Jìzhìzhāi jí 繼志齋集
The Studio-of-Continuing-the-Will Collection by 王紳 (撰)
About the work
Jìzhìzhāi jí 繼志齋集 originally in 12 juǎn, surviving in 9 juǎn (the first juǎn containing náogē 鐃歌 is entirely lost), is the literary collection of Wáng Shēn 王紳 (1360–1400), zì Zhòngjǐn 仲縉, native of Yìwū 義烏 (Zhèjiāng). Second son of Wáng Wěi 王禕 (dàizhì 待制, 1322–1374) — the Hóngwǔ founding-court Hànlín official executed by the Yuán-loyalist Yúnnán Liángwáng 梁王 on a mission to summon him to surrender, and one of the two principal compilers of the Yuán shǐ 元史 (with 宋濂 Sòng Lián). Wáng Wěi died when Wáng Shēn was thirteen; the zhāi-title Jìzhì (“Continuing-the-Will”) expresses Wáng Shēn’s filial commitment to his father’s literary inheritance. Wáng Shēn studied under Sòng Lián, who said “My friend [Wáng Wěi] is not lost!” The Shǔxiànwáng 蜀獻王 (Prince of Shǔ, Zhū Chūn 朱椿, 1371–1423, Hóngwǔ’s eleventh son and a noted literary patron of Sìchuān) invited Wáng Shēn as kèlǐ 客禮 (with the ritual of a guest); Wáng Shēn went from there to Yúnnán to recover his father’s remains — unsuccessfully — and composed the Diānnán tòngkū jì 滇南痛哭記 (“Record of Weeping at Diānnán”) on his return. Under Jiànwén appointed Guózǐ bóshì 國子博士; participated in the compilation of the Tàizǔ shílù 太祖實錄; presented the Dà Míng náogē gǔchuī qǔ 大明鐃歌鼓吹曲 in 12 chapters; died in office in 1400. The original collection’s first juǎn containing the náogē sequence is lost.
Tiyao
The Jìzhìzhāi jí, original outline 12 juǎn — by Wáng Shēn of the Míng. Shēn, zì Zhòngjǐn, native of Yìwū; the zhòngzǐ (second son) of dàizhì Wáng Wěi. The Míng shǐ appendix in [Wáng] Wěi’s zhuàn says: “When Wěi died, Shēn was 13. He served his mother and elder brother with dūn xiàoyǒu (sincere filiality and brotherly love). Grown up, bóxué (broadly learned), he received instruction at the gate of Sòng Lián; Lián valued him, saying ‘My friend is not lost.’ The Shǔxiànwáng invited Shēn and received him with kèlǐ. Shēn petitioned the Prince and went to Yúnnán to seek his father’s remains, bù huò (did not obtain). [He] composed the Diānnán tòngkū jì and returned. Under Jiànwén on recommendation he was summoned as Guózǐ bóshì; participated in editing the Tàizǔ shílù; presented the Dà Míng náogē gǔchuī qǔ 12 chapters. Died in office.” Wáng Bì 王泌’s Dōngcháo jì 東朝記 says Chéngzǔ summoned [him] into the Hànlín to compile the Tàizǔ shílù — this is mistaken. His collection is cánquē shīcì (broken-missing, out-of-sequence); only nine juǎn survive; and what was recorded as the náogē in juǎn 1 is already entirely lost. The other duànjiǎn quēwén (broken-bamboo-slips, missing texts) are bù yī ér zú (not just one, but plenty). Yet because he was the son of a famous father, and had a shīchéng yǒuzì (had a teacher’s transmission with origin), his prose is yǎnyí fēngwèi (extending-rolling, abundant-luxuriant), not losing the jiāfǎ (family method); his verse also has Táo [Yuānmíng] and Wéi [Yīngwù] fēngzhì (style and disposition), without the late-Yuán xiānnóng (fine-dense) habit. In the Hóngwǔ Jiànwén years he can still stand-out as forming a jiā (school). Although a yī lín piàn jiǎ (a single scale, a fragment of armor), his is by no means a common gé — and we do not abandon it on grounds of its incomplete loss. Compiled and presented respectfully in the twelfth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Abstract
Wáng Shēn’s lifedates 1360–1400 are confirmed by CBDB (id 28112: 1360–1400). The chronology is straightforward: Wáng Wěi died on the Yúnnán mission in 1374; Wáng Shēn was 13 at the time, born in Hóngwǔ-7 minus 13 = 1361 (Wáng Wěi’s death year is given as 1374 by DMB; CBDB has Wáng Shēn b. 1360, which gives age 14 suì in 1374 by xūsuì reckoning — consistent). Wáng Shēn died in Jiànwén 2 / Hóngwǔ 33 (1400) at age 41.
The Sìkù editors’ careful correction of Wáng Bì 王泌’s Dōngcháo jì error — that Wáng Shēn participated in Yǒng-lè-era Chéngzǔ’s compilation of the Tàizǔ shílù — is important: Wáng Shēn died in 1400, before Chéngzǔ’s accession in 1402, and the Tàizǔ shílù compilation he participated in was the Jiàn-wén-era first compilation (later replaced by Yǒnglè’s revised version). Wáng Bì’s confusion is a typical mid-Míng historiographical issue. Wilkinson, Chinese History, §28.4, treats Wáng Shēn as one of the Jiàn-wén-era literati, and §34.1 (Míng shílù) discusses the multiple Jiànwén / Yǒnglè compilations of the Tàizǔ shílù.
The principal literary-historical interest: Wáng Shēn’s jìzhì (continuing-the-will) commitment to his father’s literary inheritance — through both the zhāi-name and the literary practice — is the canonical case of second-generation Hóng-wǔ-era literary inheritance. The teacher-pupil chain is also notable: Sòng Lián → Wáng Shēn (Wáng Wěi’s son and pupil under Sòng) preserves the Yīnjiā (in-law) and shīchéng (teacher-transmission) connection of the Yìwū / Jīnhuá literary establishment across the Hóngwǔ / Jiànwén transition. The Shǔxiànwáng’s invitation of Wáng Shēn as kèlǐ — the same Prince Zhū Chūn who built up the Sìchuān-province literary establishment under early Míng — connects Wáng Shēn to the same princely-patronage tradition that nurtured Hú Kuí (KR4e0067) at the Níngwángfǔ.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Notice of Wáng Shēn (under Wáng Wěi, vol. 2, pp. 1444–1447).
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí); §34.1 (Míng shí-lù).
Other points of interest
The Diānnán tòngkū jì 滇南痛哭記 — Wáng Shēn’s record of his failed expedition to Yúnnán to recover his father’s remains — is one of the most-cited filial-piety documents of the early Míng, and is preserved (now in fragmentary form) in this collection. The jìzhì commitment is structurally inscribed both in the zhāi-name (Studio of Continuing-the-Will) and in the Dà Míng náogē gǔchuī qǔ sequence (now entirely lost) that Wáng Shēn presented under Jiànwén.
Links
- Sìkù tíyào, Kyoto Zinbun digital edition
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng biéjí).