Shānzhāi wénjí 山齋文集
Mountain-Studio Literary Collection by 鄭岳 (撰), 鄭炫 (編)
About the work
The literary remainder of Zhèng Yuè 鄭岳 (1468–1539), zì Rǔhuá 汝華, hào Shānzhāi 山齋, of Pútián 莆田 — Bīngbù yòu shìláng, the principal Pútián anti-Prince Níng intelligence-and-policy official, and the cleanest Pútián opposition voice in the early-Jiā-jìng Dàlǐ yì (Great-Rites Controversy). 24 juǎn: 7 of poetry + 17 of prose. Zhèng’s complete writings — Méngnán lù, Xīxíng jì, Nánhuán lù, Shānzhāi yíngǎo, Màngǎo, Jìnggǎo, Xùgǎo, Zòuyì — were burned by fire, leaving only fragments; in Wànlì his great-grandson Zhèng Xuàn 鄭炫 recovered and re-cut what survived as the present 24-juǎn collection. Xuàn himself estimated the recovered text at less than 2–3 tenths of the original. Kē Wéiqí 柯維騏 (in the Xù Púyáng zhì) praised Zhèng’s prose as chàngdá yùnjí (flowing-and-reaching, deep-and-affecting); Xièshānzǐ judged his poetry shēn yú fěngyù zhī tǐ (deep in fěngyù style). The Sìkù preserves him as the chángdá Hùguǎng (Hú-guǎng-tradition-flowing) but with extreme-beauty unfetched — the principal Pútián biéjí loyalist of the Chálíng literary tradition.
Tiyao
Shānzhāi wénjí in 24 juǎn — by Zhèng Yuè of the Míng. Yuè, zì Rǔhuá, hào Shānzhāi, native of Pútián. Hóngzhì guǐchǒu (1493) jìnshì; office reached Bīngbù yòu shìláng. Yuè had long held fēngjié (firm conduct); when in office Jiāngxī àncháshǐ, first broke Chénháo’s rebellious-plan and was reverse-accused, gòu (built-up-a-case-against), arrest-and-questioned; reaching Bīngbù, again on the Xīngxiàn fùmiào (joint-temple-enshrinement of the imperial father in the Dàlǐ yì) opposed-edict; strongly begged retirement. Later the Rites-debaters all received posthumous-care-and-emolument-rewards, given shì; only Yuè was not reached — surely his gūjiè guǎyuán (isolated-and-clean, sparse-supporters), his innate-nature being so. Kē Wéiqí’s Xù Púyáng zhì calls his poetry-prose all chàngdá yùnjí (flowing-and-reaching, deep-and-affecting); Xièshānzǐ also praises his poetry as shēn yú fěngyù zhī tǐ (deep in fěngyù style). His writings include: Méngnán lù, Xīxíng jì, Nánhuán lù, Shānzhāi yíngǎo, Màngǎo, Jìnggǎo, Xùgǎo, Zòuyì — because the cutting-boards were burned by fire, what remained is no more than several kinds. This collection is what in Wànlì interval his great-grandson Xuàn sought-and-gathered, recut: 7 juǎn of poetry, prose jointly 17 juǎn — said-to-be that compared to the old collection, less than 2–3 tenths. Now looking at the works: at the time of Xìnyáng (何景明) and Běidì (李夢陽) initially rising, the literary forms had not yet changed; [Zhèng] still strictly held the Chálíng rule-and-measure; though tiáochàng yǒu yú, qílì bù zú (flowing-and-coursing in surplus, strange-beauty insufficient), the zhìshí píngyì (substantial-real, level-and-easy) — without staining of túshì gōují zhī wěi tǐ (the false-form of plastering-decorating, hook-and-thorn) — surely by virtue of his person preserved. Compiled and presented in the second month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Zhèng Yuè’s Shānzhāi wénjí is one of the cleanest Sìkù-preserved Pútián documentary anchors for two major mid-Míng political crises: (i) the Jiāngxī Prince Níng intelligence-action — Zhèng was the àncháshǐ who first broke the rebellion plans (years before the 1519 Níngwáng zhī luàn) and was falsely accused and detained for his pains; (ii) the early-Jiā-jìng Dàlǐ yì (Great Rites Controversy) — Zhèng opposed the Xīngxiàn fùmiào (joint-enshrinement of the Jiājìng emperor’s biological father) and forcefully begged retirement, and was the only one of the Rites-debaters not posthumously rehabilitated. This makes the collection a documentary anchor of losing-side Rites politics in early Jiājìng.
The textual-recovery story is one of the more dramatic in this division: Zhèng’s eight-fold work (Méngnán through Zòuyì) was destroyed by fire; only the 7-poetry-+17-prose recension survives, recovered by his Wànlì great-grandson Zhèng Xuàn. Xuàn’s frank statement that what remains is less than 2–3 tenths of the original is unusually self-deprecating for a biéjí afterword and is preserved by the Sìkù tíyào.
The literary placement of Zhèng — Chálíng (Lǐ Dōngyáng) loyalist holding the line against the QiánQīzǐ (Lǐ Mèngyáng / Hé Jǐngmíng) onslaught — parallels the Sìkù documentary architecture for Gù Qīng (KR4e0149) and Shí Bǎo (KR4e0142). The three together are the principal Chálíngpài loyalist anchors in this division.
CBDB id 34627 confirms 1468–1539.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: notice of Zhèng Yuè.
- Míng shǐ j. 201 — Zhèng Yuè biography.
- Carney T. Fisher, The Chosen One: Succession and Adoption in the Court of Ming Shizong. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1990 — for the Dà-lǐ yì (Great Rites Controversy) context.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí) and §27.1 (Míng political history).
Other points of interest
The fact that Zhèng was the only one of the Dàlǐyì debaters not posthumously rehabilitated — that all his fellow-opposers received posthumous favour and Zhèng alone did not — is one of the cleaner Sìkù-documented cases of post-Jiā-jìng court-memory selectivity. The collection’s recovery by the Wànlì great-grandson Xuàn parallels the Liáng Zī-Liáng Chǔ (KR4e0134) post-cabinet recovery pattern in this division.