Huáiqīngtáng jí 懷清堂集
Collection from the Hall of Embraced Clarity by 湯右曾 (撰)
About the work
The poetry collection of 湯右曾 Tāng Yòucéng (1655–1721, zì Xīyá 西厓), the leading second-generation Shényùn disciple of 王士禛 Wáng Shìzhēn. The collection is almost wholly poetry — 20 juan of gǔjīn tǐ (ancient-and-modern-style) verse arranged chronologically, totaling over 1,400 poems. The juan-by-juan poem counts as recorded in the table of contents: juan 1 (54), juan 2 (64), juan 3 (76), juan 4 (54), juan 5 (49), juan 6 (94), juan 7 (73), juan 8 (91), juan 9 (65), juan 10 (65), juan 11 (97), juan 12 (60), juan 13 (58), juan 14 (63), and continuing through juan 20.
Tiyao
Your servants reverently submit the following: the Huáiqīngtáng jí in 20 juan is by Tāng Yòucéng of our dynasty. Yòucéng, zì Xīyá, of Rénhé (Hángzhōu); jìnshì of wùchén of Kāngxī (1688); transferred to shùjíshì; rose to Lìbù yòu shìláng concurrently Hànlínyuàn zhǎngyuàn xuéshì. The Zhèjiāng poetic line — from the Xīlíng shí zǐ on — competed in zǎohuì (decorative-and-painted) emulation, and its qìgǔ (spirit-bone) gradually weakened. Yòucéng with qīngxiān lǎngrùn (clear-bright, lustrous-and-moist) wholly washed away this habit. He began as a student of 王士禛 Wáng Shìzhēn and was named a rùshì dìzǐ (chamber-entering disciple); later through his envoy-mission to Guizhou, his style underwent one transformation; his poetic discipline grew further. He largely duànliàn chéng tài (refined and clarified) and brought it out as shényùn (spirit-resonance).
The contemporary literary opinion unanimously esteemed him, his name on a level with 查慎行 Zhā Shènxíng; and Shènxíng’s dedicatory verse has the line “Pénglái lǐngxiù dé shī xiān” — his deference to Yòucéng could not be more complete. 沈德潛 Shěn Déqián also said: “Zhè poetry, in the front part one pushes 朱彝尊 Zhúchá; in the latter part one pushes Xīyá; between the two there is no surpassing them.” Looking at the two men’s collections: Zhū Yízūn’s learning has surplus, and his talent-strength is enough to control its motion, so he could róngzhù biànhuà (fuse-cast transformations) however he liked. Yòucéng’s talent suffices to keep step but in gēndǐ shēnhòu (deep-grounded richness) he is somewhat lacking — to qíqū bìngjià (race-the-reins shoulder-to-shoulder, equal driving) does not come easy to say. Yet he is also among the more zhuórán tǐngchū (manifestly outstanding) of recent men. 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
The Huáiqīngtáng jí is the canonical second-generation Shényùn school collection. The Sìkù tíyào’s placement — with Tāng explicitly identified as Wáng Shìzhēn’s rùshì dìzǐ (chamber-entering disciple) — registers Tāng’s institutional inheritance of the Shényùn line. 沈德潛 Shěn Déqián’s mid-Qiánlóng Qīng shī bié cái jí formula — “Zhè poetry: front-rank pushes Zhúchá 朱彝尊, rear-rank pushes Xīyá 湯右曾 — between the two none surpass” — gives Tāng his canonical Qing-poetic identity as the Zhè poetic pole alternative to Zhū Yízūn.
The Guizhou shǐshì (envoy-mission) of c. 1700 — Tāng went as imperial inspector to the Guizhou pacification — produced the stylistic transformation that the Sìkù tíyào foregrounds: his early refined-court verse acquired through this travel the shényùn qualities that defined his mature style. The exchange-and-reply poems with 查慎行 in his Guizhou period are central to Tāng’s reputation.
Composition window: 1688 (Tāng’s jìnshì year) through 1721 (his death). The chronological arrangement preserves the dating.
Translations and research
Richard John Lynn, “Orthodoxy and Enlightenment” (in The Unfolding of Neo-Confucianism, Columbia UP, 1975).
Yán Dí-chāng 嚴迪昌, Qīng shī shǐ (Jiāngsū gǔjí, 1990) — substantial Tāng chapter.
Shěn Déqián 沈德潛, Qīng shī bié cái jí 清詩別裁集 — extensive Tāng selection.
Other points of interest
The catalog meta gives Tāng’s dates as 1656–1722; CBDB id 75544 gives 1655–1721 — followed here. The discrepancy is a typical one-year cycle off-by-one and does not affect the substantive biography.
Links
- Wikidata Q66263846 (Tang Youceng)
- ECCP 707 (Tu Lien-che, brief entry)
- Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào