Liú Yànbǐng jí 劉彥昺集
The Collected Works of Liú Yàn-bǐng by 劉炳 (撰), 楊維楨 (評)
About the work
Liú Yànbǐng jí 劉彥昺集 in nine juǎn (eight verse, one prose) is the literary collection of Liú Bǐng 劉炳 (also written 劉昺 with the same pronunciation, see Tíyào), zì Yànbǐng 彥昺 (conventionally used in place of his personal name), native of Póyáng 鄱陽 (Jiāngxī). Late-Yuán resistance-band leader and friend of the Yuán loyalist Yú Què 余闕 of Ānqìng; after Yú’s defeat returned home. In Hóngwǔ submitted policy advice to the court and was appointed Zhōngshū diǎnqiān 中書典籤, sent out as Dàdūdū fǔ zhǎngjì 大都督府掌記, then zhīxiàn 知縣 of Dōngē 東阿; retired on grounds of illness. His record is appended in Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn to Wáng Miǎn 王冕’s biography. The original title was Chūnyǔxuān jí 春雨軒集; the present collection was edited by his pupil Liú Zǐshēng 劉子昇 with critical comments (píng 評) added by Yáng Wéizhēn 楊維楨 (preserved in the body) and prefaces by Yáng Wéizhēn, Wēi Sù 危素, and Sòng Lián 宋濂; postfaces by Wáng Wěi 王禕, Yú Zhēnmù 俞貞木, and Zhōu Xiàngchū 周象初. The present title Liú Yànbǐng jí is a later change of unknown origin.
Tiyao
The Liú Yànbǐng jí in nine juǎn — by Liú Bǐng of the Míng. Bǐng, zì Yànbǐng, conventionally known by his zì; native of Póyáng. In the early Hóngwǔ years he submitted a memorial discussing affairs and was appointed Zhōngshū diǎnqiān; sent out as Dàdūdū fǔ zhǎngjì; appointed Dōngē zhīxiàn; after two evaluations he asked leave on grounds of illness and went home. His record is appended in Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn to Wáng Miǎn 王冕’s biography. The verse and prose he wrote was originally entitled Chūnyǔxuān jí. It was edited by his pupil Liú Zǐshēng 劉子昇. Yáng Wéizhēn 楊維楨 once made an evaluation of it; that evaluation is appended in the collection. Yáng Wéizhēn, Wēi Sù 危素, and Sòng Lián 宋濂 all wrote prefaces; Wáng Wěi 王禕, Yú Zhēnmù 俞貞木, and Zhōu Xiàngchū 周象初 all wrote postfaces. This copy is entitled Liú Yànbǐng jí; we do not know who changed it. At the end of Yuán in the time of soldier-disturbances, Bǐng with his younger brother [Liú] Yù 劉煜 united their fellow-villagers in mutual defence; whenever bandits arrived they retreated and depended on Yú Què 余闕 at Ānqìng. Because Yú’s lone army was without support, Bǐng took his leave. He was indeed a man of talent and discernment, so his verse-style is bold, vigorous, and outstanding — like his man. Only the closing one juǎn of miscellaneous prose is feeble in qìxiàng; obviously inferior to his verse — showing that prose was not his strength but only a sideline. The career of Bǐng is given in Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn; the Jiāngxī tōngzhì 江西通志 cites the Yùzhāng rénwù zhì 豫章人物志 — whose record of Bǐng’s career-stages does not agree with the Míng shǐ in many points. For example, the Míng shǐ says: “Bǐng in the middle of Zhìzhèng followed the army in Zhèjiāng”; but the zhì says: “He was cānzhèng at Guāng, sent on mission to Jīnlíng” — uncertain on what authority. The Míng shǐ says he was diǎnqiān on the strength of memorialised opinion; but the zhì says he first assisted Mù [Yīng] 沐 zǒngzhì in defending Zhènjiāng, soon appointed Guǎngdōng wèi zhīshì. Examining the dedication of his Diào Yú Què mù wén 弔余闕墓文, the title reads Dàdūdū fǔ zhǎngjì in Hóngwǔ 12 (1379), and his Āi Cáoguógōng shī 哀曹國公詩 has the line “sān nián cānjì fǔ” (three years assisting at the fǔ); Wénzhōng 文忠 [Lǐ Wénzhōng 李文忠] in Hóngwǔ 3 (1370) headed the Dàdūdū fǔ; Mù Yīng 沐英 in Hóngwǔ 4 (1371) was tóngzhī of the Dàdūdū fǔ; counting back the years, [Liú] should not have been cānzhèng assisting Mù Yīng before being diǎnqiān — front and back are contradictory. This is just how stories in bàiguān yěshǐ often diverge from each other in the telling. Now we take the Míng shǐ text as base and preserve both the agreement and divergence for verification. Further, the old text writes the dynasty-name Yuán 元 throughout as Yuán 原; this is because at the time of printing in the early Míng the edict on èrmíng bù piānhuì had not yet been issued, and Yuán 原 had been substituted for Yuán 元 — copyists kept it. The affair lay back in the previous dynasty; there is no avoidance to be observed. We now correct it back to the original character. Compiled and presented respectfully in the ninth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Abstract
Liú Bǐng’s lifedates are not securely fixed: CBDB has many homonyms (the closest is id 1222 / 11002 / 14974, all YuánMíng era with no recorded dates). The career chronology in the Tíyào is the principal external evidence: a late-Yuán resistance leader who depended on Yú Què 余闕 of Ānqìng in the 1350s; took up service under the Hóngwǔ government from c. 1369 as Zhōngshū diǎnqiān; Dàdūdū fǔ zhǎngjì by 1379 (the date of his eulogy for Yú Què); died after retirement on grounds of illness. Birth date thus c. 1310–1320s, death after Hóngwǔ 12 (1379). The Sìkù editors’ notice on the Jiāngxī tōngzhì and Yùzhāng rénwù zhì records of Liú Bǐng’s career is a rare detailed example of their disagreement with regional gazetteer biographies; their decision to take the Míng shǐ as authoritative and preserve the zhì divergence for verification is a model of careful textual practice.
The collection’s principal interest lies in the Yáng Wéizhēn 楊維楨 critical comments (píng 評) inserted into the body — a rare surviving testimony to the Tiěyá master’s actual editorial activity. Wēi Sù 危素 — the senior Yuán-loyalist scholar — also contributed a preface, making this one of the very few collections to carry simultaneously prefaces by Yáng (Yuán yìmín poet), Wēi (Yuán loyalist), and Sòng Lián (founding-Míng official) — a comprehensive mid-transition pedigree. The textual restoration from Yuán 原 → Yuán 元 noted by the editors is an important witness to the Hóngwǔ printing convention before the formal edict on the partial-name taboo.
Note also: the catalog meta records 劉炳 with the personal name written as 炳, but several early printings and zhì attestations write 昺. Both characters are phonetically and visually close and were treated as variants in the Míng print tradition; modern reference works mostly settle on 炳.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Notice of Liú Bǐng (vol. 2, pp. 952–953, under Wáng Miǎn).
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The collection preserves Liú Bǐng’s Diào Yú Què mù wén 弔余闕墓文 — an unusually direct early-Míng tribute to a Yuán loyalist hero (Yú Què, the Sèmù defender of Ānqìng who died in 1358) by an official then in Hóngwǔ service. The composition is dated by Liú’s own dedication to Hóngwǔ 12 (1379).
Links
- Sìkù tíyào, Kyoto Zinbun digital edition
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng biéjí).