Shǐfēng gǎo 始豐稿
Drafts from Shǐfēng by 徐一夔 (撰)
About the work
Shǐfēng gǎo 始豐稿 in fourteen juǎn is the principal prose collection of Xú Yīkuí 徐一夔 (1318–ca.1400), zì Dàzhāng 大章, hào Shǐfēng 始豐, native of Tiāntái 天台 in Tāizhōu 台州 (Zhèjiāng). Xú was one of the leading ritual scholars and historiographers of the early Hóngwǔ court — principal compiler of the founding-Míng KR2m0028 DàMíng jílǐ 大明集禮 (1370), participant in the Yuán shǐ 元史 compilation, and an exegete whose painstaking historical-evidential method anticipates the Qīng kǎozhèng approach. The collection survives in two principal recensions: a six-juǎn recension (1–3 = Qián gǎo 前稿, 4–14 = Hòu gǎo 後稿) in the hands of Wáng Shìzhēn 王士禎 (Wáng Yíshàng 王貽上, of Xīnchéng), and a separate four-cè recension seen by Zhū Yízūn 朱彝尊 in Běijīng; the WYG fourteen-juǎn recension is recompiled from these and represents almost the complete original (the Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù 千頃堂書目 records the Shǐfēng lèigǎo 始豐類稿 in fifteen juǎn, of which only one juǎn of poetry is lost in the present text).
Tiyao
The Shǐfēng gǎo in fourteen juǎn — by Xú Yīkuí of the Míng. Yīkuí has the Yìpǔ sōuqí 藝圃搜竒, already entered in the catalog. Zhū Yízūn 朱彝尊 in Jìngzhìjū shīhuà says: “Dàzhāng’s surviving manuscripts are rarely transmitted. In the capital I saw the copy held by Wáng Yíshàng of Xīnchéng, comprising in all four volumes — twice the size of my family copy; yet checking its table of contents, there is still no poetry — so it is not yet a complete copy.” Examining the present situation: two recensions are now in circulation. One is in six juǎn — this should be the copy held by the Zhū Yízūn family. The present copy runs from juǎn 1 to 3 as the Qián gǎo 前稿, and juǎn 4 to 14 as the Hòu gǎo 後稿 — all are miscellaneous prose with no verse — and is presumably the copy held by Wáng Shìzhēn’s family. The Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù records Yīkuí’s Shǐfēng lèigǎo in fifteen juǎn; what the present copy loses is no more than one juǎn of poetry. His prose is throughout strictly disciplined and structured, without the diffuse and verbose habits of late-Yuán style. His letter to KR4e0001 Wáng Wěi 王禕 on the compiling of history is recorded by the Míng shǐ in his biography. Chén Jìrú 陳繼儒 once praised his Sòng xínggōng kǎo 宋行宫考 and WúYuèguó kǎo 吳越國考 as carefully and precisely investigative. Wáng Shìzhēn further praised his Qiántáng tiějiàn biàn 錢塘鐵箭辨 as fine in textual examination, and his Ōu shǐ Shíguó niánpǔ pèizhèng 歐史十國年譜備證 in one piān — wherein he argues that Ōuyáng Xiū 歐陽氏 (i.e. Wǔdài shǐ jì) for WúYuè reign-titles relied only on the Bǎoshíshān 寳石山 zhì calling the year “Bǎozhèng 6” as evidence; Yīkuí further obtained a tomb-brick of Qián Liú’s general Xǔ Jùn 許俊 inscribed “Bǎozhèng 3” to prove Ōuyáng Xiū’s history was not in error, and further argues that Qián Yuánguàn 元瓘 on succession did not adopt a new reign title — his arguments all stand upon firm ground. Reading his discussions one first realises that Qián Déhóng 錢德洪’s WúYuè shìjiā yíbiàn 吳越世家疑辨 of the Jiājìng era, in saying that the matter of changing reign-title is without other evidence, was only out of taboo on the past. So this is again of much use in textual investigation — and not only in literary craft. Compiled and presented respectfully in the sixth month of Qiánlóng 44 (1779).
Abstract
Xú Yīkuí’s lifedates 1318–ca. 1400 are confirmed by CBDB (id 28409: birth 1318, death 1400, fl. 1360). The early-Hóngwǔ court found Xú repeatedly to summons; he served briefly as Education Officer of Hángzhōu prefecture 杭州府學, then participated in the Yuán shǐ and the DàMíng jílǐ compilations, declining further elevation on grounds of ill-health. His zì Dàzhāng 大章 and hào Shǐfēng 始豐 give the title of the present collection. The Shǐfēng gǎo is the principal source for a distinctive subgenre in the prose of the Jīnhuá / Tiāntái circle: short kǎobù 考補 essays in historical method (the Sòng xínggōng kǎo on the temporary Sòng palace at Línān, the WúYuèguó kǎo on the historical geography of the Five-Dynasties WúYuè regime, and the Qiántáng tiějiàn biàn on the iron-arrow-marker tradition for the Qiántáng tide). His celebrated letter to KR4e0001 Wáng Wěi 王禕 — the Yǔ Wáng Zǐchōng lùn xiū shǐ shū 與王子充論修史書 — outlines an evidence-based method for compiling dynastic history that significantly anticipates the Qīng kǎozhèng school; this letter is one of the most-cited individual shū pieces in the early-Míng biéjí tradition.
The transmission history is preserved in detail in the Tíyào: two partial recensions (Zhū Yízūn’s six-juǎn manuscript, Wáng Shìzhēn’s four-cè manuscript) were used by the Sìkù editors to reconstruct the fourteen-juǎn WYG text. The Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù fifteen-juǎn notice indicates that the missing material is a single juǎn of verse, consistent with both manuscript witnesses lacking poetry. Wilkinson, Chinese History, §28.4, places Xú among the principal early-Míng historiographers; his evidential method for the WúYuè reign-titles is a standard reference for the historiography of the southern Five-Dynasties regimes.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Entry on Xú Yīkuí (vol. 1, pp. 596–599).
- John W. Dardess. Confucianism and Autocracy: Professional Elites in the Founding of the Ming Dynasty. Berkeley: UC Press, 1983. Pp. 254ff (Xú Yīkuí and the Dà-Míng jí-lǐ).
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 and §40 (Míng bié-jí; ritual scholarship).
Other points of interest
The Yǔ Wáng Zǐchōng lùn xiū shǐ shū — Xú’s letter to Wáng Wěi on the compiling of the Yuán shǐ — is among the earliest sustained discussions of historiographical evidential method in the Míng. It is preserved here in juǎn 7, and is also quoted at length in Xú’s biography in the Míng shǐ (juǎn 285, Wényuàn zhuàn 1).
Links
- Sìkù tíyào, Kyoto Zinbun digital edition
- Xu Yikui (Wikipedia, Chinese)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng biéjí).