Cāngmíng jí 滄溟集
Vast-Ocean Collection by 李攀龍 (撰)
About the work
The literary collection of Lǐ Pānlóng 李攀龍 (1514–1570), zì Yúlín 于鱗, hào Cāngmíng 滄溟, of Lìchéng 歷城 (Jǐnán, Shāndōng). Jiājìng 23 (1544, 甲辰) jìnshì; office reached Hénán ànchá shǐ. Lǐ is the principal founder, with Wáng Shìzhēn, of the Hòu Qī Zǐ (Latter Seven Masters) archaist literary movement: in Yīn Shìdàn 殷士儋’s epitaph, “prose from below Western Hàn, poetry from below Tiānbǎo (8th-century late-High-Táng) — anything that would have stained his brush-and-silk, he could not bear to compose.” Word-by-word, line-by-line imitation of the ancients was his program. He was paired with Wáng Shìzhēn (the Tàicāng axis) and Lǐ Pānlóng (the Lìxià axis) as the twin leaders of the movement — said by contemporaries to be the Bān Mǎ Lǐ Dù fùshēng yú Míng (“Bān Gù, Sīmǎ Qiān, Lǐ Bái, Dù Fǔ reborn in the Míng”). The 30-juǎn WYG recension is 14 juǎn of poetry + 16 juǎn of prose + 1 juǎn of appended zhìzhuàn biǎolěi (epitaphs and the like).
Tiyao
Cāngmíng jí in 30 juǎn, appendix in 1 juǎn — by Lǐ Pānlóng of the Míng. Pānlóng, zì Yúlín, native of Lìchéng. Jiājìng jiǎchén (1544) jìnshì; office reached Hénán ànchá shǐ. The collection has 14 juǎn of poetry, 16 juǎn of prose, and 1 juǎn of appended zhì, zhuàn, biǎo, lěi (epitaphs, biographies, biǎo-genre, eulogies). Míng prose at first took chōngróng diǎnyǎ (“full-leisurely, canonical-elegant”) as its ancestor; long afterward it gradually became yōngshú (vulgar-and-stale). In Zhèngdé, Lǐ Mèngyáng rose-up Běidì (in the north), advocating fùgǔ (returning-to-the-ancient) learning, instructing the empire to read no books later than Táng; the fēngqì changed once. Pānlóng yǐn qí xù ér chàngchǎn zhī (“drew his thread and stretched-it-out, expanding-and-illuminating it”). Yīn Shìdàn in his epitaph said: prose from Western Hàn down, poetry from Tiānbǎo down — what would have háosù wū (stained his brush-silk) — he could not-bear to compose. Hence what he composed — one-character, one-line — imitating-the-ancients. With Tàicāng Wáng Shìzhēn mutually-leading and harmonizing, they qīngdòng yīshì (shaking the whole age) — all-taken as Bān, Mǎ, Lǐ, Dù reborn in the Míng. By Wànlì, Gōngān Yuán Hóngdào brothers first started using yàngǔ (“counterfeit-ancient”) to slander them. At the start of Tiānqǐ, Línchuān Ài Nányīng 艾南英 ranked them with extra vigour. Now examining the collection: the ancient Yuèfǔ — gēbāo zìjù (cut-skin word-and-line) — surely cannot escape the charge of piāoqiè (plagiarism). The various-styles also have liàngjié (clear-discipline) in plenty, wēiqíng chà shǎo (subtle-feeling somewhat lacking). The miscellaneous prose is duō jiéqū qí cí, túshì qí zì (mostly tortuous-and-bent language, decorating its characters) — surely cannot escape what the various critics have charged. Yet Pānlóng’s zīdì běngāo (natural-foundation originally high); his memorization-and-chanting is also broad; his cáilì fùjiàn (talent-strength rich-and-strong) línglì yīshí (overrunning one age) — also has unerasable qualities. Tài qí fūkuò; xié qí yīnghuá (“scrub away the skin-and-husk; select-out his flowering-essence”) — he is also a háojié zhī shì (hero-jacobin gentleman). Those who praise him guòqíng (exceed the truth); those who slander him also at times tàishèn (too-much). Compiled and presented in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 41 (1776). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Lǐ Pānlóng is one of the two principals (with Wáng Shìzhēn) of the Hòu Qī Zǐ archaist literary movement that dominated mid-to-late Míng literary culture from Jiājìng through early Wànlì. The Sìkù tíyào’s full-balance assessment is exceptionally interesting as a Qīng evaluative document: it traces both the rise of Lǐ’s literary program (out of Lǐ Mèngyáng’s Běidì foundation) and the Gōngān brothers’ (Yuán Hóngdào) and Ài Nányīng’s subsequent critiques. The tíyào’s own verdict: the Yuèfǔ are indeed substantially plagiaristic; the regulated poetry has qīngjié but lacks wēiqíng; the prose is excessively ornamental. But Lǐ’s natural endowments and breadth of memory make him unerasable; praise exceeds the truth; slander is also too-much. The 14-poetry / 16-prose / 1-appendix structure is the canonical organization. Yīn Shìdàn’s epitaph — preserved in the appended juǎn — is the principal contemporary critical document.
Date bracket: 1544 (Jiājìng 23 jìnshì) — 1570 (death). CBDB 34714 gives 1514–1570; the catalog meta gives 1414–1570 (the 1414 is a typographical slip for 1514; preserve and flag).
The catalog meta records Lǐ Pānlóng as 1414–1570, which is clearly a typographical slip for the standard 1514–1570 (a 100-year error). CBDB and Míngshǐ j. 287 confirm 1514–1570; the corrected date is followed here.
Translations and research
- Míng shǐ j. 287 — Lǐ Pān-lóng Wén-yuàn biography.
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: full entry on Lǐ Pān-lóng.
- Daniel Bryant, The Great Recreation: Ho Ching-ming (1483–1521) and His World (Leiden: Brill, 2008) — situates Lǐ as the heir-successor of the Hé Jǐng-míng / Lǐ Mèng-yáng Qián Qī Zǐ archaists.
- Stephen Owen, ed., The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, vol. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010) — chapter on Míng poetry and the Hòu Qī Zǐ.
- Yoshikawa Kōjirō 吉川幸次郎, Min Shin shi gaisetsu 明清詩概説.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The Sìkù tíyào’s historiographical sweep — tracing the late-Míng anti-archaist reaction from the Gōngān brothers through Ài Nányīng — is one of the longer and more substantial critical histories in any Sìkù tíyào for a Míng biéjí; the tíyào is, in effect, also an essay on Míng literary historiography.