Guīfēng jí 圭峯集
Jade-Tablet-Peak Collection by 羅𤣱 (撰)
About the work
The collected writings of Luó Qǐ 羅𤣱 (variant 羅玘; 1447–1519), zì Jǐngmíng 景鳴, hào Guīfēng 圭峰, posthumous shì Wénsù 文肅, of Nánchéng 南城 (Jiànchāngfǔ, Jiāngxī) — Nánjīng Lìbù yòu shìláng and one of the most distinguished mid-Míng qìjié (firm-conduct) names. 30 juǎn. Famously, Luó’s qǐdìng zōngshè dàjì memorials (on the imperial succession) and his sealed letter to Lǐ Dōngyáng (李東陽) — confronting Dōngyáng over the cabinet’s failure to break with Liú Jǐn — were said to yán rénzhī suǒ nán yán (say what others find hard to say). His prose explicitly imitated Hán Yù — yāyì yūzhé (suppressing intent, winding the word) — and his composition method (as recorded by Chén Hóngmó 陳洪謨) matched the obsessive labor of Chén Shīdào’s poetic kǔyín: he would jiōng hùyǒu, jù mùshí, hidden away at door-and-window or seated on wood and stone, yú xún rì huò suìshí, before shén shēng jìng jù (spirit born and scene complete), and only then mìng bǐ (put pen to paper). The collection is the result of three printings (Xūyí first; Nán Guózǐjiàn second; Wǔjìn Sūnshì third), of which the present 30-juǎn recension by Luó’s 8th-generation grand-nephew Měicái 美才 (Kāngxī gēngwǔ, 1690) is the foundation.
Tiyao
Guīfēng jí in 30 juǎn — by Luó Qǐ of the Míng. Qǐ, zì Jǐngmíng, native of Jiāngxī Nánchéng. Chénghuà dīngwèi (1487) jìnshì; office reached Nánjīng Lìbù yòu shìláng; awarded Lǐbù shàngshū; shì Wénsù. Record in Míngshǐ main biography. Qǐ by qìjié (firm-conduct) was the weight of one age; his memorials qǐdìng zōngshè dàjì (the two pieces on the imperial succession) and his letter to Lǐ Dōngyáng all yán rénzhī suǒ nán yán — say what others find hard to say. His prose modeled on Hán Yù — jiájiá dúzào (creaking-creaking, alone-making); much yāyì (suppressing intent), yūzhé (winding word), making one think it beyond the words. Chén Hóngmó praises: his composing of prose, must ǒuxīn jīlǜ (spit-out the heart, accumulate thought), to jiōng hùyǒu (shutting the door and windows), or sitting on wood-and-stone, hidden-and-counting beyond ten days, or seasons-and-years — when shénshēng jìngjù (spirit-born, scene-prepared) — only then putting pen to paper; though revising drafts repeatedly, never wearied. This is not far from the Sòng Chén Shīdào’s poetry-chanting. Its yōumiǎo àozhé (dim-and-subtle, deep-and-winding) is naturally fitting; but lěiluò qīnqí, yǒu yì zuòtài (precipitous-protruding, prominently-jutting, with deliberate posing) — unable to be like Hán prose’s húnè (whole-and-overpowering) [norm] — also bound up with this; perhaps disposition takes refuge in solitary eccentricity, with a partial-attainment? Yet among Míng people he must also count as one who did the difficult. The Míng system used the Hànlín to jiàoxí (teach) eunuchs — called the Nèiguǎn (Inner Academy). According to Qǐ’s composition of Báijiāng’s tomb-tablet, [Qǐ] had served in this office; therefore the collection’s pieces composed for eunuchs are rather many — though Qǐ’s character-and-bearing can be excused with later ages, yet for it to be a wēixiá (small flaw) — not stopping at the Xiánqíng of Táo Yuānmíng’s collection — recording every one of them is what cannot be explained. Zhōu Liànggōng’s Shūyǐng says: Qǐ’s collection was once cut at Xūyí, again cut at Nánjīng Guózǐjiàn, then there was a Wǔjìn Sūnshì běn; now none are seen. According to this běn’s account: first cut at Chángzhōu; re-cut at Jīngzhōu; both the boards are lost. Jiājìng 5 (1526) Chén Hóngmó obtained the Jīngzhōu běn in 6 juǎn, again obtained the Xùjí 2 juǎn and Zòuyì 1 juǎn, gathered and re-cut. Later his fellow-villager Huáng Duānbó also at Qǐ’s great-grandson Kuān’s place sought-out the lost drafts, combining with the original collection, edited into 30 juǎn — so the collection’s zhǎnzhuǎn zēngjiā (turning-back-and-forth, adding-and-accumulating) is no longer its original. These several pieces — perhaps Duānbó’s additions? This běn is Kāngxī gēngwǔ (1690) Qǐ’s 8th-generation grand-nephew Měicái cut, the editing-and-ordering rather without tǐlì (regular form). E.g. prose with shòuwén (birthday-prose) as head; zòuyì placed after miscellaneous; poetry also with shòushī (birthday-poems) as head… (compilers as usual).
Abstract
Luó Qǐ’s Guīfēng jí is one of the cleanest Hán Yù imitation documents in the entire Míng biéjí corpus, with the Sìkù explicitly identifying the Chén Shīdào-style obsessive composition labor underlying the yāyì yūzhé style. The sealed letter to Lǐ Dōngyáng confronting Dōngyáng over the cabinet’s failure to break with Liú Jǐn is one of the most famous single political documents of the Zhèngdé era; its preservation here is the principal documentary value of the collection.
The Sìkù note is unusually self-critical on a particular textual point: Luó served in the Nèiguǎn (Inner Academy) — the Hànlín office for teaching eunuchs — which means a substantial body of the collection’s prose was composed for eunuchs as personal commissions. The editors flag this as a wēixiá (minor flaw) that cannot be explained by the family editors who recorded every such piece; they read it as a textual-preservation problem worse even than the Xiánqíng fù embarrassment in Táo Yuānmíng’s collection. This is one of the more candid Sìkù admissions of an unresolvable biéjí-tradition compositional problem.
The transmission history — Chángzhōu first; Jīngzhōu second; Jiājìng 5 (1526) Chén Hóngmó recovery; Huáng Duānbó late-Míng grand-nephew supplement; Kāngxī gēngwǔ (1690) Luó Měicái final 30-juǎn recension — is one of the more textured Sìkù-recorded recension histories in this division.
CBDB id 133523 confirms 1447–1519.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: notice of Luó Qǐ.
- Míng shǐ j. 286 (Wén-yuàn 2) — Luó Qǐ biography.
- Andrew H. Plaks, The Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel (Princeton UP, 1987) — for the mid-Míng gǔ-wén revival climate that surrounded Luó.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The fact that Luó’s prose has yǒu yì zuòtài — explicit posing — flagged by the Sìkù as a structural problem of Hán Yù imitation is one of the cleaner critical statements in the Míng biéjí tradition on the limits of fǎngHán (Hán Yù-imitating) prose. The composition-by-shutting-in-rooms-or-wood-and-stones method recorded by Chén Hóngmó is a documentary parallel to the HánMèng anecdotal tradition.