Yǐnqiào jí 蚓竅集
The Earthworm-Hole Collection by 管時敏 (撰)
About the work
Yǐnqiào jí 蚓竅集 in ten juǎn (catalog meta records 10 juǎn) is the literary collection of Guǎn Shímǐn 管時敏 (active 1378–1403), native of Yúnjiān 雲間 (= Sōngjiāng, now Shànghǎi). Guǎn served as fǔyì zhuāngzàn (assisting and supporting) the Chǔwáng 楚王 (Princely Establishment of Chǔ at Wǔchāng) for twenty-five years — promoted in the course of that service from jǐshàn 紀善 to zuǒ chángshǐ 左長史. The title Yǐnqiào 蚓竅 (“earthworm hole” — a self-deprecating allusion to the tiny voice of an earthworm) is the author’s own, in the qiāncí 謙辭 register; the actual content is praised by the contemporary preface for its careful classical zhèngshēng register. Printed by imperial Chǔwáng command in Yǒnglè 1 (1403); the SBCK base reproduces this Yǒnglè cut, with the preface by Hú Cuìzhōng 胡粹中 of Shānyīn (then Chǔfǔ yòu chángshǐ 楚府右長史) dated Yǒnglè 1 / guǐwèi / spring 3rd-month full moon (1403).
Prefaces
Hú Cuìzhōng 胡粹中 (Shānyīn, then Chǔfǔ yòu chángshǐ), Yǐnqiào jí xù 蚓竅集序, Yǒnglè 1 / guǐwèi / spring 3rd-month full moon (1403): “The Táng people had the saying that ‘literary composition is in truth a minor skill; for the Dào it is not honoured’ — this is not the speech of those who know words. For what makes the Dào visible is called wén; the Dào passes by wén, and wén is the zàidào zhī qì (vessel for carrying the Dào). The Dào does not part from man; if a man’s wén parts from the Dào, can he still speak of wén? Moreover, the way of sound and music communes with politics — in its clearness and turbidness, height and depth, urgency and slowness, hurry and ease — the rise and fall of the Dào, the goodness or badness of politics, the height or lowness of customs — all are tied to it. So shěn yīn (audit the sound) is enough to know the politics; wén yuè (hear the music) is enough to know the virtue. Our great Míng received the Mandate of Heaven, unified the four seas; the guāngyuè 光岳 qì is harmoniously fused, pure and complete; the hàohào èè 灝灝噩噩 wén — the féngféng 渢渢 yīn — circulates through the universe. At this time the Chǔ has its old-learning subject Master Guǎn Shímǐn of Yúnjiān, who has helped and supported [the Chǔwáng] for 25 years in succession; the Worthy King’s virtues of rénhòu míngshù yínwèi gōngjiǎn (humane, generous, brightly forgiving, awesomely respectful, frugal) are heard throughout the world. The Master rose from jǐshàn to zuǒ chángshǐ; coming to be a bèiyuán péiwèi (subaltern attendant) — I daily hear his discreet words and surplus discourse. He intermittently showed me a poem volume of his own composition — gǔzhì jìntǐ (ancient and modern forms), in all so-many pieces; chōngróng in conception, kēng- in rhythm, zhuīzhuó in literary composition. His words are lì yǐ zé (decorated yet exemplary), his thought is shēn yǐ yuǎn (deep and far), his yì is pā ér zhèng (florid yet upright), wēnróu dūnhòu, bù pò bù qiè (gentle, generous, neither pressing nor cutting). Compared to the ancients, he yields no place. Yet he self-deprecatingly called it Yǐnqiào jí. The ancients who cultivated themselves did not necessarily go on to apply [their cultivation] in zhèngshì (public affairs); but those who applied it had no need to look further to yányǔ (speech). Yet what virtue emits from the mouth is called yán; for héshùn jī zhōng, yīnghuā fā wài (when harmony and concord accumulate within, brilliance and flowers emit without) — this cannot be helped. The Master in his own person and conduct has lived out his words, so what emerges as wéncí is hépíng zhōngzhèng (peaceful and centred-upright). That it can be transmitted to later generations is unquestionable. But what the Master can leave undying does not lie in this. The Worthy King values the Master’s virtue and wishes to extend his transmission, ordering it cut into print. I, dull as I am, presume to write a preface for its beginning.”
Abstract
Guǎn Shímǐn’s lifedates are not fixed. CBDB id 34390 records the name without dates. The Hú Cuìzhōng 1403 preface fixes his service at the Chǔwáng establishment at Wǔchāng (the principality of Zhū Zhēn 朱楨, Hóngwǔ’s sixth son) from c. 1378 (Hóngwǔ 11, when the principality was established) — twenty-five years of unbroken service. The career progression jǐshàn → zuǒ chángshǐ is a standard wángfǔ career ladder; zuǒ chángshǐ was the head of the household-officials and effectively the chief political adviser of the prince. Guǎn’s birth-date thus c. 1340s, death-date probably after 1403.
The significance of the collection lies in its preservation of the literary culture of an early-Míng princely establishment in the provinces — the Chǔfǔ of Wǔchāng, distinct from the metropolitan Hànlín / Nánjīng culture documented in the other early-Hóngwǔ biéjí. The Chǔfǔ’s commissioning of the printing (under imperial Yǒnglè 1 sanction) at the moment of dynastic transition from Jiànwén to Yǒnglè is itself a documentary witness to the careful navigation of princely literary patronage in 1403. Hú Cuìzhōng’s classical opening — the shěn yīn zhī zhèng (audit-of-sound-knows-politics) doctrine from the Yuèjì — fits this Chǔfǔ context. Wilkinson, Chinese History, §28.4, treats Guǎn Shímǐn briefly under early-Yǒng-lè provincial biéjí.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Brief notice of Guǎn Shí-mǐn (vol. 2, p. 1366, under Zhū Zhēn).
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí); §31 (princely establishments).
Other points of interest
The Chǔfǔ’s imperial-commissioned printing of the Yǐnqiào jí in Yǒnglè 1 (1403) — by Chǔwáng Zhū Zhēn 朱楨 (Hóngwǔ’s sixth son, an enthusiastic literary patron) — is one of the few surviving princely-establishment biéjí printings of the early Yǒnglè period. The Chǔfǔ’s careful navigation of the dynastic-transition political moment (the Yǒnglè zhèngtǒng claim was contested in 1403) shaped the political tone of the preface.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng biéjí); §31 (Míng princely establishments).