Zhōngjìng jí 忠靖集
Collection of [the Posthumous Title] Zhōng-jìng by 夏原吉 (撰)
About the work
Zhōngjìng jí 忠靖集 in 6 juǎn — the writings of Xià Yuánjí 夏原吉 (1366–1430), zì Wéizhé 維喆**, native of Xiāngyīn 湘陰 (Yuèzhōu, Húnán), eventually Hùbù shàngshū 戶部尚書, posthumous title Zhōngjìng 忠靖. Xiāngjiàn (locally recommended) → Tàixué (Imperial Academy) → Hùbù zhǔshì 戶部主事; rose to Hùbù shàngshū. The principal architect of the early-Míng (Yǒnglè / Hóngxī / Xuāndé) fiscal system, particularly the systematization of grain-tribute logistics and the reform of the Sōngjiāng TàiHú watershed (Yǒnglè 1–3, 1403–05). The Sìkù editors note that the Húguǎng tídū xuézhèng Pān Zōngluò 潘宗洛 in Kāngxī yǐyǒu (1705) recovered a manuscript from Xià’s descendants and recut the printing-blocks; the Yáng Pǔ 楊溥 1443 (Zhèngtǒng 8) preface — preserved at the head — characterizes Xià’s prose as píngshí yǎdàn, bù shì huámí (level-substantial, elegant-and-light, not given to florid extravagance). The Sìkù editors agree that Xià is famous for his statecraft (zhèngshì) rather than literature, but his zhìyòng zhī yán (utilitarian discourse) is shūtōng chàngdá (open-and-easy) and stands worthily next to Yáng Shìqí and Huáng Huái. The original 6-juǎn recension corresponds to the Míngshǐ Yìwénzhì listing — i.e. it is the original, not a later abridgement — with Xià’s grandson Xià Tíngzhāng’s 夏廷章 1-juǎn yíshì appendix.
Tiyao
Zhōngjìng jí in 6 juǎn — by Xià Yuánjí of the Míng. Yuánjí, zì Wéizhé, native of Xiāngyīn. By xiāngjiàn he travelled to the Tàixué; selected and appointed Hùbù zhǔshì; office reaching Hùbù shàngshū; posthumous title Zhōngjìng. The events are detailed in his biography in Míng shǐ. Yuánjí’s Shīwén jí in 6 juǎn is recorded in Míng shǐ Yìwénzhì, agreeing in juǎn count with this collection — clearly the old text. Appended at the end is a 1-juǎn yíshì (surviving anecdotes) edited by his grandson Tíngzhāng. The printing-blocks have long been lost. The present text — in our August Dynasty’s Kāngxī yǐyǒu (1705) — when Pān Zōngluò 潘宗洛 was Húguǎng tídū xuézhèng, he obtained [the manuscript] preserved by Xià’s descendants and recut it. At the head is Yáng Pǔ’s preface, which says Xià’s prose is píngshí yǎdàn, bù shì huámí. Although Xià is famous for zhèngshì (statecraft), not for literature, [yet] in the HóngwǔYǒnglè era authors were like-a-forest, and he indeed cannot match the gallop of Sòng Lián, Wáng Yī 王褘 and the like; yet his utilitarian discourse is open-and-easy, and to jiānsuí (shoulder-follow) Yáng Shìqí and Huáng Huái — virtually without shame. Compiled and presented respectfully in the sixth month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Chief Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Editor: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Xià Yuánjí is one of the great early-Míng administrators — Hùbù shàngshū through three reigns and the principal architect of the early-Míng fiscal-and-water-conservancy system. The Sìkù editors’ literary judgement — zhìyòng zhī yán shūtōng chàngdá (utilitarian discourse, open-and-easy) — places his collection among the Táigé writers but in the substantive sub-stream of policy-and-administration, alongside Huáng Huái (KR4e0092) rather than alongside Yáng Shìqí (KR4e0090)‘s pure literary register.
The transmission story is one of the cleaner Kāng-xī-era biéjí recoveries: Pān Zōngluò 潘宗洛, then Húguǎng tídū xuézhèng, recovered the manuscript from Xià’s family descendants in Kāngxī yǐyǒu (1705) and recut the printing-blocks. The original Míng printing was lost; the WYG text descends from this Pān recension.
The catalog meta gives Xià’s lifedates as 1366–1430; CBDB has only id 252759 with no birth/death years. Xià’s lifedates are well-attested by Míng shǐ j. 149 (1366–1430). The composition window for the collection is necessarily Hóngwǔ-late-through-Xuān-dé (1390ish–1430).
The Yáng Pǔ 1443 preface is a notable documentary witness — Yáng Pǔ being the third of the Sān Yáng, who survived Xià by 6 years and wrote the preface late in his own career.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Major notice of Xià Yuán-jí.
- Frederick W. Mote and Denis Twitchett, eds. The Cambridge History of China, vol. 7, The Ming Dynasty. Cambridge UP, 1988. Treatment of early-Míng fiscal administration.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí) and §60 (Míng economic / fiscal history).
- Míng shǐ j. 149 — Xià Yuán-jí biography.
Other points of interest
Xià Yuánjí’s role in the Yǒng-lè-era reform of the TàiHú 太湖 watershed and the Sōngjiāng drainage works — together with Lǐ Wén 李文 — is one of the foundational projects of early-Míng water conservancy, with consequences for the development of the SūSōng prefectures across the entire MíngQīng era.