Hǎihè yíngǎo 海壑吟稿
Sea-Valley Chanting Manuscripts by 趙完璧 (撰)
About the work
The literary collection of Zhào Wánbì 趙完璧 (1559+), zì Quánqīng 全卿, hào Yúnhè 雲壑 (later Hǎihè 海壑), of Jiāozhōu 膠州 (Shāndōng). Zhào entered office via suìgòngshēng; reached Gǒngchāngfǔ tōngpàn. The 11-juǎn collection comprises 6 juǎn of poetry + 5 of prose. The collection’s principal historical interest is documentary: Zhào, as a zhǐhuī (Imperial Guard jǐnyīwèi) junior officer at the time of Yáng Jìshèng’s 1555 execution, kàng zhī (resisted) Lù Bǐng 陸炳 (the Jiājìng jǐnyīwèi commander allied with Yán Sōng) and was nearly executed himself in the Běisī yù (Northern Prison Bureau). He composed exchange-poems with Yáng Jìshèng in prison and later composed a Yáng lièfù cí (Lay for the Yáng Heroic Widow) on Yáng’s wife’s suicide. The Sìkù tíyào reads Zhào as a zhìjié zhī shì (volition-and-integrity gentleman) whose obscurity (no Míngshǐ biography) is the result of his low rank — the surviving Hǎihè yíngǎo is the only window onto his life.
Tiyao
Hǎihè yíngǎo in 11 juǎn — by Zhào Wánbì of the Míng. Wánbì, zì Quánqīng, hào Yúnhè, late hào Hǎihè, native of Jiāozhōu. By suìgòngshēng officed to Gǒngchāngfǔ tōngpàn. This collection has shī 6 juǎn, wén 5 juǎn. Wáng Sānxī 王三錫’s preface to his poetry-collection said: in the Jiājìng period he shìhuàn (took-up office), serving Sīchéng (City Office); his kàngzhí (resisting-directly) offended the quánjiān (power-villains); with Yáng Jiāoshāngōng (Yáng Jìshèng) was tóng è (in the same difficulty). Examining the collection: Běisī yù zhōng qīyánlǜ (Northern Prison Bureau, two seven-character regulated) — the preface says: “Jiājìng jiǎyín (1554) autumn, the qiūcáo (Autumn Department) issued an order to arrest the háojiào mǒu (a certain abusive officer); thereby Zhào huò zuì (obtained guilt) by Dōnghú 東湖 (Lù Bǐng)‘s impeachment-execution; saved only by the strength of the yuánlǎo kētái (senior censors), barely fù wǎquán (got back tiles-intact, i.e. survived).” Dōnghú is Lù Bǐng’s alternate name. At the time Bǐng was Jǐnyīwèi dūdū, with Yán Sōng biǎolǐ wéi jiān (inside-and-outside acting as treacherous), his power-spread great. Wánbì, as a zhǐhuī (Imperial Guard) junior-rank, was able to resist him. In prison, his chànghè with Yáng Jìshèng has lines like “xīnkǔ bùfáng yānrìyuè; yuánshū xǐ yǒu Hàn liángchén” (“hardships don’t prevent submerging-in-sun-and-moon; in succor-of-the-book happy that the Hàn had good-ministers”). When Jìshèng died at Xīshì (Western Market), Wánbì composed Yáng lièfù cí to mourn him — having the Xiǎoyǎ yuànfěi zhī yí (a residual of the Xiǎoyǎ lament). One can call him a zhìjié zhī shì (will-and-integrity gentleman).
His poetry — often touches-an-event-and-stirs xìng (interest) — tǔshǔ tiānrán (expression natural), absolutely no jiàoxiāo nùzhāng (shouting-and-blustering, anger-displaying) manner — also distinct from the late-Míng jiǎojī qǔmíng zhě (forced-extreme name-seekers). Only because his name-and-rank was not high, history did not give him biography — almost reaching yānmò bù zhāng (submerged-and-not-displayed). Only relying on this collection’s cún (preserved) one can still see lüè his shǐmò (start-and-end). Also enough to see zhèngzhí zhī qì (upright-direct qì) has those bùdé ér xiāoshí zhě (“which cannot be eroded-away”). Compiled and presented in the ninth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Zhào Wánbì of Jiāozhōu is one of the more remarkable obscure-but-principled minor officials of the Yán Sōng dictatorship period. As a low-ranking jǐnyīwèi officer in 1554, he resisted Lù Bǐng 陸炳 (the jǐnyīwèi commander, Yán Sōng ally — see also KR4e0195 for the Sìkù assessment of Yǐn Tái’s friendship with Lù Bǐng as a báibì zhī xiá). Zhào’s kàng drew impeachment-and-near-execution; he was saved by senior censors’ intervention. His subsequent imprisonment overlapped with Yáng Jìshèng’s, producing the Běisī yù zhōng prison exchange poems preserved in the collection. The 1555 Yáng lièfù cí — composed on Yáng’s wife’s suicide — is a primary literary document of the Yáng Zhōngmǐn affair (cf. KR4e0200).
Date bracket: 1554 (the 1554 Běisī yù incident) — c.1600 (Wáng Sānxī’s preface places Zhào in his 80s+; CBDB 207168 gives 1559 as a fl. marker which contradicts the documented 1554 incident — the 1559 is almost certainly Zhào’s adulthood mark, not birth, and the actual lifedates are unresolved).
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
- The collection’s Yáng liè-fù cí and Běi-sī yù zhōng exchange-poems are occasionally cited in the secondary literature on the Yáng Jì-shèng affair.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The collection is one of the most important low-rank-witness sources on the Yán Sōng / Lù Bǐng dictatorship period — capturing the perspective of a jǐnyīwèi junior officer who refused to participate in the persecution of Yáng Jìshèng. The Yáng lièfù cí is also a primary document of Míng lièfù (heroic-widow) literature.