Xiāngyì wénjí 襄毅文集
Collection of [the Posthumous Title] Xiāng-yì by 韓雍 (撰)
About the work
Xiāngyì wénjí 襄毅文集 in 15 juǎn — the prose-and-poetry of Hán Yōng 韓雍 (1422–1478), zì Yǒngxī 永熙, native of Wúxiàn 吳縣 (Sūzhōu, Jiāngsū), eventually yòu qiān dūyùshǐ 右僉都御史 jointly zǒngdū LiǎngGuǎng 總督兩廣, posthumous title Xiāngyì 襄毅 (granted in Zhèngdé). Zhèngtǒng rénxū (1442) jìnshì. The Sìkù tíyào positions Hán within mid-Míng literary history thus: from Zhèngtǒng to Zhèngdé — between the late-flowering of the Jīnhuá 金華 (Sòng Lián) and Qīngtián 青田 (Liú Jī) Hóngwǔ-era manner, and the not-yet-risen Chálíng 茶陵 (Lǐ Dōngyáng) and Zhènzé 震澤 (Wáng Áo 王鏊) Chéng-huà-Hóng-zhì-era manner — for several decades, only the Táigé style continued, gradually approaching mediocrity. Hán Yōng, although primarily a military commander (his LiǎngGuǎng pacification of the Yáo and Zhuàng peoples is the great mid-Míng frontier campaign), composed prose whose yīngduō lěiluò zhī qì (heroic-and-upright air) often fājiàn yú wénzhāng (manifests in writing); the editors place him in the Hán Yù dúdé xióngzhí qì (alone-obtained vigorous-straight air) lineage. Zhū Yízūn’s Jìngzhìjū shīhuà makes no mention of Hán — the Sìkù editors observe that Zhū Yízūn must not have seen this collection.
Tiyao
Xiāngyì wénjí in 15 juǎn — by Hán Yōng of the Míng. Yōng, zì Yǒngxī, native of Wúxiàn. Zhèngtǒng rénxū (1442) jìnshì; office reaching yòu qiān dūyùshǐ, zǒngdū LiǎngGuǎng; in Zhèngdé posthumous title Xiāngyì. The events are detailed in his biography in Míng shǐ. The Míng from Zhèngtǒng onward and before Zhèngdé — the Jīnhuá and Qīngtián flowing manner gradually faded, and Chálíng and Zhènzé had not yet risen up; for several decades, only the Táigé style was passed down, gradually approaching common-and-shallow. Yōng was at the time, although his power-and-pressure reached the LiǎngGuǎng and as a military strategist towered over his age, he did not occupy himself with diāozhāng huìjù (carving chapter, painting line) as if it were craft; yet yīngduō lěiluò zhī qì (heroic-and-upright air) often fājiàn in prose. So although his form is not transformed, he is particularly rich in fēnggǔ (wind-bone, vigour); his miscellaneous prose also has gāoshì kuòbù (high gaze, broad stride), spirit-image distinctly different. What Hán Yù called alone obtaining the vigorous-straight air — he is close to this. Zhū Yízūn’s Míngshī zōng only says Yōng had a collection but does not name the collection; what is recorded of Yōng’s poetry is one piece, and it is not a good work. His Cìyóu Xīyuàn jì 賜遊西苑記 — Rìxià jiùwén 日下舊聞 also does not record it. The Jìngzhìjū shīhuà has not a single character on Yōng — perhaps Zhū Yízūn had not seen this collection. 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
Hán Yōng is best known historically as the great mid-Míng frontier commander: in Chénghuà 1–7 (1465–1471) he conducted the LiǎngGuǎng pacification campaigns against the Yáo 瑤 and Zhuàng 壯 minorities of the Dàténgxiá 大藤峽 region (modern Guǎngxī), with Zhào Fǔ 趙輔 and others — one of the foundational Míng military operations in the southern frontier. The LiǎngGuǎng administrative tenure that followed (Chénghuà 7–13, 1471–1477) was the consolidation of central Míng authority in the Guǎngxī region.
The Sìkù tíyào’s mid-Míng literary-historical placement — between the fading of the Jīnhuá / Qīngtián manner and the not-yet-risen Chálíng / Zhènzé manner — provides a clean chronological frame. The defence of Hán’s literary merit on fēnggǔ (vigour-and-bone) grounds, with the Hán Yù dúdé xióngzhí qì paralleling, places him in the substantive (not the surface-stylistic) literary lineage.
CBDB id 34511 gives 1422–1479; catalog meta and Wikipedia give 1422–1478. The Míng shǐ j. 178 places death in Chénghuà 14 wùxū (1478); followed here.
The Sìkù editors’ candid observation that Zhū Yízūn (the great Qīng-era anthologist) had simply not seen this collection — and so the Míngshī zōng and Jìngzhìjū shīhuà under-record Hán Yōng — is one of the cleaner cases of source-criticism noting a transmission gap in the standard Qīng literary-historical anthologies.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976. Major notice of Hán Yōng.
- Frederick W. Mote and Denis Twitchett, eds. The Cambridge History of China, vol. 7, The Ming Dynasty. Cambridge UP, 1988. Treatment of the Dà-téng-xiá campaign.
- Leo K. Shin, The Making of the Chinese State: Ethnicity and Expansion on the Ming Borderlands. Cambridge UP, 2006. (Background on the Yáo / Zhuàng frontier.)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.4 (Míng bié-jí).
- Míng shǐ j. 178 — Hán Yōng biography.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù editors’ Zhū Yízūn evidently did not see this collection observation is a small but instructive case of late-Qiánlóng kǎozhèng method: a critic’s silence is interpreted as evidence of textual non-access, not as judgement.