Cāngluó jí 滄螺集
The Blue-Whelk Collection by 孫作 (撰)
About the work
Cāngluó jí 滄螺集 in six juǎn (one juǎn verse, five prose) is the literary collection of Sūn Zuò 孫作 (b. 1321?), zì Dàyǎ 大雅 (commonly used in place of his personal name; alternate zì Cìzhī 次知), hào Dōngjiāzǐ 東家子, native of Jiāngyīn 江陰 (Chángzhōu prefecture, Jiāngsū). Sūn fled the late-Yuán wars first to Wú, then briefly served under Zhāng Shìchéng 張士誠, then withdrew to Sōngjiāng 松江. In Hóngwǔ 6 / guǐchǒu (1373) he was summoned to compile the Rìlì 日歷; on completion he was appointed Hànlínyuàn biānxiū 翰林院編修. Pleading age and illness, he was sent out as Education Officer of Tàipíng 太平 prefecture, then recalled as Guózǐ zhùjiào 國子助教 and promoted to sīyè 司業; disgraced and reduced to commoner status for an unspecified affair, then restored as jiàoyù 教諭 of Chánglè 長樂 county. Sòng Lián 宋濂 wrote his Dōngjiāzǐ zhuàn 東家子傳, ranking him very highly; his record is appended in Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn to Táo Zōngyí 陶宗儀’s biography.
Tiyao
The Cāngluó jí in six juǎn — by Sūn Zuò of the Míng. Zuò, zì Dàyǎ, conventionally known by his zì; alternate zì Cìzhī; native of Jiāngyīn. At the end of Yuán Zhìzhèng he avoided the soldiery in Wú, initially accepted the summons of Zhāng Shìchéng but soon left for Sōngjiāng. In Hóngwǔ guǐchǒu (1373) he was summoned to compile the Rìlì 日歷; on completion he was appointed Hànlínyuàn biānxiū; on grounds of age and illness he asked for a provincial post and was made Education Officer of Tàipíng prefecture; then he was brought in as Guózǐ zhùjiào and soon promoted to sīyè; for an affair he was demoted to commoner status; restored as jiàoyù of Chánglè. Zuò styled himself Dōngjiāzǐ; Sòng Lián wrote a Dōngjiāzǐ zhuàn exalting him with high praise. His record is appended in Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn to Táo Zōngyí 陶宗儀’s biography. This collection comprises one juǎn of verse and five of prose. His verse strives to follow Huáng Tíngjiān 黃庭堅 and stands as its own distinct register among the late-Yuán poets. In the collection, the Yǔ Chén jiǎnxiào shī 與陳檢校詩 has the line: “Sūzǐ’s brush brings down sea and mountain; Yùzhāng spits phrases matching mountain peaks; surging waves, sheer cliffs and shores, jagged trees and stones forming spears and swords. The two contend, neither yielding, and the marshes are filled with leopards and crocodiles. Today’s hubbub still calls out — who dares the strong, the two-as-horn? — but I love Yùzhāng above all; rubbing the book one is first amazed; the gnawing of teeth and clicking of tongue, the bear-and-leopard face, the hand pressed to the breast, ready to be bound — that one such an old man should be so worthy, who can believe no successor follows him.” His allegiance is plain to see — yet his talent in fù and force does not equal Tíngjiān’s; his smelting and forging do not match Tíngjiān’s depth. Although he stands above the vulgar, he has not yet reached the antique. The Dōngjiāzǐ zhuàn says not a word of his verse; this is no oversight but rather hidden intent. As for the prose: bold, distinguished, strange and grand, with hidden discipline — outstanding enough to transmit itself. The Dōngjiāzǐ zhuàn says: “Others’ prose, when bound by reasoning, the words do not flow; when its words flow freely, the reasoning is not upright. Only Zuò can see clear to a thousand years past; in dissecting, the reasoning prevails; in clearing the path, the words are strict; in any motion there is evidence; nothing is conjecture.” The Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn also says his prose is “chúnzhèng diǎnyǎ 醇正典雅” — pure, upright, classical, and elegant. Compiled and presented respectfully in the third month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777).
Abstract
Sūn Zuò’s lifedates are imprecisely fixed: the catalog meta gives “b. 1321?” and CBDB (id 34381) records the name without dates. The summoning to compile the Rìlì in Hóngwǔ 6 (1373) — already on grounds of “age and illness” implying advanced years — and the late teaching post at Chánglè suggest a date of birth in the late 1310s to mid-1320s and death in the 1380s or early 1390s. The intellectual context: Sūn was a personal friend of Sòng Lián, who composed his Dōngjiāzǐ zhuàn (a rare verse-less biography that elevates Sūn’s prose at the expense of his verse — the Sìkù editors read this as a calibrated literary judgement, not a simple omission). Sòng’s framing positions Sūn’s prose alongside the Wénzhāng zhèngzōng 文章正宗 evidential ideal — argument grounded in textual basis, never conjecture. The verse, by contrast, has long been recognised as an unusual Jiāngzuǒ inheritance of the Huáng Tíngjiān / Jiāngxī school 江西派 mode, atypical in a late-Yuán / early-Míng environment dominated by Yáng Wéizhēn 楊維楨’s Tiěyá 鐵崖 register; the standard Sìkù judgement is that Sūn’s Jiāngxī imitation is “bású ér wèi néng zào gǔ” — rising above the vulgar, but not reaching the antique.
Wilkinson, Chinese History, §28.4, includes Sūn Zuò among the figures of the early-Hóngwǔ Hànlínyuàn literary establishment. The collection survives only in the WYG transmission; no separate Míng or Qīng printing is known.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Entry on Sūn Zuò (vol. 2, pp. 1239–1240).
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
Sòng Lián’s Dōngjiāzǐ zhuàn — its conspicuous silence on Sūn’s verse — is a classic case of selective biographical assessment in the early Hóngwǔ literary establishment, where verse imitation of the Jiāngxī school was already politically and culturally suspect under a court that explicitly favoured chúnzhèng diǎnyǎ prose models.
Links
- Sìkù tíyào, Kyoto Zinbun digital edition
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng biéjí).