Yáoshí shānrén gǎo 瑤石山人稿
Manuscripts of the Yáo-shí Mountain Man by 黎民表 (撰)
About the work
The literary collection of Lí Mínbiǎo 黎民表 (c. 1515 – c. 1581), zì Wéijìng 維敬, hào Yáoshí shānrén 瑤石山人, of Cónghuà 從化 (Guǎngdōng). Jiājìng 13 (1534, 甲午) jǔrén; appointed Hànlínyuàn kǒngmù (Hànlín archives clerk); transferred to Lìbù sīwù; for his prose-talent appointed Zhìchìfáng zhōngshū (clerk of the Edict-Drafting Office); later promoted to Cānyì. Míngshǐ Wényuàn records him as appended to the Huáng Zuǒ biography — as Lí is one of Huáng Zuǒ’s most distinguished disciples. The history says Huáng Zuǒ’s many disciples disciplined themselves in xíngyè (conduct-careers); among them Liáng Yǒuyù 梁有譽, Ōu Dàrèn 歐大任, and Lí Mínbiǎo were most prominent for poetry-fame. The 16-juǎn WYG recension opens with 3 fù and continues in ancient and near-style verse. The cutting is the Wànlì wùzǐ (1588) edition by Lí’s son Lí Jūnhuá 黎君華 (Lìbù láng), with preface by Chén Wénzhú 陳文燭 — a second cutting (the first, also at Zhènjiāng under Zhōng tàishǒu, is no longer extant).
Tiyao
Yáoshí shānrén gǎo in 16 juǎn — by Lí Mínbiǎo of the Míng. Mínbiǎo, zì Wéijìng, native of Cónghuà. Jiājìng jiǎwǔ (1534) jǔrén; appointed Hànlínyuàn kǒngmù; transferred to Lìbù sīwù; because néngwén (able-in-prose) used as Zhìchìfáng zhōngshū; later promoted to Cānyì. Míngshǐ Wényuàn appended-to-be-seen in the Huáng Zuǒ biography. The history says Zuǒ’s disciples were many in xíngyè zìchì (conduct-and-careers, self-disciplined); but Liáng Yǒuyù, Ōu Dàrèn, and Mínbiǎo’s poetry-fame was the most prominent. Zhū Yízūn’s Jìngzhìjū shīhuà said Mínbiǎo’s poetry, when read, seemed plain and packed-but-was-actually sunken-firm and ductile (sì zhìmèn ér shí chénzhuó jiānrèn). What Wáng Shìzhēn selected for the Xù wǔzǐ (Continued Five Masters) — not ashamed of the Dà Xiǎo Yǎ (i.e. Dàyǎ and Xiǎoyǎ of the Shījīng) — only this one man. This collection has the Wànlì wùzǐ (1588) preface by Chén Wénzhú, which says: Mínbiǎo qǐnglǎo yǐ guī (begged-leave-and-returned); they took leave at Sānshān; Zēng prefaced his poetry, Zhènjiāng Zhōng tàishǒu cut it; also says: after Mínbiǎo passed-the-world, his son the Lìbùláng Jūnhuá gathered-and-cut this collection — once more entrusting the preface — clearly Mínbiǎo’s poetry was twice cut. The first cutting we today have not seen. This cutting opens with 3 fù; the rest is all ancient-and-near-style poetry; though cuòcǎi lòujīn (variegated colour, inlaid gold), the fēnggǔ (style-bones) are diǎnzhòng (canonical-weighty), without qǐmí túshì (silky-fawn and decoration-painting) habit. So with Tàicāng (Wáng Shìzhēn) and Lìxià (Lǐ Pānlóng) the same source, but a slightly different branch. Hence although together with Wáng Dàoxíng 王道行, Shí Xīng 石星, Zhū Duōkuí 朱多煃, Zhào Yòngxián 趙用賢 he is listed as the Xù wǔzǐ (Continued Five Masters) — yet ultimately the other four cannot reach him. Compiled and presented in the intercalary fifth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Lí Mínbiǎo of Cónghuà is one of the principal Hòu Qī Zǐ-orbit (specifically: Xù wǔzǐ, “Continued Five Masters”) poets of the late Jiājìng to early Wànlì period, and the most distinguished Lǐngnán literary figure of his generation — a senior disciple of Huáng Zuǒ 黃佐 (Tàiquán jí KR4e0180) and, with Liáng Yǒuyù 梁有譽 and Ōu Dàrèn 歐大任, one of the three principal Guǎngzhōng literary talents of the era. The Sìkù tíyào quotes Zhū Yízūn’s formula — Lí’s poetry appears plain but is actually sunken-firm — and Wáng Shìzhēn’s judgement: of those Wáng selected for the Xù wǔzǐ, Lí alone is “not ashamed of the Dà and Xiǎo Yǎ” (i.e. of the Shījīng’s elegantiae). The tíyào’s verdict — with the Tàicāng (Wáng Shìzhēn) and Lìxià (Lǐ Pānlóng) same source, but a slightly different branch — places Lí inside the Hòu Qī Zǐ orbit but on its own Lǐngnán trajectory. The collection’s editorial-textual history is well documented in the Chén Wénzhú preface preserved in the WYG source: an earlier Zhènjiāng cutting (now lost) prefaced by Zēng-xx during Lí’s lifetime; the present 1588 Wànlì wùzǐ re-cutting by Lí’s son Jūnhuá during his service as Cān of Jiāngfān.
Date bracket: 1534 (Jiājìng 13 jǔrén) — 1588 (the Wànlì wùzǐ edition). Lifedates not securely fixed: CBDB 34706 has zero markers; standard reference works give Lí’s lifedates as approximately 1515–1581. The catalog meta provides no dates.
Translations and research
- Míng shǐ j. 287 — Lí Mín-biǎo in the Huáng Zuǒ biography.
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The collection is one of the more important literary documents of the Lǐngnán (Guǎngdōng) literary regional tradition in the mid-Míng — a tradition the Sìkù tíyào treats as deliberately distinct from both the central-plains archaists (LǐHé) and the eastern Hòu Qī Zǐ (WángLǐ) — even as it positions Lí firmly within the Wáng Shìzhēn Xù wǔzǐ circle.