Dōnglǐ jí 東里集
Eastern-Hamlet Collection by 楊士奇 (撰)
About the work
Dōnglǐ jí 東里集 in 93 juǎn — the great cabinet-corpus of Yáng Shìqí 楊士奇 (楊士奇, 1365–1444), míng Yù 寓 (he went by his zì), native of Tàihé 泰和 (Jíān, Jiāngxī), the most senior of the early-Míng Sān Yáng (Three Yangs: Yáng Shìqí, Yáng Róng KR4e0091, Yáng Pǔ) cabinet ministers and posthumous title Wénzhēn 文貞. The collection comprises four divisions: (a) wénjí 文集 25 juǎn (the author’s own selection), (b) shījí 詩集 3 juǎn, (c) xùjí 續集 62 juǎn (assembled by descendants from material the author himself had pruned away), (d) biéjí 別集 3 juǎn — comprising four sub-types: Dàiyán lù 代言錄 (drafted zhìchì edicts), Shèngyù lù 聖諭錄 (imperial pronouncements), Zòuduì lù 奏對錄 (memorial-and-response records), and Fùlù 附錄 (the zhuàn, zhì, and other commemorative documents about Yáng himself). The Sìkù editors note Lǐ Dōngyáng’s 李東陽 (cf. KR4e0120) Huáilùtáng shīhuà: the zhèngjí (proper collection) was shǒu zì xuǎnzé (selected by the author’s own hand) and printed in Guǎngdōng; outside hands inserted some pieces; the xùjí was made later by sons-and-grandsons against the author’s intention. The editors keep both zhèng and xù together because of the broader source-coverage — but flag that the xùjí is what Yáng himself chose to discard.
Tiyao
Dōnglǐ jí in 93 juǎn — by Yáng Shìqí of the Míng. Shìqí, name Yù, went by his zì; native of Tàihé. In early Jiànwén by recommendation entered the Hànlín on the editorial staff. When Chéngzǔ acceded, appointed biānxiū; soon selected to enter the cabinet on the duty of jīwù 機務; rose by stages to Shàoshī, Huágàidiàn dàxuéshì; on death gifted Tàishī, posthumous title Wénzhēn. The events are detailed in his biography in Míng shǐ. In the early Míng the Sān Yáng are jointly named, but Shìqí’s literary brush is especially distinguished; zhìgào (edicts) and bēibǎn (stelae) mostly came from his hand. Rénzōng strongly enjoyed Ōuyáng Xiū’s prose; Shìqí’s prose is also píngzhèng yūyú (level-correct, leisurely), capturing his approximation; can be called the chōngróng diǎnyǎ (rich-and-leisurely, canonical-elegant) sound. Court-cabinet writing of the time then sub-divided into a school. Lǐ Mèngyáng’s 李夢陽 poem says: “Xuāndé prose-style mostly húnlún (rounded-and-massive); great indeed is Dōnglǐ, the corridor-and-temple gem” — likewise extending its origin to Shìqí. Later imitators, with long use, complained that the school jiànrù yú fūyōng (gradually entered into surface-mediocrity) — but this is the fault of the bad learners suǒ mào yí shén (seizing the appearance, dropping the spirit). If we judge by what he himself made, he is truly able not to lose the ancient form: his pivoting of one age’s style is no accident. The collection is divided into zhèng and xù compilations. Zhèngjí contains relatively little; xùjí almost double. Its biéjí of four kinds: Dàiyán lù (the zhìchì type), Shèngyù lù, Zòuduì lù, and Fùlù — wherein Shìqí’s zhuàn and zhì and various pieces all are. Lǐ Dōngyáng’s Huáilùtáng shīhuà says: “Yáng Wénzhēn’s Dōnglǐ jí — by his own hand selected and engraved at Guǎngdōng. Outside hands inserted several pieces; later his son and grandson again engraved a continuation — not the lord’s intention.” So the xùjí is what Shìqí himself sieved-and-discarded — not all his deliberate work. Because its scope is more comprehensive, we keep them together and record both. Compiled and presented respectfully in the first month of Qiánlóng 44 (1779). Chief Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Editor: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Dōnglǐ jí is the foundational corpus of the early-Míng Táigé tǐ 臺閣體 (Cabinet Style) — the píngzhèng yūyú / chōngróng diǎnyǎ mode that defined Yǒng-lè-through-Zhèng-tǒng court literature. The Sìkù editors’ attribution of the early-Míng cabinet style to Yáng’s example, with Lǐ Mèngyáng’s húnlún wěizāi Dōnglǐ lángmiào zhēn couplet as the canonical recognition, is the standard literary-historiographic frame. The defence against the Hòu Qī Zǐ-era critique of fūyōng (surface mediocrity) is the standard Sìkù line — the fault is the bad learner’s, not the original master’s.
The 25 / 62 split between zhèngjí and xùjí — the latter being explicitly what Yáng himself discarded — is one of the cleaner Sìkù documentary cases of the zhèng / xù distinction in Míng biéjí studies. The Lǐ Dōngyáng quotation supplies the documentary basis.
The Dàiyán lù’s preservation of Yáng’s drafted zhìchì corpus is the principal documentary witness to the early-Míng cabinet drafting practice; Yáng was the chief drafter for Tàizōng (Yǒnglè), Rénzōng (Hóngxī), Xuānzōng (Xuāndé), and the early Yīngzōng (Zhèngtǒng) reigns. The Shèngyù lù and Zòuduì lù sub-collections are likewise documentary.
The catalog meta and CBDB id 28113 give Yáng’s lifedates as 1365–1444 — the existing person note (楊士奇) is in agreement.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Major notice of Yáng Shì-qí.
- Frederick W. Mote and Denis Twitchett, eds. The Cambridge History of China, vol. 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 1. Cambridge UP, 1988. Chapters on the Yǒng-lè / Hóng-xī / Xuān-dé reigns.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí) and §28.6 (Tái-gé tǐ).
- Míng shǐ j. 148 — Yáng Shì-qí biography.
Other points of interest
The Dōnglǐ jí 93-juǎn total — the largest single biéjí in this division (KR4e0075–0124) — reflects Yáng’s status as the chief literary drafter for four imperial reigns. The Dàiyán lù / Shèngyù lù / Zòuduì lù documentary sub-collections are formally analogous to the Yú Jí 虞集 Dàoyuán xuégǔlù tradition.