竹齋集

Zhúzhāi jí 竹齋集

The Bamboo-Studio Collection by 王冕 (撰), 王周 (編)

About the work

Zhúzhāi jí 竹齋集 in three juǎn with xùjí 續集 in one juǎn (catalog meta records the 3+1 juǎn structure) is the verse collection of Wáng Miǎn 王冕 (c. 1287–1359), zì Yuánzhāng 元章 (the Tíyào gives this; the Xù gāoshì zhuàn 續高士傳 has alternate zì Yuánsù 元肅), native of Zhūjì 諸暨 (Zhèjiāng). Wáng Miǎn is the foremost late-Yuán painter of plum-blossoms 梅 — the inheritor of Yáng Wújiù 揚無咎 / Lú Wénjiè 廬文節 plum-painting traditions and an exemplary Yuán yímín (Yuán loyalist) self-styled hermit. Born to a peasant family; as a child of poverty took refuge with a Buddhist temple; at night secretly sat on the Buddha’s lap to read by lamp-light — the classic qínxué (diligent study) anecdote. Later studied with Hán Xìng 韓性 of Ānyáng 安陽 and inherited his learning. Recommended for office by Lǐ Xiàoguāng 李孝光 (zhuózuò láng) and Tàibùhuá 泰不華 (mìshū qīng; the Tíyào notes the original WYG mistakenly wrote Tàihābùhuá 泰哈布哈 and corrects to Tàibùhuá — a Mongol official); refused on the foreknowledge that the Yuán was about to fall. When Míng Tàizǔ [Zhū Yuánzhāng] took Wùzhōu in 1359, he sought Wáng out and appointed him Zīyì cānjūn 諮議參軍; Wáng died shortly after. Sòng Lián 宋濂 wrote his biography (preserved in Qiánxī jí 潛溪集) — the principal external source for Wáng’s career. The Xù gāoshì zhuàn gives an alternate death-narrative: Tàizǔ wished to appoint him cānjūn; he died overnight. The Zhèjiāng tōngzhì 浙江通志 places him in the Yǐnyì zhuàn (recluses’ biography) on this basis. The collection was compiled by Wáng’s son Wáng Zhōu 王周 (CBDB id 19905, no dates); the xùjí (mostly plum-painting tíhuà juéjù) was compiled by Wáng Miǎn’s great-granddaughter’s son Luò Jūjìng 駱居敬 from later-recovered manuscripts (including the Lǚ Shēng 呂升-composed Wáng Zhōu xíngzhuàng 王周行狀 of Wáng’s son). Liú Jī 劉基 wrote the preface.

Tiyao

The Zhúzhāi jí in three juǎn, Xùjí in one juǎn — by Wáng Miǎn of the Míng. Miǎn, zì Zhòngzhāng (correction by the source itself? Actually note: the source first writes 王冕字仲章 — zì Zhòngzhāng; this should be Yuánzhāng 元章; the 仲 for 元 is a printing slip). The Xù gāoshì zhuàn gives zì Yuánsù 元肅. Native of Zhūjì. Originally a peasant family; he was poor and depended on a Buddhist monk for lodging. At night he secretly sat on the Buddha’s lap, read by lamp-light. Later he received instruction from Hán Xìng of Ānyáng and inherited his learning. But his conduct was often guǐjī (eccentric and extreme), close to kuáng (madness). The zhuózuò láng Lǐ Xiàoguāng and the mìshū qīng Tàibùhuá (note: the source originally wrote 泰哈布哈 — Tàihābùhuá; we now correct to Tàibùhuá 泰不華) had recommended him to the court; knowing the Yuán house was about to fall, he refused and did not take office. When the Míng Tàizǔ took Wùzhōu, he heard his name and sought him out, appointing him Zīyì cānjūn; not long afterwards he died. Sòng Lián wrote a biography of him, included in the Qiánxī jí, recounting the start and end in great fullness. The Xù gāoshì zhuàn makes Tàizǔ wish to appoint him as cānjūn, and overnight he died; the Zhèjiāng tōngzhì on this basis lists him in the Yǐnyì zhuàn. The old recension also calls him a Yuán man — not factual. The verse-collection in three juǎn was compiled by his son Zhōu 周, with a preface by Liú Jī 劉基. The xùjí’s verse and miscellaneous prose in one juǎn, plus the Wáng Zhōu xíngzhuàng by Lǚ Shēng 呂升, were compiled by Miǎn’s great-granddaughter’s-son Luò Jūjìng 駱居敬. Miǎn’s tiāncái zòngyì (heavenly talent, dashing-uninhibited) — his verse has much páiào qiúwǎng (bold-defying, strongly resilient) qì, not to be bound by ordinary form. Yet his lofty striding, his standing apart — without Yáng Wéizhēn and the others’ guǐjùn xiānzè (strange-handsome, fine-slanted) habits — in the YuánMíng transition he is indeed a zuòzhě (genuine maker). In the [main] collection there are no juéjù; only the plum-paintings he inscribed with juéjù. The xùjí contains entirely his self-inscribed plum-painting verses. Compiled and presented respectfully in the first month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).

Abstract

Wáng Miǎn’s death-date 1359 is fixed by CBDB (id 28798: d. 1359). The catalog meta records 1335–1407, which is wrong — likely confusion with a homonym or a printing error in the meta. The standard scholarly dating is c. 1287 (some give c. 1310) – 1359; CBDB gives only d. 1359. Followed here: c. 1287–1359 (Wáng Miǎn the Yuán painter and exemplary yímín).

The collection’s significance: (1) the principal documentary witness to one of the most famous YuánMíng transition painter-poets; (2) the Wáng Zhōu compilation history — son of the author — is one of the better-documented filial-compilation cases in the late-Yuán biéjí tradition; (3) the xùjí of self-inscribed plum-blossom tíhuà poems is the foundational corpus of late-imperial plum-blossom inscriptional poetry, foundational for later tíhuà juéjù practice through to Shěn Zhōu 沈周 and Wén Zhēngmíng 文徵明.

The Sìkù editors’ classification of Wáng under Míng — despite his death in 1359, nine years before the Hóngwǔ founding — is justified on the strength of his late-life acceptance of Zhū Yuánzhāng’s Zīyì cānjūn appointment after Zhū took Wùzhōu. This is the same editorial logic applied to Táo Zōngyí (KR4e0049) and Zhèng Qián (KR4e0054): a literary figure who substantively served the rising Míng faction is classed under Míng even when most of their career was Yuán. Wilkinson, Chinese History, §28.4, places Wáng among Yuán figures despite the Sìkù classification; DMB (vol. 2, p. 1393) likewise classes him as a Yuán artist. The principal anchor is Sòng Lián’s biography of Wáng in Qiánxī jí.

Translations and research

• Susan Bush. The Chinese Literati on Painting: Su Shih (1037–1101) to Tung Ch’i-ch’ang (1555–1636). Cambridge MA: Harvard UP, 1971. Pp. 119–124 on Wáng Miǎn’s plum-painting in the late-Yuán painter-literatus tradition.
• L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Entry on Wáng Miǎn (vol. 2, pp. 1393–1394).
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí).

Other points of interest

The Tíyào’s explicit correction of the original WYG text — from Tàihābùhuá 泰哈布哈 to Tàibùhuá 泰不華 (a Mongol literary official, zì Jiānshànpǔ 兼善, jìnshì of Yuán Yányòu 4 / 1317, killed in the 1352 Fāng Guózhēn 方國珍 uprising) — is one of the Sìkù editors’ more careful Yuán-period name-restoration corrections. The original Tàihābùhuá transcription is a Qīng-era Mǎn transliteration imposed on the Yuán Mongol name; the editors revert to the actual Yuán-period transcription.

Links

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