Róngchūntáng jí 容春堂集
Containing-Spring-Hall Collection by 邵寶 (撰)
About the work
The complete works of Shào Bǎo 邵寶 (1460–1527), zì Guóxián 國賢, hào Èrquán 二泉, shì Wénzhuāng 文莊, of Wúxī 無錫 — pupil of Lǐ Dōngyáng (李東陽) and the kāi qí xiān (opener-of-the-way-before) of the Dōnglín 東林 school through Gù Xiànchéng (顧憲成) and Gāo Pánlóng (高攀龍). The collection is in four parts and totals 61 juǎn: Qiánjí 前集 (20 juǎn), Hòují 後集 (14 juǎn), Xùjí 續集 (18 juǎn), Biéjí 別集 (9 juǎn). Named for the family hall Róngchūntáng (Containing-Spring-Hall), which Shào restored.
Tiyao
Róngchūntáng quánjí in 20 juǎn; Hòují in 14 juǎn; Xùjí in 18 juǎn; Biéjí in 9 juǎn — by Shào Bǎo of the Míng. Bǎo, zì Guóxián, self-styled Èrquán, native of Wúxī. Chénghuà gēngzǐ (1480, 鄉試 — but actually 甲辰 1484 for jìnshì) jìnshì; appointed Xǔzhōu zhīzhōu; entered as Hùbù láng; through offices to Nánjīng Lǐbù shàngshū; on death awarded Tàizǐ tàibǎo; shì Wénzhuāng. Record in Míngshǐ Rúlín zhuàn. Bǎo tánjīng jīngxué (penetrating Classical-studies), able to glimpse the original-roots — far from the late-Míng schools who pluck-up empty-talk, fúkuā wúshí (floating-and-extravagant, without substance). When raised in the provincial examination, was a shì obtained by Lǐ Dōngyáng; therefore his poetry-prose jiāshù (family-line) all comes out of Dōngyáng. Dōngyáng also accorded him yībō xiāngchuán (passing-down-the-robe-and-bowl) approval. When Bǎo as shìláng was on leave, Dōngyáng wrote one piece Xìn nán (Hard-to-Believe) to give him — saying his collection issues from the Classics and Histories, gathers in the biographies, contains and exhausts the affairs and feelings, depicts scenery — to exhaust what he wishes to say — without redundant words or stretched phrases, without bitter-laborious-displeased complexion — as though to enter into the persons of the ancients; moreover comparing him to Ōuyáng Xiū’s knowing Sū Shì — so heart-to-heart contracted. Yet Dōngyáng’s seen was only the Qiánjí; the Hòují, Xùjí, Biéjí were what Bǎo continued to edit after — Dōngyáng did not see. Bǎo’s prose is gāojiǎn yǒufǎ (lofty-simple, with-rule); though qìjú (breath-and-frame) still hated for being jūxiá (cramped-and-narrow), the chúnzhèng (pure-and-correct) classification holds without shame. The poetry is qīnghé dànbó (clear-harmonious, plain-thin), able to elaborate his xìnglíng (nature-and-soul). Zhōng Xīng praised: after the Wáng and Lǐ flourished, the true poets — only Shào Èrquán. His statement, though not necessarily fully apposite, yet discussing the poetry-house’s correct lineage, at that time truly nothing exceeded him. His fēngyǎ matches Wú Kuān but Classical-scholarship deeper; jùnjié (straight-and-clean) matches Wáng Áo but talent-power even surpasses; before Zhèngdé and Jiājìng, truly zhuōrán wéi yī jùshǒu (towering-and-alone, a single great hand). The collection’s being called Róngchūn — it was a táng (hall) the ancestors had inhabited; Bǎo rebuilt-and-restored it, so he named his collection by it. Compiled and presented in the third month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
The Róngchūntáng jí is one of the documentary anchors of the Wúxī orthodox-Zhū lineage that becomes the Dōnglín 東林 school of late Míng. Shào Bǎo’s relationship to Lǐ Dōngyáng as the Hóng-zhì-era Chángshā (Húguǎng) cabinet head’s principal yībō (robe-and-bowl) heir in literature gives the collection its second documentary axis: it preserves Lǐ Dōngyáng’s Xìn nán (Hard-to-Believe) preface — one of Lǐ Dōngyáng’s clearest critical statements on a contemporary’s prose — and shows the Chángshā literary network reaching out beyond Húguǎng into the Wúxī orbit.
The Sìkù judgement places Shào in a precise critical position: fēngyǎ kě pǐ Wú Kuān ér jīngshù jiào shēn (in fēngyǎ matches Wú Kuān KR4e0131 but in Classical scholarship deeper); jùnjié kě pǐ Wáng Áo ér cáilì gèng shèng (in straight-and-clean matches Wáng Áo KR4e0133 but in talent-power even surpasses). The accompanying critical positioning WángLǐ shèngxíng yǐhòu, zhēnshī wéi Shào Èrquán (after Wáng [Shìzhēn] and Lǐ [Pānlóng]‘s flourishing, the only true poet is Shào Èrquán) — quoted from Zhōng Xīng 鍾惺 — situates Shào as a counter-pole to the HòuQīzǐ school.
The Dōnglín connection runs through Shào’s principal Classical-studies work Jiǎnduān lù (KR1g0016), where the Sìkù tíyào explicitly names him as kāi qí xiān (opener-of-the-way-before) for Gù Xiànchéng (Jīngyáng) and Gāo Pánlóng (Jǐngyì); the Róngchūntáng jí preserves the literary side of the same Wúxī orthodox-Zhū revival.
CBDB id 34580 confirms 1460–1527.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: notice of Shào Bǎo.
- Míng shǐ j. 282 (Rú-lín 1) — Shào Bǎo biography.
- John W. Dardess, Blood and History in China: The Donglin Faction and Its Repression, 1620–1627. Honolulu: U. Hawaii P., 2002 — context for the Dōng-lín tradition Shào opens.
- Heinrich Busch, “The Tung-lin Academy and Its Political and Philosophical Significance”, Monumenta Serica 14 (1949–55): 1–163.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí) and §31.4 (Míng Lǐ-xué).
Other points of interest
The four-part architecture (Qián / Hòu / Xù / Bié) is one of the documentarily best-staged biéjí in this division: Lǐ Dōngyáng’s preface dates only to the Qiánjí, and the Sìkù note specifies that the Hòu / Xù / Bié are post-Lǐ-Dōng-yáng. This makes the collection a textual record of Shào’s life-stages relative to his teacher’s career arc.