Wǔtíng wénbiān 午亭文編
Compiled Prose from the Wǔtíng (Studio) by 陳廷敬 (撰)
About the work
The definitive late-life 50-juan recension of the collected works of 陳廷敬 Chén Tíngjìng (1639–1712, zì Zǐduān 子端, hào Shuōyán 説巖, posthumously Wénzhēn 文貞), one of the highest-ranking Hànlín officials of Kāngxī’s reign, dàxuéshì (Grand Secretary) and chief editor of the Kāngxī zìdiǎn 康熙字典. The collection comprises 20 juan of poetry, 4 juan of zázhù (miscellaneous prose), 4 juan of jīngjiě (classical commentary), 20 juan of memorials, prefaces, records, and miscellaneous prose, and 2 juan of Dù lǜ shīhuà (poetic commentary on Dù Fǔ’s regulated verse). Chén’s earlier Zūnwéntáng jí 尊聞堂集 (80 juan) was superseded by this curated 50-juan recension; the printing was prepared by his disciple Lín Jí 林佶 of Hóuguān (Fújiàn). The title takes from Chén’s family estate at Yángchéng (Zézhōu, modern Shānxī), which lay near a beacon-stone (wǔbìtíng) on the Qìnshuǐ river mentioned in the Shuǐjīng zhù — Chén’s “Noon-Stop Mountain Village” sobriquet.
Tiyao
Your servants reverently submit the following: the Wǔtíng wénbiān in 50 juan is by Chén Tíngjìng of our dynasty. Tíngjìng, zì Zǐduān, hào Shuōyán, of Zézhōu (Shānxī), jìnshì of wùxū of Shùnzhì (1658), transferred to shùjíshì, appointed jiǎntǎo. His original given name was Jìng 敬; in that examination cohort there were two Chén Jìng 陳敬, so by imperial command he added the tíng 廷 character. He rose to dàxuéshì and was posthumously Wénzhēn. He had earlier composed the Zūnwéntáng jí in 80 juan; in his late years he himself fixed it into the present recension. His disciple Lín Jí of Hóuguān copied it out by hand and put it to the woodblock. Wǔtíng is a Chén-family estate at Yángchéng: from the Shuǐjīng zhù’s note that “the Qìnshuǐ passes the wǔbìtíng,” it gives its name — the so-called Noon-Stop Mountain Village.
The collection contains 20 juan of poetry, 4 juan of miscellaneous prose, 4 juan of classical-commentary, memorials, prefaces, and records in all the various forms, prose totaling 20 juan, and 2 juan of Dù lǜ shīhuà (poetic commentary on Dù Fǔ’s regulated verse). Tíngjìng’s family had much in private holding from ancient days, and from a young age he could read widely. He was fond of composing poetry, with his gate-and-path zōngyǎng (revering) Shǎolíng (Dù Fǔ) — rather not converging with Wáng Shìzhēn — and yet Shìzhēn marvelled at his poetry. His ancient-style prose was seen by Wāng Wǎn with great surprise, and Chén then applied himself fiercely to it.
His lifetime huíxiáng guǎngé — circling about the Hànlín and grand-secretarial halls — saw him meet a chāngqí (flourishing era), received an extraordinary zhīyù (recognition), and pass nearly forty years in and out of the jìntà (imperial gates), at the very moment when the guójiā wényùn chānglóng (the state’s literary fortune was at its peak); with his yuānyǎ talent he assumed the burden of the brush of state, presiding over the editing of state composition, joining with the realm’s eminent persons whose yǒnggē gǔchuī (singing and trumpeting) was their daily duty. Therefore his composition is pínghéng shēnhòu — equable and deep, broad — and his contemporaries unanimously credited him with the dàshǒubǐ (mighty brush). At the head of the volume is Tíngjìng’s self-preface, in which he says: with respect to Wāng (Wǎn) and Wáng (Shìzhēn) he was not casual or léitóng (echo-the-same); yet his poetry and prose each constitute their own school — they part roads and contend in brilliance. Though their jìjìng (paths) differ slightly per the reach of each man’s cáilì (talent-power), they are all of one chorus singing the great age, indeed of one track. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 43 (1778), third month. Chief editors your servants 紀昀, 陸錫熊, 孫士毅. Chief proof-collator your servant Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
Chén Tíngjìng is the great Kāngxī-era Shānxī Hànlín official — dàxuéshì and Wényuāngé grand secretary in his final decade, principal compiler of the Kāngxī zìdiǎn (1716) and the Pèiwén yùnfǔ (1711). The Wǔtíng wénbiān is the curated literary monument of his official career: it preserves both his ceremonial-imperial prose (the Wǔtíng identity of which he was proudest), his jīngjiě commentaries on the Classics (the Jīngjiě juan reflect his sustained personal study in the high Kāngxī court), and his poetry (modelled on Dù Fǔ, hence the Dù lǜ shīhuà companion juan). The poetic Dù lǜ shīhuà is in fact one of the principal early-Qīng Dù Fǔ commentaries, an important secondary text in the Shényùn / Dùshī late-17th-century critical debate.
Composition window: 1658 (his jìnshì year) through 1712 (his death); the curated 50-juan recension is from his very last years.
Translations and research
Lawrence D. Kessler, K’ang-hsi and the Consolidation of Ch’ing Rule, 1661–1684 (Chicago: U. Chicago Press, 1976) — references Chén’s memorials and the Wǔtíng corpus.
Jonathan Spence, Emperor of China: Self-portrait of K’ang-hsi (Knopf, 1974) — uses the Wǔtíng corpus for the Kāngxī imperial-literary relationship.
Cynthia J. Brokaw, Commerce in Culture: The Sibao Book Trade in the Qing and Republican Periods (Harvard, 2007) — references the Hóu-guān (Fú-jiàn) imprint tradition of which Lín Jí was a leading figure.
Other points of interest
The Sìkù tíyào’s detailed account of the editorial-and-personal relationship of Chén with 王士禛 Wáng Shìzhēn and 汪琬 Wāng Wǎn is itself a substantial piece of early-Qīng literary sociology — it places Chén in dynamic with the two leading non-Hànlín literary voices of his time, while emphasizing his own huíxiáng guǎngé (court-anchored) literary path. The Sìkù’s phrase hèshēng yǐ míng shèng (“harmonized voice to acclaim the flourishing age”) captures the imperial-court court-poet identity that distinguished Chén from his more independent literary rivals.
Links
- Wikidata Q15998283 (Chen Tingjing)
- ECCP 95–96 (Tu Lien-che)
- Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào