Kōngtóng jí 空同集
Empty-Same-Mountain Collection by 李夢陽 (撰)
About the work
The collected works of Lǐ Mèngyáng 李夢陽 (1473–1529), zì Xiànjí 獻吉, hào Kōngtóng 空同 (from Kōngtóngshān in his native Qìngyáng), of Qìngyáng 慶陽 (Shǎnxī) — the QiánQīzǐ (Former Seven Masters) chief, the most consequential single voice in the mid-Míng fùgǔ (return-to-antiquity) literary revolution. 66 juǎn. The collection’s structure is enormous: through juǎn 66 cycling poetry, fù, memorial, jì, biography, miscellaneous prose, letters, sacrificial prose, wàipiān (outer chapters). The Sìkù judgement is famously double-edged: praising Lǐ’s zhènqǐ wěibì (rousing-up paralysis) of the táigé tradition — shǐ tiānxià fù zhī yǒu gǔshū (making all-under-heaven again know that there are ancient books); but condemning his shèngqì jīnxīn jiǎowǎng guò zhèng (enthusiasm overdone, straightening-the-bent past correctness) and the swarm of mónǐ piāozéi (imitating-and-pilfering) followers his line spawned. The famous textual rigour anecdote: Lǐ allegedly deleted his own poem “Huánghé shuǐ rào Hàn gōng qiáng” 黃河水繞漢宮牆 because the ending mentioned Guō Fényáng — a Táng-era name — and so violated his own shī bì shèngTáng (poetry must follow High-Táng) rule.
Tiyao
Kōngtóng jí in 66 juǎn — by Lǐ Mèngyáng of the Míng. Mèngyáng, zì Xiànjí, native of Qìngyáng. Hóngzhì guǐchǒu (1493) jìnshì; office reached Jiāngxī tíxué fùshǐ. Record in Míngshǐ Wényuàn zhuàn. Mèngyáng when Hùbù lángzhōng struck-down Shòunínghóu Zhāng Hèlíng; also helped Hán Wén draft memorials striking Liú Jǐn — encountered calamity, nearly perilous; his qìjié (firm conduct) original moved one age. He also proclaimed fùgǔ (return-to-antiquity), making all-under-heaven not read books after the Táng. His chílùn (his stance-argument) was very high — enough to startle the contemporary’s ears-and-eyes. Therefore scholars xīrán cóng zhī (uniformly followed him); literary forms had one transformation. After his transformation, mónǐ piāozéi rì jiù wōjiù (imitating-and-pilfering day-by-day reaching the nest-pattern); critics tracing the original-beginning guī yù Mèngyáng (laid the blame on Mèngyáng); the abuse he received is also zuì shēn (deepest). Examining the Míng: from Hóngwǔ onwards, the time fell-in-opening-the-nation — many were chāngmíng bódà zhī yīn (clear-and-broad sounds); Chénghuà thereafter, ānxiǎng tàipíng (peace-at-ease, peaceful-times), much táigé yōngróng (cabinet-and-pavilion, easy-and-leisurely) compositions; longer-and-longer, more-and-more vitiated, chénchén xiāngyīn (stagnant-mark, mutual-cause); reaching to chǎnhuǎn rǒngtà, qiānpiān yīlǜ (slack-and-sluggish, redundant-and-piled, a-thousand-pieces-one-rule). Mèngyáng zhènqǐ wěibì (roused-up paralysis), making all-under-heaven know again that there are ancient books; one cannot say of him wú gōng (without merit). But shèngqì jīnxīn, jiǎowǎng guòzhèng (enthusiasm overdone, straightening-the-bent past correctness). Zhōu Liànggōng’s Shūyǐng records his “Huánghéshuǐ rào Hàngōngqiáng” one piece because the closing line has Guō Fényáng characters touching on Táng affairs — fearing to bring upon himself reproach — thus deleted the draft, did not include in the collection. His firmly-standing partisan position is to this degree. Same time figures like Hé Jǐngmíng and Xuē Huì were all Mèngyáng’s exchange-and-singing people; Jǐngmíng’s poetry-discussion-letters are yínyín wǎngfù (gnaw-gnaw, going-back-and-forth) [in disagreement]; Huì also has “Jùnyì zhōng lián Hé Dàfù, cūháo bù jiě Lǐ Kōngtóng” — talent-elegant, in the end pity Hé Dàfù; rough-bold, do not understand Lǐ Kōngtóng — so within the qìlèi (breath-kind) cluster, there were already different views; not needing to wait for later attackers. Speaking with even mind: … [continues for many pages]. Compiled and presented in the appropriate Qiánlóng date. Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Lǐ Mèngyáng’s Kōngtóng jí is the central document of the mid-Míng fùgǔ (return-to-antiquity) literary movement — the QiánQīzǐ (Former Seven Masters) revolt against the táigé (cabinet-and-pavilion) tradition. The Sìkù judgement on Lǐ is the most extended and most nuanced in the entire division: it explicitly credits him with zhènqǐ wěibì (rousing-up paralysis of the inherited style) while documenting the shèngqì jīnxīn jiǎowǎng guò zhèng (excess-of-enthusiasm-leading-to-bent-correctness) overshoot. The Huánghé shuǐ rào Hàngōng qiáng anecdote — Lǐ’s deletion of his own poem for mentioning Guō Fényáng, a Táng figure (violating his own shī bì shèngTáng rule) — is the locus classicus for the Lǐ Mèngyáng fǎgǔ (rule-from-antiquity) rigorism.
The Sìkù further documents the internal disagreement within the QiánQīzǐ itself: Hé Jǐngmíng (KR4e0162)‘s exchange-letters on poetics are yínyín wǎngfù — disputes back-and-forth with Lǐ; Xuē Huì (KR4e0175)‘s couplet Jùnyì zhōng lián Hé Dàfù; Cūháo bù jiě Lǐ Kōngtóng (with-talent-elegance, in-the-end pity Hé Dàfù; rough-bold-ness, does not understand Lǐ Kōngtóng) — shows that the Former Seven Masters were not a unified front. The Sìkù uses this internal documentation to corroborate its critical placement.
The political-loyalty record is equally consequential: Lǐ’s impeachment of Zhāng Hèlíng (uncle of Empress Zhāng) as Hùbù lángzhōng, and his drafting work for Hán Wén on the anti-Liú Jǐn memorial that led to the great Zhèngdé Hán Wén-purge, place Lǐ alongside Hán Bāngqí (KR4e0169) and others in the HóngzhìZhèngdé qìjié (firm-conduct) loyalist tradition.
CBDB id 34624 gives 1473–1529, against the catalog meta’s 1472–1529 — CBDB date is followed here as in standard 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 Lǐ Mèng-yáng by Yoshio Hashimoto.
- Míng shǐ j. 286 (Wén-yuàn 2) — Lǐ Mèng-yáng biography.
- Daniel Bryant, The Great Recreation: Ho Ching-ming (1483–1521) and His World (Leiden: Brill, 2008) — extended study of the Qián-Qī-zǐ circle.
- Yoshikawa Kōjirō, Five Hundred Years of Chinese Poetry, 1150–1650 (trans. John T. Wixted; Princeton UP, 1989) — for the fù-gǔ movement.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The Huánghé shuǐ rào Hàngōng qiáng self-deletion anecdote — preserved through Zhōu Liànggōng’s Shūyǐng — is one of the most cited fǎgǔ rigorism stories in the Chinese literary tradition. The Sìkù preservation of internal QiánQīzǐ disagreement (Hé Jǐngmíng’s letters, Xuē Huì’s couplet) is a documentary anchor for the modern reconsideration of QiánQīzǐ as a programmatic but not unified school.