Huáixīngtáng jí 懷星堂集
Embracing-Star-Hall Collection by 祝允明 (撰)
About the work
The principal surviving literary collection of Zhù Yǔnmíng 祝允明 (1461–1527), zì Xīzhé 希哲, hào Zhīshān 枝山 / Zhīzhǐshēng 枝指生 (six-fingered), of Chángzhōu 長洲 (Sūzhōu) — the most famous of the Wúzhōng sìcái (Four Talents of Wúzhōng) together with Táng Yín 唐寅, Wén Zhēngmíng 文徵明, and Xú Zhēnqīng (徐禎卿) — and the principal Sūzhōu Wú-school calligrapher of mid-Míng. 30 juǎn (8 verse + 22 miscellaneous prose). According to Míngshǐ yìwénzhì, Zhù had a Zhùshì jílüè in 30 juǎn, a Huáixīngtáng jí in 30 juǎn, and a Xiǎo jí in 7 juǎn; the main biography mentions a 60-juǎn poetry-and-prose collection plus 100+ juǎn of miscellaneous works. Zhū Yízūn’s Jìngzhìjū shīhuà further records the lost Jīnlóu, Zuìhóng, Kuīlián, Chàngzāi, Zhìguǒ, Fúxián, Yùqī collections. The 30-juǎn Huáixīngtáng jí is the principal surviving recension. The Sìkù judgement: suī wèi néng shēn rù tángào, ér fēngshén qīngjùn, hánrú liùcháo, yì shū wèi chāorán bású — “though could not deeply enter the hall-and-back, yet his spirit-and-soul are clear-and-sharp, swallow-and-rest with the Six Dynasties — also rather transcendent-and-rising-above-the-vulgar”.
Tiyao
Huáixīngtáng jí in 30 juǎn — by Zhù Yǔnmíng of the Míng. Yǔnmíng, zì Xīzhé, native of Chángzhōu. Hóngzhì rénzǐ (1492) jǔrén; appointed Xīngníng zhīxiàn; transferred to Yīngtiānfǔ tōngpàn; sick-resigned and returned. Record in Míngshǐ Wényuàn zhuàn. Yǔnmíng was born with zhīzhǐ (extra finger); therefore self-styled Zhīshān, also Zhīzhǐshēng. Broadly read all books, especially skilled at shūfǎ (calligraphy); name moved the seas-within. With Sūzhōu Táng Yín and others, by fàngdàn bùjī (free-and-eccentric, untrammeled) was the world’s pointed-at. Yet when commanding Xīngníng, captured-and-executed bandit-chiefs over thirty; the town with no alarm — so not exclusively one who self-released himself by literary talent. Míngshǐ yìwénzhì records Zhùshì jílüè in 30 juǎn; Huáixīngtáng jí in 30 juǎn; Xiǎojí in 7 juǎn. The main biography says his poetry-prose collection is 60 juǎn, other miscellaneous-writings 100+ juǎn. Zhū Yízūn’s Jìngzhìjū shīhuà records, besides Zhùshì jílüè, there are also Jīnlóu, Zuìhóng, Kuīlián, Chàngzāi, Zhìguǒ, Fúxián, Yùqī etc. collections — now all not seen. Only this collection still exists. All: 8 juǎn of poetry, 22 juǎn of miscellaneous prose. The works’ gǔlì (bone-strength) is slightly weak; though could not deeply enter the tángào (hall-and-inner-room), yet fēngshén qīngjùn, hánrú Liùcháo (style-spirit clear-and-sharp, holding-and-resting in Six Dynasties); also rather chāorán bású (transcendent-rising-from-the-vulgar). Compiled and presented in the third month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
The Huáixīngtáng jí is the principal surviving recension of Zhù Yǔnmíng’s literary writings — one of the most famous mid-Míng literary names, but textually the Sìkù note documents enormous losses: a 60-juǎn poetry-and-prose collection plus 100+ juǎn of miscellaneous works according to Míngshǐ, of which only 30 juǎn survive. The lost recensions (Jīnlóu, Zuìhóng, Kuīlián, Chàngzāi, Zhìguǒ, Fúxián, Yùqī) catalogued by Zhū Yízūn are one of the most striking single losses recorded in the Míng biéjí tíyào tradition.
The Sìkù judgement is unusually balanced for a famous figure: editors acknowledge Zhù’s gǔlì shāo ruò (bone-strength slightly weak) — he is not a tángào (hall-and-inner-room) master in the gǔwén tradition — but credit him with Liùcháo-resonance fēngshén qīngjùn spirit. The Sìkù further explicitly corrects the fàngdàn bùjī reputation of the Wúzhōng sìcái (Four Talents) cluster: Zhù’s Xīngníng tenure included capturing-and-executing over thirty bandit-chiefs, with the town quieted — so not exclusively one who self-released himself by literary talent. This is one of the rare Sìkù documentary defenses of an otherwise scapegoated mid-Míng fàngdàn literatus.
CBDB id 276535 gives 1461–1527, against the catalog meta’s 1460–1526 — CBDB date is followed here as in standard modern reference works.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: major notice of Zhù Yǔn-míng by Marc F. Wilson.
- Míng shǐ j. 286 (Wén-yuàn 2) — Zhù Yǔn-míng biography.
- Marc F. Wilson and Kwan S. Wong, Friends of Wen Cheng-Ming: A View from the Crawford Collection (New York: China Institute, 1974) — for the Wú-zhōng calligraphy circle.
- Anne Burkus-Chasson, The Gallery of Eccentrics: Imagining the Fortunes of a Painting at the End of the Ming (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 2010) — for the Wú-zhōng sì-cái tradition.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The catalogue of lost Zhù Yǔnmíng recensions preserved in Zhū Yízūn’s Jìngzhìjū shīhuà — Jīnlóu, Zuìhóng, Kuīlián, Chàngzāi, Zhìguǒ, Fúxián, Yùqī — is one of the most extensive title-only-survival lists in the entire Sìkù Míng biéjí corpus. The principal Wú-school calligraphic mass of Zhù survives in other media; the Huáixīngtáng jí is the principal literary survival.