Xíngyáng wàishǐ jí 榮陽外史集
Collection of the Outer Historian of Xíng-yáng by 鄭眞 (撰)
About the work
Xíngyáng wàishǐ jí 榮陽外史集 (correct character 滎; the WYG cover writes 榮, a printing slip; hào derived from the Zhèng-clan ancestral seat at Xíngyáng 滎陽 in Hénán) originally in one hundred juǎn; surviving in the WYG transmission in 63 juǎn (the catalog meta records 存63 卷, indicating 37 juǎn lost by the Sìkù editors’ day). Author: Zhèng Zhēn 鄭真 (also written 鄭眞), zì Qiānzhī 千之, native of Yínxiàn 鄞縣 (Níngbō, Zhèjiāng). The Chénghuà Sìmíng jùnzhì 成化四明郡志 records his thorough mastery of the Six Classics (especially the Chūnqiū); pupil of Wú Chéng 吳澄 (the great late-Yuán Confucian philosopher; the catalog evidence is unusual since Wú Chéng died 1333, but the Sìmíng jùnzhì records that “Wú Chéng once cè (set the question of) twelve essentials of zhìdào” and that Zhèng Zhēn replied without hesitation — this implies Zhèng was a Yuán-period pupil and was born in the 1310s or earlier). Passed the Hóngwǔ 4 (1371) xiāngshì (provincial examination) first place; appointed Línhuái xiàn jiàoyù 臨淮縣教諭; promoted to Guǎngxìnfǔ jiàoshòu 廣信府教授. With his elder brother Zhèng Jū 駒 and younger brother Zhèng Fèng 鳳 — the Zhèng san-xiōng-dì 鄭三兄弟 — Zhèng dominated the Sìmíng (Níngbō) literary establishment of the early Hóngwǔ era. Initially of equal literary repute with Sòng Lián 宋濂: the two once jointly composed a Péizhōng Zhùcúntáng jì 裴中著存堂記 — Zhèng’s piece was completed first and Sòng Lián put down his brush in deference; but Sòng went on to court office while Zhèng remained a regional xuéguān, so Zhèng’s literary reputation was eclipsed.
Tiyao
The Xíngyáng wàishǐ jí in one hundred juǎn — by Zhèng Zhēn of the Míng. Zhēn, zì Qiānzhī, native of Yínxiàn. The Chénghuà Sìmíng jùnzhì says he exhausted the Six Classics and was especially long in the Chūnqiū. Wú Chéng 吳澄 once cèzhī with twelve zhìdào 治道 (rule-the-Dào) matters — all of which were jīngshǐ zhī jùnyǒng (classical-and-historical fine-and-lasting); Zhēn replied without obstruction. In Hóngwǔ 4 (1371) he placed first in the xiāngshì; appointed Línhuái xiàn jiàoyù; promoted to Guǎngxìnfǔ jiàoshòu. Zhēn with his brother Jū 駒 and younger brother Fèng 鳳 together excelled in literary fame, Zhēn especially distinguished in gǔwén. Originally his shēngjià (sound-worth) was xiāng dǐ (mutually equal) with Jīnhuá Sòng Lián. Once with Sòng Lián jointly composed the Péizhōng Zhùcúntáng jì; Zhēn’s piece was finished first; Sòng Lián gé bǐ (set down his brush) for him. Later when Sòng Lián attained position and was prominent, fǔfú miàoláng (decorating the temple-hall), Zhēn yǎnjiǎn bēiqī (stooped-and-cramped, low-perched), passing his life as a xuéguān — so his shēnghuá quìjì (sound-glory, isolated-quiet) and successive accounts are sparse. Now looking at the records: he cannot bìngwù (race side-by-side) with Sòng Lián in the cítán (lyric court); but yì yǒu gēndǐ, cí yǒu guǐdù (intent has root-foundation, words have rule-and-measure) — with Sòng Lián he can in truth jiānsuí (shoulder-follow). One cannot use the míngwèi (name-and-rank) of rise-or-fall to fix the yōuliè (better-and-worse) of literary skill. The original collection was 100 juǎn; in the Míng era already 30 juǎn were lost. What survives today is also much cánquē shīcì (broken-missing, lost-in-order), ébù shèng yǐ (errors more than can be enumerated); sometimes reaching bùkě jùdòu (impossible to mark sentence-breaks). [The collection] has not been widely transmitted in the world; therefore no one has put it right. That what is unfully-lost is fortunate. Now we have examined the text-and-sentence and each made a fixed corrected text; for those bì bùkě tōng (definitely cannot be passed-through), we keep the original copy’s record — to not lose the quēyí (doubt-leaving) sense. Compiled and presented respectfully in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Abstract
Zhèng Zhēn’s lifedates are not securely fixed. The existing person note records death-date 1372 (based on a CBDB fl. reading mistakenly taken as death-date); but the Tíyào shows him alive and active as Guǎngxìnfǔ jiàoshòu well after his 1371 xiāngshì first place. Birth-date c. 1310s (consistent with Wú Chéng pupillage, since Wú died 1333); death-date probably 1380s–1390s. The person note should be corrected.
The principal Tíyào contribution is the rehabilitation of Zhèng Zhēn against the obscurity into which his literary reputation had fallen. The argument is structural: at the moment of writing (early Hóngwǔ), Zhèng was in equal-rank literary partnership with Sòng Lián — Sòng’s deference on the Péizhōng Zhùcúntáng jì is the clinching anecdote. Sòng’s rise to senior office and Zhèng’s continued career as a regional xuéguān (county / prefectural Education Officer) then asymmetrically shaped the reception. The Sìkù editors’ implicit argument — that míngwèi (rank) should not be confused with wénzhāng zhī yōuliè (literary excellence) — is a foundational Sìkù-era literary-historiographical principle.
The 100 → 63 juǎn loss (37 juǎn lost) and the surviving text’s severe cánquē shīcì corruption is acknowledged transparently — the Sìkù editors’ editorial method (correct what can be corrected; preserve the original for what cannot) is one of the cleaner cases of kǎozhèng-method principle.
The Zhèng san-xiōng-dì (Zhèng Zhēn, Zhèng Jū, Zhèng Fèng) were the principal literary force of the early-Hóngwǔ Sìmíng (Níngbō) literary establishment. Wilkinson, Chinese History, §28.4, treats the Sìmíng literary tradition in this period.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Brief notice of Zhèng Zhēn.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The Sòng Lián / Zhèng Zhēn equal-rank-then-asymmetric-reception pattern — Sòng’s deference on the joint Péizhōng Zhùcúntáng jì and Sòng’s subsequent rise to Hànlín xuéshì chéngzhǐ while Zhèng remained a regional xuéguān — is a model case of how official-career outcome shapes literary reception. The Sìkù editors’ principled rehabilitation of Zhèng is a documentary witness to the late-Qiánlóng editorial commitment to literary judgement-by-text-alone.
Links
- Sìkù tíyào, Kyoto Zinbun digital edition
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng biéjí).