Bìlìyuán shījí 薜荔園詩集
Bì-lì Garden Poetry Collection by 佘翔 (撰)
About the work
The poetry collection of Shé Xiáng 佘翔 (late 16th century, active Jiājìng–Wànlì), zì ZōngHàn 宗漢, hào Fèngtái 鳳臺, of Pútián 莆田 (Fújiàn). Jiājìng 37 (1558, 戊午) jǔrén; officed Quánjiāo zhīxiàn. For dǐwú with the xúnàn yùshǐ he tóuhé qìguān qù (handed-in-resignation and left office), thereafter living a hànmàn zhī yóu (free-wandering life). The collection consolidates earlier separately-circulated titles: Bìlìyuán shī, Shé ZōngHàn gǎo, Yóu Liáng xīnbiān, Jīnlíng jìyóu wén — places of Shé’s wanderings (Liáng = Kāifēng; Jīnlíng = Nánjīng). The collection’s principal poetic feature is its proximity to the Hòu Qī Zǐ style (xiónglì gāoqiào — “imposing-beautiful, lofty-and-steep”); Wáng Shìzhēn composed an often-quoted zèng (gift-poem) to Shé: “Shíbāniáng hóng chǎn lìzhī, lìpáng shé nèn bǐ Xīshī; gēngjiào héwù kuā sānjué, wèi yǒu Shéláng qīzì shī” (“*Eighteen-Maiden Red produces lychee; the soft-tongue oyster — like Xīshī’s [beauty] — and what other-thing flaunts the three-pre-eminences? — for there is Shéláng’s seven-character poems”). Tú Lóng 屠隆 also composed a zhuàn (biography) praising the three-Min-products including Shé’s seven-character verse alongside lychees and Fújiàn oysters.
Tiyao
Bìlìyuán shījí in 4 juǎn — by Shé Xiáng of the Míng. Xiáng, zì ZōngHàn, hào Fèngtái, native of Pútián. Jiājìng wùwǔ (1558) jǔrén; officed Quánjiāo zhīxiàn. For dǐwú with the xúnàn yùshǐ, tóuhé qìguān qù — for hànmàn zhī yóu. His poetry takes xiónglì gāoqiào (imposing-beautiful, lofty-and-steep) as ancestor; the shēngdiào qìgé (sound-tune, qì-frame) is rather close to the Seven Masters. Hence Shìzhēn’s gifted poetry says: “Shíbāniáng hóng chǎn lìzhī, lìpáng shé nèn bǐ Xīshī; gēngjiào héwù kuā sānjué, wèi yǒu Shéláng qīzì shī”. Tú Lóng composed zhuàn also says: “of Mǐn (Fújiàn) products worth treasuring, not only the lychee and the Xīshī shé (Fújiàn oyster)” — surely also pointing to this. Yet his rénpǐn is rather high — hence his poetry has qīngzhì (crisp delicacy), not entirely become the Seven Masters’ fūkuò (skin-and-cover) — cannot be fully rejected. The biography records his composed-works as Bìlìyuán shī, Shé ZōngHàn gǎo, Yóu Liáng xīnbiān, Jīnlíng jìyóu wén. Xiáng’s yóuzōng (wandering-trace) passing-through was mostly Dàliáng (Kāifēng) and Jīnlíng — the last places — now the collection all zǎirù (recorded-in); so combining-and-editing-them still by Bìlìyuán shī as name. Míngshī zōng does not record his name — surely the original was chāoběn (manuscript-copy), hence circulation still rare? Compiled and presented in the sixth month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Shé Xiáng of Pútián is one of the more interesting Hòu Qī Zǐ-adjacent poets who never formally joined the Seven Masters but circulated in their orbit. Wáng Shìzhēn’s gift-poem and Tú Lóng’s biography are the principal early endorsements; the Sìkù tíyào’s verdict — Shé’s rénpǐn (personal grade) is high enough that his poetry escapes the Seven-Masters’ fūkuò affliction — places him in the same partial-defense as Lí Mínbiǎo (cf. KR4e0192). The collection’s circulation history is unusual: Zhū Yízūn’s Míngshī zōng — the standard Qīng-early Míng-poetry anthology — does not record Shé, suggesting the work circulated only as chāoběn (manuscript copies) prior to the Sìkù compilation. The cataloged 4-juǎn WYG recension consolidates four earlier separately-circulated sub-collections (Bìlìyuán shī, Shé ZōngHàn gǎo, Yóu Liáng xīnbiān, Jīnlíng jìyóu wén).
Date bracket: 1558 (Jiājìng 37 jǔrén) — c.1600 (late life of Shé). CBDB 128385 has zero markers; lifedates unresolved.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
Wáng Shìzhēn’s gift-poem to Shé is one of the more often-quoted Hòu Qī Zǐ endorsements of a Fújiàn / Pútián regional poet; the three Fújiàn pre-eminences (lychee, Xīshī shé oyster, Shé Xiáng’s seven-character verse) became a Wàn-lì-era literary commonplace.