Jīn Wénjìng jí 金文靖集
Collection of [the Posthumous Title] Wén-jìng [by Jīn] by 金幼孜 (撰)
About the work
Jīn Wénjìng jí 金文靖集 in 10 juǎn — the writings of Jīn Yòuzī 金幼孜 (1368–1431), zì Yòuzī 幼孜 (he went by his zì; míng Shàn幼 / Shàn 善), native of Xīngàn 新淦 (Línjiāng, Jiāngxī), eventually Wényuāngé dàxuéshì 文淵閣大學士, posthumous title Wénjìng 文靖. Jīn served the same Yǒnglè–Hóngxī–Xuāndé four-reign cabinet sequence as the Sān Yáng; accompanied Chéngzǔ on his northern campaigns (the Běizhēng lù 北征錄 is separately catalogued in KR2c). Author of the present 10-juǎn biéjí (compiled by his son Jīn Zhāobó 金昭伯), with — per Huáng Yújì 黃虞稷 Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù — additionally an Wàijí 外集 in 1 juǎn and a Běizhēng jí 北征集 in 1 juǎn; the Wàijí is now lost; the Běizhēng jí (which Zhū Yízūn 朱彝尊’s Jìngzhìjū shīhuà praises for its bēizhuàng zhī yīn — sad-and-grand sound, dàmò qióngshā mí bù shēnlì — vast deserts and limit sands, all personally experienced) is also no longer extant. The collection is one of the cleaner cases of yìngzhì (court-response) literature: the Sìkù tíyào notes that Jīn’s poetry-and-prose are mostly yìngzhì compositions. The Sìkù editors omit a Sāncháo sīróng lù 三朝思榮錄 supplementary 1-juǎn (containing edicts, zhìgào, and jìwén about Jīn) on the grounds that it is qí zǐsūn kuāchǐ zhī cí, wúguān kǎozhèng (a son-and-grandson’s exaggerating words, irrelevant to research).
Tiyao
Jīn Wénjìng jí in 10 juǎn — by Jīn Yòuzī of the Míng. Yòuzī has the Běizhēng lù, already recorded. Yòuzī had no manifestation in the HóngwǔJiànwén era; in Yǒnglè down to Xuāndé, all [the time] he held the literary brush of jīmì (cabinet secrets), in line with Yáng Shìqí and the others. His prose-margins are somewhat narrow — does not match the breadth-and-greatness of Shìqí and others — but his yōngróng yǎbù (leisurely walking-pace) also follows on shoulder-high. Clearly because at the time the Míng fortune was rising, the corridor-and-temple chanting all had its phase; the brush-holders also did not know it. Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù records Yòuzī’s collection in 10 juǎn; also Wàijí 1 juǎn; also Běizhēng jí 1 juǎn; today the Wàijí is not seen. Zhū Yízūn’s Jìngzhìjū shīhuà praises the Běizhēng jí — vast deserts and limit sands, all personally experienced; at times revealing sad-and-grand voice — so Yízūn was still able to see it. Today it too is not seen. The present compilation was edited by his son Zhāobó 昭伯; poetry and prose are mostly yìngzhì zhī zuò (court-response works). Clearly this is what Huáng Yújì called the 10-juǎn recension. Separately at the head is the 1-juǎn Sāncháo sīróng lù — i.e., the chìyù, gàomìng, jìwén, xiàngzàn, shéndào bēi and the like. Yòuzī’s events are detailed in Míng shǐ. Cross-checked with the běnzhuàn, this lù is mostly his sons’ and grandsons’ exaggerating words, irrelevant to research; we now delete and do not record [it]. Only the běnjí is recorded. Compiled and presented respectfully in the third month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Editor: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Jīn Yòuzī is a fifth catalogued early-Yǒng-lè cabinet figure (KR4e0083 Xiè Jìn, KR4e0084 Wáng Chēng, KR4e0086 Liáng Qián, KR4e0087 Wáng Hóng, KR4e0088 Hú Yǎn, KR4e0090 Yáng Shìqí, KR4e0091 Yáng Róng, KR4e0092 Huáng Huái, and now KR4e0094 Jīn Yòuzī) and a member of the pact-of-mutual-death at the Yān-army’s entry into Nánjīng (per KR4e0077 Chúráo jí tíyào). The CBDB id 34486 (1368–1431) confirms the Míng shǐ j. 147 lifedates. Note: the Yǒushī Yáng Shìqí Lìdài míngchén zòuyì KR2f0039 was the joint 1416 compilation by Yáng Shìqí and Huáng Huái (not Jīn Yòuzī).
The Sìkù editors’ kǎozhèng removal of the Sāncháo sīróng lù supplementary juǎn — on the explicit grounds of kuāchǐ zhī cí, wúguān kǎozhèng — is a clear case of late-Qiánlóng editorial method applied to a clearly partisan family-supplement. The Běizhēng lù is preserved separately in KR2c.
The literary judgement — biānfú shāo xiá (margins somewhat narrow), bù jí Shìqí zhūrén zhī bódà (does not match the breadth and greatness of Shìqí and others) — is candid; Jīn’s place in the Táigé tǐ school is acknowledged as second-tier compared with Yáng Shìqí and Yáng Róng, but solidly in the school nonetheless.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Notice of Jīn Yòu-zī.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí).
- Míng shǐ j. 147 — Jīn Yòu-zī biography.
Other points of interest
The Běizhēng lù — preserved separately in KR2c — is the principal documentary witness to the personal experience of the Yǒnglè northern campaigns by a literary attendant. The Sìkù tíyào’s quotation of Zhū Yízūn’s Jìngzhìjū shīhuà praise for the lost Běizhēng jí poetry — bēizhuàng zhī yīn, dàmò qióngshā mí bù shēnlì — preserves the sole literary-historical attestation of this no-longer-extant sub-collection.