Gǔlián wénjí 古廉文集
Antique-Integrity Literary Collection by 李時勉 (撰), 戴難 (編), 李顒 (編)
About the work
Gǔlián wénjí 古廉文集 in 11 juǎn (with fùlù 1 juǎn) — the surviving prose of Lǐ Shímiǎn 李時勉 (1374–1450), original name Mào 懋, went by his zì; native of Ānfú 安福 (Jíān, Jiāngxī); posthumous title Wényì 文毅 (changed in Chénghuà to Zōngwén 宗文). Yǒnglè jiǎshēn (1404) jìnshì; eventually Guózǐjiàn jìjiǔ 國子監祭酒 (Director of the Imperial Academy). The Sìkù tíyào emphasizes Lǐ’s three near-deaths for moral remonstrance: (1) initially, on memorializing on current affairs after the Sāndiàn 三殿 fire, offending Chéngzǔ; (2) on memorializing six matters, offending Rénzōng; (3) finally, for refusing to attach himself to the great eunuch Wáng Zhèn 王振, framed by Wáng. Despite three successive death-threats, his jìngzhí zhī jié (firm-and-direct integrity) remained constant. As Guózǐjiàn jìjiǔ he was paired with the Nánjīng jìjiǔ Chén Jìngzōng 陳敬宗 in the formula Nán Chén Běi Lǐ (South Chén, North Lǐ); the Sìkù editors say no later head of the imperial academy in the Míng surpassed him. The collection was edited in Chénghuà by his pupil Dài Nán 戴難 and printed by his grandson Lǐ Yóng 李顒, then Chánglè zhīxiàn 長樂知縣, with a fùlù of epitaph, biography, and zàn documents.
Tiyao
Gǔlián wénjí in 11 juǎn, fùlù 1 juǎn — by Lǐ Shímiǎn of the Míng. Shímiǎn’s original name was Mào; he went by his zì; native of Ānfú. Yǒnglè jiǎshēn (1404) jìnshì; office reaching Guózǐjiàn jìjiǔ; on death posthumous title Wényì; in Chénghuà changed to Zōngwén. The events are detailed in his biography in Míng shǐ. Shímiǎn’s xuéshù gāngzhèng (firmly-correct in scholarship). At first, by reason of the Sāndiàn fire, he submitted tiáoshàng shíwù (memorialized on current affairs), offending Chéngzǔ. Continuing, by memorializing on six matters, offended Rénzōng. Finally, by not attaching himself to Wáng Zhèn, was framed by him. Front-and-back, three times nearly died — yet the integrity of jìngzhí was unchanged from start to finish. In the Guóxué he polished the students with dàoyì (the Way and right-conduct); talents arose in vigour; with the Nánjīng jìjiǔ Chén Jìngzōng, called Nán Chén Běi Lǐ — and at the time Lǐ especially was the focus of public esteem; from Míng times no head of the imperial academy could surpass him. As for his prose: píngyì tōngdá, not revealing guījiǎo (jade-corner sharp edges); much of ǎirán rényì zhī yán (gently appearing humanity-and-righteousness words) — is this not because he had personally practised what he preached, what he had cultivated being chún (pure), so unlike the jiǎngxué zhī jiā (philosophical-disciple schools) who use jiāoxīn shèngqì (proud heart, exuberant spirit) and try to subdue with grand words. His writings, because his contemporaries esteemed him as a person, [as soon as he] tuōgǎo (released a manuscript), they were mostly carried off by people; so what is preserved is not much. The present collection was compiled in Chénghuà by his pupil Dài Nán, and printed by his grandson the Chánglè zhīxiàn Yóng; with the mùzhì, zhuàn, zàn documents appended at the end. Compiled and presented respectfully in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Editor: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Lǐ Shímiǎn is the canonical Sìkù-era model of the early-Míng moral remonstrant: three near-deaths (under Chéngzǔ, Rénzōng, and the eunuch Wáng Zhèn 王振) without abandoning principle, and a foundational tenure as Guózǐjiàn jìjiǔ in the Yīngzōng era (Zhèngtǒng). The CBDB id 34497 (1374–1450) confirms the catalog meta dates.
The historiographical case for Lǐ rests on his role in the early-Míng renewal of the Guóxué — the Imperial Academy’s restoration as a serious moral-and-educational institution after the early-Yǒng-lè years of decline. The pairing Nán Chén Běi Lǐ (Chén Jìngzōng at Nánjīng, Lǐ Shímiǎn at Běijīng) is the standard early-Zhèng-tǒng-era formulation. The Sìkù claim that no Míng-era head of the imperial academy surpassed him — Míng yǐlái sī chéngjūnzhě mò néng xiān yě — is significant.
The literary judgement — píngyì tōngdá, ǎirán rényì zhī yán — frames Lǐ’s prose as the antithesis of the late-Míng jiǎngxué’s rhetorically aggressive style. The compositional context is partly explained by the tuōgǎo duō wéi rén chíqù (releasing manuscripts which were carried off) phenomenon — i.e., Lǐ’s contemporaries personally collected his draft manuscripts, so the surviving textual corpus is much-circulated but partial.
The two-stage transmission (pupil Dài Nán edited the surviving manuscripts in Chénghuà; grandson Lǐ Yóng printed it as Chánglè zhīxiàn) is one of the cleaner cases of pupil-and-descendant family-and-school recovery in the Sìkù corpus.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Major notice of Lǐ Shí-miǎn.
- John W. Dardess, Confucianism and Autocracy: Professional Elites in the Founding of the Ming Dynasty. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983. Background on the early-Míng Guó-xué.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí).
- Míng shǐ j. 163 — Lǐ Shí-miǎn biography.
Other points of interest
The Nán Chén Běi Lǐ pairing — the simultaneous high-water-mark of the Guózǐjiàn jìjiǔ office at the two capitals in the Zhèngtǒng era — is the canonical formula for the early-Míng moral revival of the Imperial Academy.