Bàodú shānfáng jí 抱犢山房集
Collection from the Mountain-Hut at Bàodú by 嵇永仁 (撰), edited by his son 嵇曾筠 (編)
About the work
The posthumous collected works of 嵇永仁 Jī Yǒngrén (1637–1676, zì Liúshān 留山, hào Bàodúshānnóng 抱犢山農), the Wúxī secretary of 范承謨 Fàn Chéngmó who was imprisoned and died alongside his patron during 耿精忠 Gěng Jīngzhōng’s revolt at Fúzhōu (Kāngxī 13–15, 1674–1676). Six juan: juan 1–3 the Jíjí yín 吉吉吟, Bǎi kǔ yín 百苦吟 (parallel in title to Fàn Chéngmó’s Bǎi kǔ yín in KR4f0017), and Hè lèi pǔ 和淚譜 — all prison-period poetry, chànghé exchanges with Fàn Chéngmó and the other staff imprisoned together, plus brief biographies of fellow-captives; juan 4 Jiāqiū jí 葭秋集 (pre-imprisonment verse); juan 5 Zhúlín jí 竹林集 (pre-imprisonment verse, with the Wúxī “Bamboo Grove” sobriquet recalling the Zhúlín qī xián of the WèiJìn period); juan 6 fùlù — poetry by his fellow-captives Wáng Lóngguāng 王龍光 of Huíjī and Shěn Tiānchéng 沈天成 of Huátíng. The compilation was made by Yǒngrén’s son 嵇曾筠 Jī Zēngyún (1670–1738), then a Yōngzhèng-era senior official, and printed during the Yōngzhèng reign. A prefatory biography by 姜垐 Jiāng Cì opens the work.
Tiyao
Your servants reverently submit the following: the Bàodú shānfáng jí in 6 juan is by Jī Yǒngrén of our dynasty. Yǒngrén, zì Liúshān, also styled Bàodú shānnóng, was a man of Wúxī. In kāngxī shísān nián (1674) Gěng Jīngzhōng revolted; Yǒngrén was on the staff of the Governor-General 范承謨 Fàn Chéngmó and was imprisoned together with him. Chéngmó was killed; Yǒngrén also died in the calamity. In Kāngxī 41 (1702) he was posthumously promoted to guózǐjiàn zhùjiào. The first three juan of this collection are titled Jíjí yín, Bǎi kǔ yín, and Hè lèi pǔ — these being respectively (a) the poems composed during his imprisonment in exchange with Chéngmó and the other staff; and (b) brief biographies he composed of his fellow-captives. The fourth juan is Jiāqiū jí; the fifth juan is Zhúlín jí — both his old (pre-imprisonment) imprints. The sixth juan as fùlù attaches the poetry and prose of two fellow-captives, Wáng Lóngguāng of Huíjī and Shěn Tiānchéng of Huátíng. In the Yōngzhèng reign his son 嵇曾筠 Zēngyún edited and put them to woodblock.
Yǒngrén, as a student-secretary, had not yet been given any official rank, yet he upheld his integrity and met his death — refusing in righteousness to follow the rebel. The poetry and prose composed here all set forth in detail the actual events of that time. In prison he had no brush or ink to use; with charcoal-dust he drew the verses on the four walls. The Mǐn (Fújiàn) people, valuing the integrity of his person, recorded these and transmitted them; thus they survived in the world. Reading these words today, vividly they still have life-energy in them; together with Fàn Chéngmó’s Huà bì (wall-painted) verses they are zhōngchén xiàozǐ zhī yán (the words of loyal subjects and filial sons) — they are not to be judged on literary craft alone. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 46 (1781), twelfth month. Chief editors your servants 紀昀, 陸錫熊, 孫士毅. Chief proof-collator your servant Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The work is a companion piece to KR4f0017 Fàn Zhōngzhēn jí — both preserve the huàbì (wall-painted) poetry of the Sān fān (Three Feudatories) loyalists imprisoned by 耿精忠 at Fúzhōu in 1674–1676. Both works were rescued by Mǐn (Fújiàn) local admirers; both were retrospectively elevated by the Qīng state as monuments of zhōngzhēn loyalty against the rebel feudatories. The Sìkù compilers’ framing — “the words of loyal subjects and filial sons — they are not to be judged on literary craft alone” — explicitly extends the zhōngzhēn aesthetic-political category from the senior governor-general Fàn Chéngmó to his secretary Jī Yǒngrén.
Jī Yǒngrén’s biography by 姜垐 gives the most circumstantial Qing-period account of the imprisonment: Yǒngrén had been reluctant to take the Fújiàn posting (his preserved farewell Tà suō xíng lyric is full of foreboding); he had a private prayer at the Guāndì 關帝 temple at Xiānxiá Pass renouncing personal advantage; he supported Fàn Chéngmó in the decision to refuse Gěng’s overtures. The brief biographies he composed in prison of the other captives (the Hè lèi pǔ “Tear-Mixed Roster”) are early-Qīng documents of substantial historical value for the Sān fān war.
Composition window: c. 1660 (the Jiāqiū and Zhúlín juvenile verse) through 1676 (the Bǎikǔ yín prison-period). The fùlù materials by Jiāng Cì and others were added in the Yōngzhèng period of compilation.
Translations and research
Tsao Kai-fu, The Rebellion of the Three Feudatories Against the Manchu Throne in China, 1673–1681 (PhD diss., Chicago, 1965).
Jonathan Spence, Emperor of China: Self-portrait of K’ang-hsi (Knopf, 1974) — references the Sān fān war.
ECCP 122 (Tu Lien-che) entry on Jī Yǒngrén and Jī Zēng-yún.
Other points of interest
The Bàodúshān 抱犢山 (“Mountain Embracing the Calf”) referenced in the title is the Wúxī area mountain north of the city; Yǒngrén’s adoption of Bàodú shānnóng as hào recalls the Zhúlín qī xián (Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove) tradition of his JìJìn ancestor 嵇康 Jī Kāng — both the Bàodú and Zhúlín sobriquets explicitly invoke the late-Wèi recluse tradition, and Yǒngrén’s prison-poetry has been read since 姜垐’s biography as a deliberate echo of Jī Kāng’s You-fèn shī 幽憤詩 (“Poems of Deep Resentment”) composed in prison before his execution in 262 CE.
Links
- Wikidata Q15923986 (Ji Yongren)
- ECCP 122 (Tu Lien-che, Ji Zengyun entry)
- Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào