靜菴集

Jìngjū jí 靜居集 (WYG 靜菴集 / 靜居集)

The Quiet-Dwelling Collection by 張羽 (撰)

About the work

Jìngjū jí 靜居集 in four juǎn (the catalog meta title 靜菴集 is a printing variant; the WYG cover and Tíyào both give 靜居集) is the WYG-transmitted recension of the verse collection of Zhāng Yǔ 張羽 (1333–1385), zì Láiyí 來儀 (conventionally used in place of his personal name; alternate zì Fùféng 附鳳), native of Xúnyáng 潯陽 (Jiāngxī Jiǔjiāng) but resident first at Wúxīng 吳興 (modern Húzhōu) and then in Wú (Sūzhōu). One of the canonical Wúzhōng Sìjié 吳中四傑 with KR4e0029 Gāo Qǐ, KR4e0041 Yáng Jī, and KR4e0043 Xú Bēn. Career: xiāngjiàn graduate in late Yuán; Āndìng shūyuàn shānzhǎng 安定書院山長 at Wúxīng; moved a second time to Wú; summoned in the early Hóngwǔ and appointed Tàichángsì chéng 太常寺丞; demoted on an unstated charge to Lǐngnán (Guǎngdōng); recalled less than halfway; aware that he could not escape further punishment, threw himself into the Lóngjiāng 龍江 and died (Hóngwǔ 18 / 1385). His record is appended in Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn to Gāo Qǐ’s biography. The companion verse collection (SBCK printing) is KR4e0038 Jìngjū jí 靜居集.

Tiyao

The Jìngjū jí in four juǎn — by Zhāng Yǔ of the Míng. Yǔ, zì Láiyí, conventionally known by his zì; alternate zì Fùféng. Originally a Xúnyáng man; sojourner at Wúxīng. At the end of Yuán he was raised by the xiāngjiàn and served as Āndìng shūyuàn shānzhǎng; moved again to Wú. In the early Hóngwǔ he was summoned and appointed Tàichángsì chéng; soon, on a charge, he was banished to Lǐngnán. Before he had finished half the road he was recalled. Yǔ, knowing he could not escape, threw himself into the Lóngjiāng and died. His record is appended in Míng shǐ Wényuàn zhuàn, in Gāo Qǐ’s biography. The histories speak of his prose as jīngjié yǒu fǎ (refined, terse, and methodical), and especially fine in verse. Tàizǔ [Zhū Yuánzhāng] valued his prose; in Hóngwǔ 16 (1383) he himself recounted Chúyáng wáng 滁陽王’s [i.e. Guō Zǐxīng 郭子興’s] affairs and ordered Yǔ to compose the miàobēi 廟碑. Hé Qiáoyuǎn 何喬遠’s Míngshān cáng 名山藏 also calls his prose cí diǎnyǎ (classical and refined) — recording events in detail and with proper form. But because his verse-fame was particularly great, the compilers of his collection have recorded only his verse, with no place for his prose. Zhū Yízūn 朱彝尊’s Jìngzhìjū shīhuà 靜志居詩話 says his five-character form is slightly oppressive (yùsè 鬱轖); his modern-style verse is not his strong suit either — he could not avoid Zhū’s wēi cí (slight reproof). Now looking at the collection: his regulated verse aims at jùnyì and indeed often falls into the smooth-and-cooked; his five-character ancient form has cadenced rise-and-fall, sinuous turns — there are clear-ringing pieces, not entirely as Yízūn says. As to the gēxíng: brush-power is heroic and free, melody is harmonious and unobstructed — sufficient to be a champion of his moment. To connect tracks with Qīngqiū [Gāo Qǐ] and lead before Běiguō [Xú Bēn], in the order Lúqián Wánghòu 盧前王後 — he does not necessarily make a “fēngyāo 蜂腰” (a wasp-waist, i.e. weak middle) of the Sìjié. Compiled and presented respectfully in the ninth month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780).

Abstract

Zhāng Yǔ’s lifedates 1333–1385 are confirmed by CBDB (id 34386). The career chronology is preserved compactly in the Tíyào: refusal of service under Zhāng Shìchéng 張士誠 in late Yuán (a position he shared with the other three Sìjié); Tàichángsì chéng in early Hóngwǔ; demotion to Lǐngnán; second recall; suicide by drowning in the Lóngjiāng on the way back, 1385. The biographical anchor is the Chúyáng wáng miàobēi 滁陽王廟碑 of 1383 — written on imperial commission for Guō Zǐxīng 郭子興, the rebel-king who had been Zhū Yuánzhāng’s father-in-law and patron; this is the principal document attesting Zhāng’s standing in Hóngwǔ official literary commissions before his fall.

The Tíyào’s defense of Zhāng’s verse against Zhū Yízūn’s reservations (Zhū had judged Zhāng’s five-character form somewhat oppressive and his modern-style verse not strong) is a model of careful balanced assessment: the editors agree that the regulated verse is often “smooth and cooked” but argue the ancient five-character and gēxíng are genuinely strong. The closing positioning — “to connect tracks with Qīngqiū [Gāo Qǐ] and lead before Běiguō [Xú Bēn]” — uses the Táng-style Lúqián Wánghòu 盧前王後 idiom (referring to Wáng Bó 王勃 and Lú Zhàolín 盧照鄰 of the Táng Sìjié) to defend Zhāng’s place in the Wúzhōng Sìjié sequence.

The Tíyào explicitly addresses why the present collection records only verse, not prose: the prose has been overshadowed by the verse fame in editorial practice, even though contemporary judgement (the Hóngwǔ emperor’s commissioning the Chúyáng wáng miàobēi, Hé Qiáoyuǎn’s Míngshān cáng assessment) rated the prose highly. This is a textbook example of asymmetric reception affecting the surviving textual record.

Translations and research

• L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Entry on Zhāng Yǔ (vol. 1, pp. 113–114).
• F. W. Mote. The Poet Kao Ch’i, 1336–1374. Princeton: PUP, 1962. Ch. 4 on the Wú-zhōng Sì-jié.
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí).

Other points of interest

The Chúyáng wáng miàobēi 滁陽王廟碑 — Zhāng Yǔ’s 1383 imperial commission for Guō Zǐxīng 郭子興’s temple inscription — is preserved in this collection and is the principal Hóngwǔ-era documentary witness to Guō Zǐxīng’s official cult, established by Zhū Yuánzhāng in posthumous gratitude to his father-in-law and earliest patron.

Links

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