Yìyùtáng gǎo 亦玉堂稿
Likewise Jade-Hall Manuscripts by 沈鯉 (撰), 劉榛 (輯)
About the work
The literary collection of Shěn Lǐ 沈鯉 (1531–1615), zì Zhònghuà 仲化, hào Lóngjiāng 龍江, posthumous shì Wénduān 文端, of Guīdé 歸德 (Hénán). Jiājìng 44 (1565) jìnshì; Hànlínyuàn biānxiū; rose to Lǐbù shàngshū, then Wǔyīngdiàn dàxuéshì (Cabinet Grand Secretary). Shěn is the author of the Wényǎ shèyuē 文雅社約 (separately Sìkù-recorded). The Wàn-lì-era cutting of Yìyùtáng gǎo in 10 juǎn + xùgǎo 8 juǎn was bǎnhuǐ bùcún (boards-destroyed-not-preserved) at the end of the Míng; Wáng Shìzhēn 王士禛 (the Qīng Yúyáng xiànxìan) in Gǔfūyútíng zálù records he had Shěn’s both zhèngxù liǎngjí, sānfù qí wén, tàn qí jīngshù zhànshēn yìlùn zhèngdà (“three-times read through, sighed at his deep classical-learning and upright-major debate”); but after Wáng’s death, the Chíběi shūkù collection was scattered, the originals no longer findable. The present běn is Kāngxī gēngwǔ (1690) — Liú Zhēn 劉榛’s reconstruction from scattered fragments. The reconstruction has wén wú shī (prose only, no poetry) — clearly not the original; 10 juǎn. The title’s Yìyùtáng (“likewise jade-hall”) is the Sìkù’s interpretive puzzle: Shěn was once Hànlín zhǎngyuàn xuéshì; on retirement he wished to equate yángtíng (court) and shānlín (forest) — saying “this also is a jade-hall.” But Shěn Kuò’s Mèngxī bǐtán notes that the Táng Hànlínyuàn was zài jìnzhōng (inside the imperial-precincts) — “Jade Hall” was a palace-name (Yùtáng + Chéngmíng + Jīnluándiàn all there) — not a name that a private-house could claim. So the Sìkù judges Shěn’s title kǎo zhī wèi shěn (“his consideration was not thorough”).
Tiyao
Yìyùtáng gǎo in 10 juǎn — by Shěn Lǐ of the Míng. Lǐ has the Wényǎ shèyuē — already recorded. Lǐ once edited his poetry-and-prose as Yìyùtáng gǎo in 10 juǎn, xùgǎo 8 juǎn. At the end of the Míng, the boards were destroyed-and-not-preserved. Wáng Shìzhēn (士禛)‘s Gǔfūyútíng zálù records that his home had Shěn’s zhèngxù liǎngjí (the principal and continued collections); sānfù qí wén, tàn qí jīngshù zhànshēn, yìlùn zhèngdà (three-times read his prose, sighed at his deep classical-learning, upright-and-major debate). Yet after Shìzhēn’s death, the Chíběi shūkù (Pond-North Library) collections all sànyì (scattered-and-lost); today also have not seen its běn. This běn is the Kāngxī gēngwǔ Liú Zhēn’s póují cánquē (gathered-fragments of the damaged-and-deficient) re-cutting. The collection has wén wú shī — surely already no-longer the original-manuscript’s jiù.
Lǐ in Shénzōng (Wànlì)‘s time lìcháo kǎnzhí (stood-in-court frankly-direct), was called a míngchén (famous minister). In late-life he entered the Zhèngfǔ (Cabinet); yìrán tèlì (resolutely standing-alone) with Shěn Yīguàn 沈一貫 xiāng yínyín (mutually clashing). Yīguàn used the yāoshū (witchcraft-book) affair to qīng zhī (overthrow him) — jǐ zhì bùmiǎn (almost cannot escape). Yet the empire knew he was a zhèngrén (upright-person). Although blocked by treachery, not getting fully-applied; what the collection records — such as the Jiànzhǐ kuàngshuì (Remonstration against the Mine-tax) one memorial — actually guómài mínshēng zhī suǒ xì (related to the state-vein and people-life) — his merit very great. Other matters like yì fù Jiànwén niánhào, gǎi Jǐngdì shílù (proposing the restoration of the Jiànwén reign-title, revising the Jǐngdì shílù), tíng qǔ qílín (stopping the receiving of the qílín tribute), qǐng bìngfēng Gōngfēi (requesting joint-investiture of the Gōngfēi), shī yòu yìlǐ zhū chén (poem pardoning the rites-debating ministers), and as for zhèng wéntǐ (correcting prose-style), zǔ Qínwáng fúnèi qǐngfēng (obstructing the Qín-prince’s mourning-period investiture-petition), shì zhàoyù guān fàn (releasing imperial-prison officials and offenders) various affairs — all relate to cháotíng dàtǐ (court-and-major-affairs) — zhī wú bù yán (knowing, nothing-not-said). As for fēnghuán chéngmìng (sealed-returning of completed-mandates), not afraid of repeatedly xuēdú (cutting-the-tablet) hoping for one awakening — kěnkuǎn cèdá zhī yì (sincere-and-anguished feeling) — to this day can still be imagined. The wénzhāng zhī gōngzhuō (prose’s skill-or-crudity) is then secondary.
Only the Yìyùtáng name is quite bùkě jiě (unintelligible). Tuīqiú qí yì (pushing-and-seeking the meaning): surely Lǐ once served as Hànlín zhǎngyuàn xuéshì; guīlǐ zhī hòu (after returning to his hometown), he wished to yǐ lángmiào shānlín shì wéi yī zhì (regard court and forest as one) — as if saying “this also is a jade-hall”. Yet examining Shěn Kuò’s Mèngxī bǐtán: “Táng Hànlínyuàn was in the imperial-precincts — the rénzhǔ yànjū zhī suǒ (ruler’s resting-place); Yùtáng and Chéngmíng and Jīnluándiàn all are in there.” Then Yùtáng is the gōngdiàn zhī míng (palace-and-hall’s name) — fēi sījiā suǒ kě chēng (not what a private-house can claim). Lǐ surely kǎo zhī wèi shěn (his consideration was not thorough). Compiled and presented in the tenth month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777). Compilers as usual.
Abstract
Shěn Lǐ of Guīdé is one of the most distinguished late-Wàn-lì zhèngrén (upright-officials) — a Cabinet Grand Secretary in the Wǔyīngdiàn who was nearly destroyed by his rival Shěn Yīguàn in the Yāoshū (Witchcraft-Book) affair. The collection’s principal value is documentary: the Jiànzhǐ kuàngshuì shū (Memorial against the Mine-tax) is the canonical anti-Wàn-lì-extraction document. Other Wàn-lì-era political documents preserved: proposals on reign-title rehabilitation of Jiànwén; revision of the Jǐngdì shílù; rejection of the qílín foreign tribute; co-investiture of the Gōngfēi; pardon of the rites-debating ministers; release of imperial-prison officials. The textual reconstruction history (Wànlì cutting destroyed at end of Míng; Wáng Shìzhēn’s collection scattered after his death; Liú Zhēn’s 1690 re-construction from fragments) is one of the more difficult cases of Míng biéjí textual transmission. The reconstruction is wén only — no poetry; clearly incomplete.
The Sìkù tíyào’s etymological puzzle about the title — Yìyùtáng — and its proof (via Shěn Kuò’s Mèngxī bǐtán) that Yùtáng was historically a palace-hall name not appropriate for private use — is one of the more philologically careful tíyào digressions.
Date bracket: 1565 (Shěn’s jìnshì) — 1690 (Liú Zhēn’s reconstruction); composition window ends with Shěn’s death in 1615. CBDB 34728 confirms 1531–1615.
Translations and research
- Míng shǐ j. 217 — Shěn Lǐ main biography.
- L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds., Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368–1644. New York: Columbia UP, 1976: entry on Shěn Lǐ.
- William Atwell, “From Education to Politics: The Fu She,” in The Unfolding of Neo-Confucianism (ed. Wm. T. de Bary, New York: Columbia, 1975) — context for late-Wàn-lì factionalism.
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28 (Míng bié-jí).
Other points of interest
The 1602 Yāoshū (Witchcraft-Book) affair — in which Shěn Yīguàn attempted to implicate Shěn Lǐ in the alleged authorship of an anti-imperial-succession pamphlet — is one of the most consequential intra-Cabinet conflicts of the late Wànlì period; Shěn Lǐ’s near-prosecution and survival is a textbook case of late-Míng factional warfare.