Éhú jí 鵞湖集
The Goose-Lake Collection by 龔斆 (撰)
About the work
Éhú jí 鵞湖集 in six juǎn is the literary collection of Gōng Xiào 龔斆 (active 1370s–c. 1400), native of Yánshān 鉛山 (Jiāngxī), home of the famous Éhú 鵞湖 (Goose Lake) academy — site of the canonical Zhū Xī / Lù Jiǔyuān philosophical confrontation of 1175 (Goose Lake Meeting, Éhú zhī huì), whence the title. Gōng has no Míng shǐ biography; only the Tàizǔ běnjì records his Hóngwǔ 13 (1380) appointment as Sìfǔ guān chūnxiàguān 四輔官春夏官 (one of the short-lived Four Supporters offices established to replace the abolished Zhōngshūshěng, alongside Wáng Běn 王本, Dù Yòu 杜佑, Zhào Mínwàng 趙民望, and Wú Yuán 吳源). The Yánshān xiàn zhì preserves the rest of his career: first taught at Guǎngxìn as a míngjīng 明經; compiled Zhūzǐ shuō 朱子說 and Bǔ Liùjīng tú 補六經圖; recommended by yùshǐ Yè Mèngfāng 葉孟芳 and summoned to be Sìfǔ guān; retired on grounds of age; recalled to be Guózǐ jìjiǔ 國子祭酒; died in office. Authored Jīngyě lèichāo 經野類鈔 in 28 juǎn. The original collection in six juǎn (per Jiāo Hóng’s Jīngjí zhì) had nearly vanished — neither Chéng Mǐnzhèng 程敏政’s Míng wénhéng 明文衡 nor Huáng Zōngxī 黃宗羲’s Míng wénhǎi 明文海 (both broad collections) records his name. The Sìkù editors recovered the text from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn 永樂大典 and restored it to six juǎn.
Tiyao
The Éhú jí in six juǎn — by Gōng Xiào of the Míng. Xiào, native of Yánshān. The Míng shǐ has no biography; only the Tàizǔ běnjì records that in Hóngwǔ 13 bāyuè bǐngwǔ (1380), the Sìfǔ guān office was established, taking rúshì Wáng Běn, Dù Yòu, Gōng Xiào, Zhào Mínwàng, Wú Yuán as chūnxià guān — but the běnmò (start-and-end) is not detailed. Examining the Yánshān xiàn zhì: Xiào first as míngjīng taught at Guǎngxìn; collected Zhūzǐ shuō to supplement the Liùjīng tú (Diagrams of the Six Classics). The yùshǐ Yè Mèngfāng 葉孟芳 recommended his learning-and-conduct; he was summoned in as Sìfǔ guān. On age he asked to go home. Again called to be Guózǐ jìjiǔ; died in office. He authored Jīngyě lèichāo in 28 juǎn. So he was also a man of qióngjīng dǔxué (exhaustively-studying the classics, sincere learning). His collection seen in Jiāo Hóng’s Jīngjí zhì is in six juǎn; transmission is very sparse. Chéng Mǐnzhèng’s Míng wénhéng, Huáng Zōngxī’s Míng wénhǎi — collecting and selecting extremely widely — both do not reach his name or surname. So [the collection] has been lost for long. Now only the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn still considerably records his verse and prose. The verse, though much following the yúbō (left-over wave) of late Yuán, is qīngwǎn xiéchàng (clear-graceful, harmonious-smooth) — also self-lángláng kě sòng (clear-ringing, reciteable). The prose is yuánběn jīngshù (rooted in classical learning), jiégòu jǐnyán (construction firm-serious), truly does not shame the zuòzhě (genuine maker). His Sòng Zhōu Zhuó / Zhāng Pǔ shǐ Gāolì xù 送周倬張溥使高麗序 says: “In Hóngwǔ 18 (1385), [Zhōu] Zhuó and the others were ordered to go and enfeoff the Guówáng” — but the Míng shǐ Gāolì zhuàn fails to record the affair. Also: Zèng Liú Shūmiǎn fèngshǐ Xīyáng huí xù 贈劉叔勉奉使西洋回序 says: “In Hóngwǔ 2 (1369) spring, [Liú] Shūmiǎn was ordered to go on mission; in Hóngwǔ 3 (1370) summer, only then reached Xīyáng 西洋”; but the Míng shǐ Bóní zhuàn 浡泥傳 says: “In Hóngwǔ 3 / bāyuè (1370 August), the yùshǐ Liú Jìngzhī 劉敬之 was ordered to go on mission; over half a year and only reached the country” — the year-and-month shēncuò bù hé (clash-and-do-not-match). Naturally what Xiào records gets the true facts. This is also enough to zī kǎozhèng (assist in textual verification). Carefully having gathered, selected, and compiled, following the original outline we fix it as six juǎn and record it. Compiled and presented respectfully in the ninth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Abstract
Gōng Xiào’s lifedates are not securely fixed. CBDB returns three Ming homonyms (id 340387 / 499069 / 558017) with no dates. The career anchor: míngjīng teaching at Guǎngxìn pre-1380; Sìfǔ guān chūnxiàguān from Hóngwǔ 13 / bāyuè bǐngwǔ (1380) — but the Sìfǔ guān office was abolished in Hóngwǔ 15 (1382), so Gōng’s tenure was brief. Retirement on age, then recall as Guózǐ jìjiǔ. The two prose pieces dated to Hóngwǔ 18 (1385) and Hóngwǔ 2–3 (1369–1370) suggest active service from c. 1370s through to at least 1385. Death in office as Guózǐ jìjiǔ probably in the late 1380s or 1390s.
The principal substantive contribution of the present collection is documentary-historiographical, not literary: the Sòng Zhōu Zhuó / Zhāng Pǔ shǐ Gāolì xù records the Hóngwǔ 18 (1385) Kor-yǒ (Koryŏ) embassy that the Míng shǐ Gāolì zhuàn fails to record (a significant gap-filling); and the Zèng Liú Shūmiǎn fèngshǐ Xīyáng huí xù corrects the chronology of the Bóní 浡泥 (Brunei) mission of 1369–1370 against the Míng shǐ Bóní zhuàn. Both notices are textbook Sìkù-era documentary-discovery findings — the biéjí’s recovery from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn makes substantial contributions to early-Míng diplomatic history.
Wilkinson, Chinese History, §28.4, notes Gōng Xiào among the Hóngwǔ-era institutional figures; §38 (Míng diplomatic relations) notes the Éhú jí as a documentary witness to the early-Hóngwǔ embassies.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The Éhú jí’s two diplomatic-history prefaces — for the 1385 Korea embassy and the 1369–1370 Brunei embassy — are textbook cases of biéjí preservation correcting and supplementing the dynastic histories. The 1385 Korea date is not in Míng shǐ Gāolì zhuàn; the 1369–1370 Brunei mission is dated differently in Míng shǐ Bóní zhuàn. The Sìkù editors’ recovery of these notices from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn is one of the cleaner cases of kǎozhèng recovery of diplomatic-history primary sources.
Links
- Sìkù tíyào, Kyoto Zinbun digital edition
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng biéjí); §38 (Míng diplomatic relations).