Shídòng jí 石洞集
Stone-Cavern Collection by 葉春及 (撰)
About the work
The literary collection of Yè Chūnjí 葉春及 (1532–1595), zì Huàpǔ 化浦, of Guīshàn 歸善 (Huìzhōu, Guǎngdōng). Jiājìng 31 (1552, 壬子) jǔrén; officed to Hùbù lángzhōng. His Míngshǐ notice is appended to the Ài Mù 艾穆 biography. The 18-juǎn WYG recension is the most administratively focused of the Sìkù Míng biéjí: (i) 2 juǎn of yīngzhào shū (responding-to-edict memorials) — the famous sānwàn yán (30,000-character) memorial Yè submitted as Fúqīng jiàoyù on contemporary politics; (ii) 5 juǎn of Huìān zhèngshū (Huìān Administrative Documents) — written during Yè’s tenure as Huìān zhīxiàn; (iii) 2 juǎn of gōngdú (official documents); (iv) 2 juǎn of zhìlùn (gazetteer-theses) — modeled on the Su Shì Èzhōu xiǎojí pattern; (v) 2 juǎn of poetry; (vi) the cataloged 1-juǎn Chóngwén juéshū — a no-text entry, with only the title and an yī quēzì (one-missing-character) note: the Sìkù compilers could not locate the book. Yè’s intellectual affiliation is with Chén Xiànzhāng 陳獻章 (Báishā), making him a late-Míng Báishā transmission.
Tiyao
Shídòng jí in 18 juǎn — by Yè Chūnjí of the Míng. Chūnjí, zì Huàpǔ, native of Guīshàn. Jiājìng rénzǐ (1552) jǔrén; officed to Hùbù lángzhōng. Affairs appended in Míngshǐ Ài Mù biography. This biān (work) first records yīngzhào shū 5 piān — together 2 juǎn. The history calls them “shòu Fúqīng jiàoyù shàngshū chén shízhèng lílí sānwàn yán” (“appointed Fúqīng jiàoyù, sent up a memorial discussing the politics-of-the-time in lílí (winding) 30,000 words”) — this is them. Next records Huìān zhèngshū 12 piān — written when he served as Huìān zhīxiàn — together 5 juǎn. Next gōngdú 2 juǎn. Next zhìlùn 2 juǎn — lùn of the xiànzhì (county gazetteer) he compiled — using the Èzhōu xiǎojí (Sū Shì’s Wǔchāng jí) pattern. Next shī 2 juǎn. The 19th juǎn of the catalog records Chóngwén juéshū — with zhù yī quēzì (annotated with one missing-character); his great-grandson Lùn’s colophon says: “this book fèng zhǐ suǒ kān (cut by imperial edict), the boards-stored at bùshǔ (the bureau-offices) — bùdé ér jiàn (cannot be seen)” — surely a yǒu lù wú shū (catalog-entry-without-book) item. Chūnjí’s learning took Chén Xiànzhāng as ancestor; his administrative-achievements were dāngshí dìyī (first of the era). When Ài Mù was xúnfǔ SìChuān, Chūnjí was Bīnzhōu zhīzhōu; once raised him to zìdài (replace himself). The zhèngshū he composed is jǐngrán yǒu tiáo (orderly-and-with-arrangement). Zhū Yízūn said: his poetry zōng Dùlíng (took Dù Fǔ as ancestor), did not fall into the Chéng Hào / Shào Yōng ménhù (gate-and-door); hence the yīnjié (sound-section) also distinctly qīngliàng (crisp-clear). His prose is chà jìn píngzhí (somewhat plain-and-straight), yet also míngchàng (clear-fluent). Only at the time-of-being-a-magistrate, fútiē jùzài bùyí (“notices-and-charters all-loaded without-leaving”) — rather injured by cóngsuì (cluttered-detail). At the time he was at the bureau, because of an envoy reaching Japan, he memorialized requesting duōfāng gòuqiú gǔwén Shàngshū (broadly-purchase the ancient-character Shàngshū) — also wrongly trusting Ōuyáng Xiū’s Rìběn dāo gē (Japanese-knife song), not verifying the truth-of-affairs. Compiled and presented in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Yè Chūnjí of Guīshàn is one of the more substantial jīngshì (statecraft) administrators of the Wànlì early decades. The collection’s principal documentary value is two-fold: (i) the Huìān zhèngshū — 12 piān of administrative documents from Yè’s tenure as Huìān zhīxiàn — read by the Sìkù tíyào as jǐngrán yǒu tiáo (orderly-and-systematic), the principal text of Yè’s reputed dāngshí dìyī (best-of-the-era) magistracy; (ii) the yīngzhào sānwàn yán memorial submitted as Fúqīng jiàoyù — 30,000-word treatise on contemporary affairs, one of the longest such Wàn-lì-era jǔrén memorials. Yè’s intellectual zōng is Chén Xiànzhāng (Báishā), placing him in the southern Lǐngnán extension of the Báishā philosophical lineage.
The lost-text-curiosity: the catalog records a 19th juǎn Chóngwén juéshū which the Sìkù compilers could not locate; the great-grandson’s colophon explains that the boards were fèng zhǐ suǒ kān (cut by imperial edict) and cáng bùshǔ (stored at bureau-offices) — so the work circulated but was inaccessible to the family. The Sìkù notes this with the unusual yī quēzì (missing-character) annotation.
The Japan-envoy memorial about purchasing the gǔwén Shàngshū — based on Ōuyáng Xiū’s romantic Rìběn dāo gē (Japanese-knife song) — is one of the more amusing tíyào critiques of Míng-era fújīng (ancient-text) wishful thinking.
Date bracket: 1552 (Jiājìng 31 jǔrén) — 1595 (death). CBDB 34724 confirms 1532–1595.
Translations and research
- Míng shǐ j. 227 — Yè Chūn-jí in Ài Mù biography.
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976.
- Joanna F. Handlin, Action in Late Ming Thought — context for late-Wàn-lì jīng-shì statecraft.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí) and §31 (local administration).
Other points of interest
The Huìān zhèngshū is one of the more substantial Míng zhīxiàn administrative-document collections preserved in biéjí form. The 18-juǎn structure is unusually administrative-weighted for a Míng biéjí: 9 of 18 juǎn are administrative/political documents, far exceeding the shīwén (poetry-and-prose) ratio typical of Míng collections.