Línhuìtáng quánjí 林蕙堂全集
Complete Collection of the Hall of the Forest-Beauty by 吳綺 (撰)
About the work
The complete collected literary works of 吳綺 Wú Qǐ (1619–1694, zì Yuáncì 園次, hào Hóngdòu círén 紅豆詞人 — “Red-Bean Lyric-Master”) in 26 juan: juan 1–12 sìliù (parallel-prose), corresponding to the originally circulated Línhuìtáng wénjí; juan 13–22 shī (poetry), corresponding to the Tínggāo jí 亭皐集; juan 23–25 shīyú / cí-lyric, corresponding to the Yìxiāng cí 藝香詞; juan 26 nánqǔ southern-style sànqǔ fragments. The compilation was assembled by Wú’s son Wú Shòuqián 吳壽潛 after Wú Qǐ’s death, drawing the four originally-circulating sub-collections (Línhuìtáng wénjí, Tínggāo jí, Yìxiāng cí, plus selected nánqǔ) into a single unified recension. The fuller-form drama scripts (Xiào qiūfēng 嘯秋風, Xiù píngyuán 繡平原, etc.) circulated as independent single-print editions and are represented in the quánjí only by 9 sànqǔ lyric arias from those plays. Wú Qǐ’s Lǐngnán fēng wù jì 嶺南風物記 (a topographic notebook of southern Guǎngdōng customs) is separately catalogued elsewhere in the Sìkù.
Tiyao
Your servants reverently submit the following: the Línhuìtáng quánjí in 26 juan is by Wú Qǐ of our dynasty. Qǐ’s Lǐngnán fēng wù jì has already been separately recorded. Wáng Fāngqí composed a short biography of Qǐ, naming the works he had written: the Tínggāo jí, the Yìxiāng cí, and the Línhuìtáng wénjí — each circulating independently. After Qǐ’s death his son Shòuqián gathered the surviving drafts and made a unified compilation. In the present text, juan 1 through 12 are sìliù (parallel-prose) — that is, what was called the Línhuìtáng jí; juan 13 through 22 are shī (poetry) — that is, the Tínggāo jí; juan 23 through 25 are shīyú — that is, the Yìxiāng cí; and juan 26 attaches the southern-style qǔ arias he composed. At the beginning of our dynasty, those who were famous for sìliù parallel-prose were Wú Qǐ and Chén Wéisōng 陳維崧 of Yíxìng — both originating from Xú Líng 徐陵 and Yǔ Xìn 庾信. Chén was vigorous in his immersion in the Four Heroes of the early Táng and was strong in scale; Qǐ moved in and out of the various Fánnán collections (Lǐ Shāngyǐn) and was preeminent for the elegant and floating. Zhāng Zǎogōng wrote in discussion with a friend on sìliù: “Wú Yuáncì’s ‘fragrance-of-Bān, gauze-of-Sòng’ continues only with the short sword; Chén Qínián’s ‘oceans-of-prose-and-river-of-Pān’ still ends in the strong bow.” This estimate is rather just — different tunes, equal artistry; one cannot easily set them in first and second place. His poetry is rich in talent and ornament, the incense-bud lying between Yùxī (Lǐ Shāngyǐn) and Fánchuān (Dù Mù). His shīyú also possesses some renown: he was called the Hóngdòu círén — “Red-Bean Lyric-Master” — from the lines “With cup in hand I bid the east wind / Plant out a pair of red beans.” His scripts — Xiào qiūfēng, Xiù píngyuán, and the like — were widely set to strings and pipes in his day; but because each circulates independently in single-print form, only 9 sànqǔ arias are stitched to the end of the jí. Taken together — great pieces, large-scale compositions — they are not enough to match the ancients; but diēdàng fēngliú (graceful and free) he is, and may certainly be called a cáishì of his moment. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 46 (1781), tenth month. Chief editors your servants 紀昀, 陸錫熊, 孫士毅. Chief proof-collator your servant Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
Wú Qǐ is the leading early-Qīng exponent of sìliù (parallel-prose) along with 陳維崧 Chén Wéisōng (1626–1682) (KR4f0031, KR4f0032); the Sìkù compilers pair the two as the founders of an early-Qīng parallel-prose revival. The two styles differ: Chén drew on the Early-Tang Four Heroes (Wáng Bó, Yáng Jiǒng, Lú Zhàolín, Luò Bīnwáng) for xióngbó (vigorous-scale) display; Wú drew on Lǐ Shāngyǐn’s Fánnán wénjí tradition for xiùyì (elegantly-evasive) suavity. The Línhuìtáng style emphasizes elaborately textured allusion to Yùxī and Fánchuān (Dù Mù), a softer, more intimate register than Chén’s parallel-prose.
Wú is also one of the most influential of early-Qīng cí-lyricists: his Yìxiāng cí and especially the Hóngdòu cí — the “Red-Bean” lyrics from which Wú’s sobriquet derives — are landmarks in the early-Qīng revival of cí-lyric (the cíxué fùxìng 詞學復興 of the second half of the seventeenth century). The Yánzhōu 揚州 / Yángzhōu literary circle of which Wú was a leading member overlapped with Wáng Shìzhēn’s 王士禛 Sūzhōu-Yangzhou circle and with Chén Wéisōng’s Yíxìng circle.
The composition window runs from approximately 1645 (Wú’s earliest pieces, dating from the immediate aftermath of the Míng fall, when he served briefly under the Southern Míng before going into retreat) through his death in 1694. He served briefly in Qīng provincial office (as prefect of Húzhōu, Zhèjiāng, in the late 1660s) before retiring for poetic and dramatic composition.
Translations and research
Daniel Bryant, “The Rise of Cí Poetry,” in The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, vol. 2 (Cambridge, 2010) — situates Wú in early-Qīng cí revival.
Xie Boyang 謝伯陽, Qīng cí jì shì 清詞紀事 (Jinan: Qilu shushe, 2006) — substantial discussion.
Yán Dí-chāng 嚴迪昌, Qīng cí shǐ 清詞史 (Jiāngsū gǔjí, 1999) — substantial Wú Qǐ chapter.
Other points of interest
The Yìxiāng cí contains the famous Mò shān xī 莫山溪 cí with the bǎ jiǔ zhǔ dōngfēng / zhòng chū shuāng hóngdòu 把酒囑東風／種出雙紅豆 lines that gave Wú his sobriquet. The drama-script Xiào qiūfēng 嘯秋風 — a Kāngxī-era zájù on the late-Míng Wú Wěiyè / Liǔ Rúshì / Qián Qiānyì circle — survives only in single-print and through the 9-aria selection at the end of the quánjí; modern recovery of its full text is incomplete.
Links
- Wikidata Q15912105 (Wu Qi)
- ECCP 879 (Tu Lien-che)
- Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào