Dígōng jí 迪功集
Promoter-of-Achievement Collection by 徐禎卿 (撰)
About the work
The collected works of Xú Zhēnqīng 徐禎卿 (1479–1511), zì Chānggǔ 昌穀, hào Dígōng 迪功 (after his demoted post of Dígōng láng), of Wúxiàn 吳縣 (Sūzhōu) — one of the Wúzhōng sìcái (Four Talents of Wúzhōng), and the principal Sūzhōu member of the QiánQīzǐ (Former Seven Masters). 6 juǎn of poetry-and-prose + 1 juǎn appended Tányì lù 談藝錄 (Discussions on Art). Cut in Zhèngdé gēngchén (1520, posthumous; preface by Lǐ Mèngyáng (李夢陽)). The collection contains: 44 yuèfǔ, 16 zèngdá, 25 yóulǎn, 40 sòngbié, 21 jìyì, 12 yǒnghuái, 21 tíyǒng, 3 āiwǎn — 182 poems in juǎn 1–4, plus 24 prose pieces in juǎn 5–6, with the Tányì lù as 1 juǎn of poetic theory.
Tiyao
Dígōng jí in 6 juǎn, with Tányì lù appended in 1 juǎn — by Xú Zhēnqīng of the Míng. Zhēnqīng, zì Chānggǔ, native of Wúxiàn. Hóngzhì yǐchǒu (1505) jìnshì; office Dàlǐsì zuǒ sìfù; for shīqiú (loss-of-prisoner) demoted to Guózǐjiàn bóshì; died at thirty-three. Lifetime’s poetry-discussion master-intent is seen in the Tányì lù and the first letter to Lǐ Mèngyáng — e.g.: the ancient poetry-three-hundred can broaden its source; the surviving-pieces’ nineteen-poems can condense its taste; yuèfǔ heroic-and-high can quicken its breath; Lísāo deep-and-eternal can supplement its thought. — after that, fǎ jīng ér zhí zhǐ, shéng gǔ yǐ chóng cí (rule-by-the-Classics and plant the intent; cord-by-the-ancients and revere the diction); even though not fully reaching its ào (depth), I also rarely see its failure. Also: binding to Hàn martial — its flow still reaches to Wèi; ancestrally Jìn-style — its defect cannot be entirely depended on. What he discussed — still Běidì (Lǐ Mèngyáng)‘s imitating-antiquity path; only Mèngyáng’s talent is xióng (heroic) and breath měng (fierce), so xiāozhāng qí cí (expanded his diction); Zhēnqīng lǜ dàn ér sī shēn (thought-calm and reflection-deep), so mì yùn yǐ yì (secretly-operates with intent). At-the-time could not contend-first with Mèngyáng; over time, judgement settled, also not perished-with-Mèng-yáng — surely for this. Wáng Shìzhēn says: Huáng Tíngjiān himself fixed his poetry as Jīnghuá lù, only 300 poems; Zhēnqīng himself fixed Dígōng jí also 300 poems. This běn — yuèfǔ 44, zèngdá shī 16, yóulǎn shī 25, sòngbié shī 40, jìyì shī 21, yǒnghuái shī 12, tíyǒng shī 21, āiwǎn shī 3, together 182 — does not reach the number of 300; from juǎn 5 onward is záwén 24 pieces; titled Zhèngdé gēngchén (1520) cut; at the front there is Lǐ Mèngyáng’s composed preface, also says 6 juǎn — surely the original-běn. Not knowing how it differs from what Shìzhēn said. Perhaps what Shìzhēn saw was separately one běn? Compiled and presented in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Xú Zhēnqīng’s Dígōng jí + Tányì lù is the Sìkù-canonical document of the Sūzhōu wing of the QiánQīzǐ (Former Seven Masters) — the lǜ dàn ér sī shēn (thought-calm and reflection-deep) counter-pole to Lǐ Mèngyáng’s aggressive fùgǔ. The Tányì lù (Discussions on Art) — 1 juǎn of poetic theory at the back — is the principal theoretical document of the early QiánQīzǐ and one of the most-cited mid-Míng treatises on classical Chinese poetics: its four-stage program (broaden the source by Shījīng three-hundred; condense the taste by Hàn nineteen-poems; quicken the breath by yuèfǔ; supplement the thought by Lísāo) is the canonical formulation.
The Sìkù judgement of Xú vs. Lǐ Mèngyáng is one of the cleaner QiánQīzǐ rank-orderings in this division: Lǐ’s talent xióng and breath měng produced xiāozhāng expanded diction; Xú’s lǜ dàn ér sī shēn (calm-thought, deep-reflection) produced mì yùn yǐ yì (secret-operating with intent). The Sìkù explicitly endorses the historical judgement that Xú could not lead in his time but, after time passes, bù yǔ Mèngyáng jù fèi — does not perish alongside Mèngyáng.
The textual question — Wáng Shìzhēn’s claim of a 300-poem self-edition by Xú paralleling Huáng Tíngjiān’s Jīnghuá lù — and the present běn’s having only 182 poems is one of the cleaner Sìkù-flagged textual discrepancies. The editors honestly admit they cannot reconcile: qǐ Shìzhēn suǒ jiàn bié yǒu yī běn yú? — “perhaps what Shìzhēn saw was a different běn?”
The early death at 33 — 1479–1511, by demotion-and-illness — places Xú alongside Hé Jǐngmíng (KR4e0162, 1483–1521, died at 38) as the two great early-deaths of the QiánQīzǐ generation.
CBDB id 33842 confirms 1479–1511.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: notice of Xú Zhēn-qīng.
- Míng shǐ j. 286 (Wén-yuàn 2) — Xú Zhēn-qīng biography.
- Daniel Bryant, The Great Recreation: Ho Ching-ming (1483–1521) and His World (Leiden: Brill, 2008) — for Xú in the Qián-Qī-zǐ circle.
- Stephen Owen, Readings in Chinese Literary Thought (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 1992) — for the Tán-yì lù theoretical tradition.
- Yoshikawa Kōjirō, Five Hundred Years of Chinese Poetry, 1150–1650 (trans. John T. Wixted; Princeton UP, 1989).
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The 33-year early death of Xú, the Wúzhōng sìcái group affiliation, and the principal-Sū-zhōu-member status within the QiánQīzǐ make Xú a uniquely-placed mid-Míng figure: simultaneously a Wú-school lyric voice and a QiánQīzǐ archaicist programmer. The Tányì lù’s four-stage programme is one of the principal canonical sources for Míng-era classical Chinese poetics.