Huáquán jí 華泉集
Flowering-Spring Collection by 邊貢 (撰)
About the work
The collected works of Biān Gòng 邊貢 (1476–1532), zì Tíngshí 廷寔, hào Huáquán 華泉, of Lìchéng 歷城 (Jǐnán, Shāndōng) — one of the QiánQīzǐ (Former Seven Masters) of mid-Míng, with Lǐ Mèngyáng (李夢陽), Hé Jǐngmíng (何景明), and Xú Zhēnqīng (徐禎卿) as the four chiefs of the Hóngzhì literary world. 14 juǎn: 8 verse + 6 prose. The Sìkù judgement is unusually critical: Biān’s verse occupies a zhī yǐ bùzhàn wéi shèng (winning-by-not-fighting) middle position between LǐHé’s aggressive fùgǔ (return-to-antiquity) and XúXuē’s lyric clarity — never the first, but never jiǎngpái (a struck-target) either. His prose is judged yuǎn xùn yú yǒuyùn zhī cí (far inferior to his metric works) — the editors place no value on Biān’s prose. Compilation by Biān’s fellow-townsman Liú Tiānmín 劉天民, posthumously in Jiājìng wùxū (1538) — when Yán Sōng 嚴嵩’s power was at flood-tide; the editor’s decision to lead the collection with the poetry-pieces composed for Yán Sōng is flagged by the Sìkù as one of the most qīngyì (clean-discourse)-suspect editorial choices in the Míng biéjí tradition, doubly so since Xuē Huì (KR4e0175) — Yán Sōng’s tóngnián (same examination-cohort) — explicitly stripped out all his Yán Sōng-related works on Yán’s rise.
Tiyao
Huáquán jí in 14 juǎn — by Biān Gòng of the Míng. Gòng, zì Tíngshí; Huáquán is his hào. Native of Lìchéng. Hóngzhì bǐngchén (1496) jìnshì; office reached Nánjīng Hùbù shàngshū. This collection has: 8 juǎn of poetry, 6 juǎn of prose. Lǔ Zhōnglì’s Hǎiyuè língxiù jí says: Huáquán’s compositions, though not reaching He and Lǐ, are píngdàn hécuì (calm-and-plain, harmonious-and-pure); before Xiàozōng (Hóngzhì), among the Hǎidài [Shāndōng] talents, none compares. Hú Yīnglín’s Shī sǒu says: People only push Lǐ and Hé as the era’s first. I take it that Kōngtóng (Lǐ Mèngyáng), Guānzhōng person, breath rather over-firm, could not avoid losing to grumbling-puffing; Dàfù (Hé Jǐngmíng)‘s bright-conduct and refined-language come from natural disposition — also self-difficult-to-reach, but skilled at sentence-craft, and lacks intent-beyond-the-meaning. Only Biān Huáquán: arising-image floating-and-untroubled, language especially clear-and-round — so should jointly push this person. Chén Zǐlóng’s Míng shī xuǎn says: the Minister’s talent-feeling is very rich; able in chénwěn (sinking-stable) places to see his flowing-beauty. His standing-and-price is below Chānggǔ (Xú Zhēnqīng), above Jūncǎi (Xuē Huì). Now examining his poetry: in talent-power vigorous-and-strong, does not reach Lǐ Mèngyáng and Hé Jǐngmíng’s skill at yòngcháng (using-length); in scene-and-mood clear-and-distant, does not reach Xú Zhēnqīng and Xuē Huì’s skill at yòngduǎn (using-shortness); but yíyóu yú zhūrén zhī jiān, yǐ bùzhàn wéi shèng (he sails-easily among the others, winning by not fighting); without towering-over-one-age fame, yet as time passes and affairs move, in long days when judgement is settled, also does not greatly receive later-people’s onslaught. The three [critics]’ discussion — should take [Chén] Zǐlóng as the holder-of-balance. Formerly, Xuē Huì and Yán Sōng were tóngnián (same examination-cohort) and rather mutually exchanged-poetry; when Sōng held the state, Huì at once disconnected the back-and-forth and bīng xuēqù jiùzuò, bùliú yīzì — at once stripped his old works, did not retain one character; to this day is praised by critics. This collection takes the sòngSōng (sending-off-Sōng) pieces, putting them as the yājuǎn (cover-scroll); cannot avoid being suspect of qīngyì (clean-discourse). However the poetry-collection was after Gòng’s death, made by his fellow-villager Liú Tiānmín compiled; at that time was Jiājìng wùxū (1538), exactly Sōng’s power-flame growing flourishing; perhaps Tiānmín was without insight, attaching-to time’s-situation as glory — not Gòng’s original intent. His prose collection also is Dàmíng Wèi Yǔnfú continued-cut. From Míng onwards, the tányì (discussing-arts) houses set-it-aside-and-do-not-discuss; now examining its rank-and-character — truly far inferior to his yǒuyùn zhī cí (metric works). Surely talent has piāncháng (partial-strength), things cannot have-both-large; appended to poetry to travel, taken as wǎnyǎn zhī jí (precious-jade’s underlay) is sufficient. Compiled and presented in the ninth month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Biān Gòng’s Huáquán jí is the Sìkù-canonical document of the QiánQīzǐ (Former Seven Masters) third-tier balance position — the bùzhàn wéi shèng (winning-by-not-fighting) middle voice between Lǐ Mèngyáng / Hé Jǐngmíng’s aggressive fùgǔ and Xú Zhēnqīng / Xuē Huì’s lyric clarity. The Sìkù preservation of the three-critic evaluation tradition (Lǔ Zhōnglì, Hú Yīnglín, Chén Zǐlóng) is unusually full — the editors explicitly side with Chén Zǐlóng’s chípíng (holder-of-balance) reading.
The collection’s editorial scandal — Liú Tiānmín’s placement of Biān’s sòng Yán Sōng (poems sent off to Yán Sōng) as the yājuǎn (cover-piece) in 1538, at the height of Yán Sōng’s power — is one of the most explicitly documented cases of Sìkù-flagged compromise in the Míng biéjí tradition. The editors structurally contrast Biān’s posthumous editor with Xuē Huì’s (KR4e0175) own decision to strip every Yán Sōng-related piece from his collection on Yán’s rise — Xuē’s case is one of the cleanest documented qīngyì (clean-discourse) refusals in late-Míng historiography, and Biān’s stands as the unflattering counter-pole.
The judgement that Biān’s prose is yuǎn xùn yú yǒuyùn zhī cí (far inferior to his metric works), and that the 6 prose juǎn are best read as wǎnyǎn zhī jí (precious-jade’s underlay) — that is, as the supporting paper for the verse — is unusually candid for a Sìkù tíyào.
CBDB id 34634 confirms 1476–1532.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: notice of Biān Gòng.
- Míng shǐ j. 286 (Wén-yuàn 2) — Biān Gòng 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 including Biān.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The contrast between Liú Tiānmín’s 1538 compromised editing (leading the collection with the Yán Sōng poems) and Xuē Huì’s contemporary deletion of all his own Yán Sōng exchanges (as the Sìkù explicitly cross-references) is one of the most documentarily-sharp pairings in the entire Míng biéjí tíyào tradition — a rare case where the Sìkù uses one collection’s tíyào to elevate another collection’s editorial integrity as comparison.