjí).