臨安集

Lín’ān jí 臨安集

The Lín’ān Collection by 錢宰 (撰)

About the work

Lín’ān jí 臨安集 in six juǎn is the literary collection of Qián Zǎi 錢宰 (1299–1394, per the catalog meta; CBDB id 34420 gives 1302–1397, see Abstract), zì Zǐyǔ 子予 (alternate zì Bójūn 伯均), native of Kuàijī 會稽 (Zhèjiāng). Self-identifying as a fourteenth-generation descendant of the founder of the WúYuè kingdom Qián Liú 錢鏐 (i.e., Wǔsùwáng 武肅王), Qián titled his collection Lín’ān jí — Lín’ān being the old capital of WúYuè (modern Hángzhōu) — in memory of his ancestry. A jiǎkē graduate of the Yuán Zhìzhèng era who declined office on grounds of his aged parents and taught privately at home, Qián was summoned in Hóngwǔ 1 (1368) to compile the Lǐyuè shū 禮樂書; appointed Guózǐ zhùjiào 國子助教 in 1373; sent home after a verse in zǎocháo 早朝 (morning audience) accidentally offended the throne; recalled in Hóngwǔ 27 (1394) to compile the Shūzhuàn huìxuǎn 書傳會選, on completion appointed Guózǐ bóshì 國子博士 with retirement honours. His record is appended in Míng shǐ to the biography of Zhào Shù 趙俶. The collection had been long lost; the Sìkù editors reconstructed it from quotations in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn 永樂大典 plus various anthologies, dividing it into six juǎn to preserve the standing of one of the foremost early-Hóngwǔ Zhèdōng scholars.

Tiyao

The Lín’ān jí in six juǎn — by Qián Zǎi of the Míng. Zǎi, zì Zǐyǔ, alternate zì Bójūn, native of Kuàijī. In mid-Zhì-zhèng (late Yuán) he placed in the jiǎkē; on account of his aged parents he did not take up office but taught in his home village. In the early Míng he was summoned to compile the Lǐyuè shū; soon left on grounds of illness. In Hóngwǔ 6 (1373) he was appointed Guózǐ zhùjiào; on the strength of a fù on morning audience he offended the imperial intention and was sent home. In Hóngwǔ 27 (1394) he was again summoned to compile the Shūzhuàn huìxuǎn; on completion he was lavishly rewarded, advanced to bóshì, and retired with honours. His record is appended in Míng shǐ to Zhào Shù 趙俶’s biography. Examining the Jīnlíng xíngshèng lùn 金陵形勝論 in the collection, the signature reads “Hóngwǔ 27, sixth month, Guózǐ bóshì zhìshì Qián Zǎi presented” — so the retirement fell in the same year as his being summoned: he remained in the capital less than a single year. Zǎi’s learning had a foundation; at the end of Yuán he was already counted a senior Confucian. Hán Yíkě 韓宜可 and Táng Zhīchún 唐之淳 were both his pupils. His verse is crisp in diction, lofty in conception, devoted to the antique modes, not stooping to gaudy and slanting register. Xú Tài 徐泰’s Shītán compares him to “the whale’s call at frosty dawn — naturally resounding”. His gǔwén was not his stronger suit, but he held strictly to method without falling into the low and verbose. Of his collection, both the Míng shǐ Yìwén zhì and Jiāo Hóng 焦竑’s Guóshǐ jīngjí zhì fail to record it — so even in the Míng dynasty it must already have circulated rarely. Now we have taken pieces from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and arranged them, supplementing with what is recorded in various anthologies, and divided them into six juǎn — sufficient to provide an early-Míng yījiā. Zǎi was originally a Zhèdōng man; the collection takes the name Lín’ān because he counted himself the fourteenth-generation descendant of the WúYuè Wǔsùwáng [Qián Liú], following his ancestral home. Compiled and presented respectfully in the ninth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).

Abstract

The catalog meta gives Qián Zǎi’s lifedates as 1299–1394 (95 suì). CBDB (id 34420) gives 1302–1397 (95 suì equally). Both are derived from secondary biographical reconstruction since the Míng shǐ does not give precise dates. The catalog meta and CBDB figures differ by three years and either could be defended; the catalog meta is followed here for consistency with the project, but with a note that this is one of the cases where externally-verified Qián-period biographical scholarship may yet revise the figure. Critically, Qián’s last public post — Guózǐ bóshì in summer Hóngwǔ 27 (1394) — is fixed by his signature on the Jīnlíng xíngshèng lùn and gives a terminus post quem of 1394 for his death, consistent with both reconstructions.

Qián’s significance is principally as a Zhèdōng senior Confucian whose pupils — Hán Yíkě 韓宜可 (the upright Hóngwǔ censor) and Táng Zhīchún 唐之淳 (son of the YuánMíng transition scholar Táng Sù 唐肅) — were prominent figures of the next generation. The fù on morning audience that ended his first tenure as Guózǐ zhùjiào is the type case of a Hóngwǔ literary man caught out by the imperial reading of an apparently benign verse. The Lín’ān title and WúYuè descent claim mark a deliberate Zhèdōng localism that anchored Qián’s biéjí in regional rather than dynastic identity. Wilkinson, Chinese History, §28.4, places Qián among the secondary figures of the Hóngwǔ literary establishment. The reconstruction from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn is one of the more carefully attested Sìkù recoveries.

Translations and research

• L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Notice of Qián Zǎi (vol. 1, p. 235 under Zhāng Yǐ-níng).
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí).

Other points of interest

Qián Zǎi’s claim of descent from Qián Liú 錢鏐 of WúYuè (in Lín’ān, modern Hángzhōu) is the model for a recurring Hóng-wǔ-era pattern of biéjí taking their title from an ancestor’s regional or political seat rather than from the author’s own zì or hào; Lín’ān jí is the cleanest early case.

Links

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