Dōngzhōu chūgǎo 東洲初稿
Eastern-Islet First Manuscripts by 夏良勝 (撰)
About the work
The first-period writings of Xià Liángshèng 夏良勝 (1480–1538), zì Yúzhōng 于中 (or Zǐzhōng), hào Dōngzhōu 東洲, of Nánchéng 南城 (Jiànchāngfǔ, Jiāngxī) — author of Zhōngyōng yǎnyì (KR3a0093; separately catalogued) and Sìkù-canonical exemplar of fēngjié lǐnrán (striking-firm conduct) twice-demoted remonstrant. 14 juǎn: juǎn 1–7 miscellaneous prose; juǎn 8 poetry; juǎn 9 Kǎodìng Huángjí zhǐzhǎng zhūtú (Examined Charts on the August-Pole Hand-Palm); juǎn 10 Tiānwén biànlǎn (Convenient Survey of Astronomy); juǎn 11–14 Shìzhǐ suílù 仕止隨錄 (Notes-Following on Office-Holding and -Retiring). The Shìzhǐ suílù juǎn 11–12 contain the memorials and prose from his Nánxún (Wǔzōng’s Southern Tour) imprisonment-arrest and the fùjiù (rescue) compositions of fellow officials; juǎn 13–14 the at-home retirement writings (compiled by his disciple Jiāng Zhì 江治 of Zhōnglíng). The bulk juǎn 1–13 was compiled by his disciple Luó Jiāng 羅江 of Diānchí 滇池 (Yúnnán). Zhèngdé 15 (1520) cut.
Tiyao
Dōngzhōu chūgǎo in 14 juǎn — by Xià Liángshèng of the Míng. Liángshèng has Zhōngyōng yǎnyì separately catalogued. Míngshǐ main biography says Liángshèng after dismissal compiled his bureau-section’s zhāngzòu (memorials), named Quánsī cúngǎo (Office-Section Surviving Drafts); the various memorials discussing-rites are all in it; now no longer transmitted. This is his poetry-and-prose collection. The first 7 juǎn are miscellaneous prose; juǎn 8 is poetry; juǎn 9 is Kǎodìng Huángjí zhǐzhǎng zhūtú; juǎn 10 is Tiānwén biànlǎn; from juǎn 11 down — all titled Shìzhǐ suílù: juǎn 11 and 12 — two juǎn — miscellaneously record his jiàn Nánxún xiàyù (remonstrating against Nánxún and being imprisoned) memorials, presents, poetry, prose, and contemporaries’ tóuzèng shēnjiù (sent-offerings, expressed-rescue) work; juǎn 13 and 14 — two juǎn — miscellaneously record at-home poetry-and-prose. From juǎn 13 and earlier — all titled disciple-of-Diān-chí Luó Jiāng compiled; juǎn 14 titled disciple-of-Zhōng-líng Jiāng Zhì continued-compilation. Míngshǐ yìwén zhì records Dōngzhōu gǎo in 12 juǎn; poetry 8 juǎn — with this běn’s juǎnzhì mutually different. However this běn is titled chūgǎo (first manuscript) — cut at Zhèngdé 15 (1520); his Jiā-jìng-and-later works all not reached. What history transmits — surely the juǎn-count of his complete-collection. Liángshèng twice for zhí jiàn (direct remonstrance) demoted — fēngjié lǐnrán (striking-firm bearing); his poetry-and-prose — without intent to seek craft, yet all yuèyuè yǒu zhí qì (towering-tall with straight breath); although not famous by cízǎo (diction-decoration), surely not what diāozhāng huìjù zhī shì (chisel-chapter, painting-line scholars) can speak-of in the same day. Compiled and presented in the second month of Qiánlóng 44 (1779). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Xià Liángshèng’s Dōngzhōu chūgǎo is the Sìkù-preserved first-period writings of one of the two most consequential Dàlǐ yì opposition remonstrants of early Jiājìng. The textual situation is unusual: the second-period writings (Jiā-jìng-era memorials on the Great Rites Controversy + the Liáohǎi exile period) are not in this chūgǎo — they were collected by Xià himself into Quánsī cúngǎo (Office-Section Surviving Drafts), now lost. The Sìkù preserves only what was cut in Zhèngdé 15 (1520) — the Nánxún (Wǔzōng’s Southern Tour 1519–1520) remonstrance, juǎn 11–12 are the documentary core of that crisis. The Jiā-jìng-era Dàlǐ yì memorials are documented only through the lost Quánsī cúngǎo.
The textual architecture of the 14 juǎn is exceptionally clean for a biéjí: the disciple-compilers (Luó Jiāng of Yúnnán Diānchí + Jiāng Zhì of Zhōnglíng) preserved the work in a sequence — miscellaneous prose (1–7), poetry (1), philosophical-charts (1 Kǎodìng Huángjí zhǐzhǎng), astronomy (1 Tiānwén biànlǎn), Nánxún arrest documents (juǎn 11–12), retirement-era (juǎn 13–14). The Kǎodìng Huángjí zhǐzhǎng and Tiānwén biànlǎn are mid-Míng Lǐxué-tradition technical works embedded in a biéjí — paralleling Hán Bāngqí’s (KR4e0169) embedded technical content.
The Sìkù-flagged loss of the Jiājìng Quánsī cúngǎo is one of the more painful biéjí-tradition Great-Rites Controversy losses, since Xià’s surviving Zhōngyōng yǎnyì (KR3a0093) is the Liáohǎi exile-period work that is properly the post-Quánsī writing.
CBDB id 34655 confirms 1480–1538.
Translations and research
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: notice of Xià Liáng-shèng.
- Míng shǐ j. 192 — Xià Liáng-shèng 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.
- David M. Robinson, Bandits, Eunuchs, and the Son of Heaven: Rebellion and the Economy of Violence in Mid-Ming China (Honolulu: U. Hawaii P., 2001) — for the Wǔ-zōng Nán-xún context.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí) and §27.1 (Míng political history).
Other points of interest
The Sìkù’s explicit notation that the Jiā-jìng-era Quánsī cúngǎo — the Dàlǐ yì memorial collection — is no longer transmitted is one of the cleaner documentary losses recorded in this division. The fēngjié lǐnrán (striking-firm bearing) judgement and yuèyuè yǒu zhí qì (tall-with-straight-breath) line places Xià alongside the Zhèng Yuè (KR4e0151) cluster of Sìkù-preserved Dàlǐyì opposition remonstrants.