Jìngyètáng shī jí 敬業堂詩集
The Diligence-Hall Poetry Collection by 查慎行 (撰)
About the work
The poetry collection of 查慎行 Zhā Shènxíng (1650–1728, zì Huìyú 悔餘 and Xiàzhòng 夏重, hào Chūbái 初白 and Jìngyè 敬業), one of the most celebrated mid-Kāngxī Hānlín poets and a leading exponent of the Sòng / Lù Yóu (劍南) line — jìnshì in his fifties (Kāngxī 42, 1703); concurrently in Hānlín until 1719. The collection comprises 50 juan, arranged chronologically through Zhā’s seven decades of poetic activity from his early Hǎiníng (Zhèjiāng) period onward. The SBCK reproduces the family-imprint base text with collation. The work is not in the Sìkù quánshū under that catalog meta’s WYG indication; the actual source-edition is SBCK, and the most authoritative critical edition of Zhā’s poetry remains the SBCK form.
Prefaces
The principal opening preface is by 毛奇齡 Máo Qílíng (the Xīhé jí author KR4f0030):
My old friend Master Lù Xīnzhāi of Hǎichāng (Hǎiníng) once brought me his beloved son-in-law Zhā Xiàzhòng’s cí-collection in one juan, saying: “This young man’s reputation has not yet been made; I hope you will grant him a few words to head it.” At that time I was busy and routine-ridden in my official duties and did not have time. Later I was transferred to Director of the National University, and Xiàzhòng and his younger brother Déyǐn one after the other entered the Chéngjūn (National University). I then could meet them with the advantage of one day. Déyǐn shortly thereafter went with friends to Guǎngdōng, and Xiàzhòng practiced at the Qiáomén — líjīng gǔqiè (separating from the Classics, drumming the satchel), yúyú yǎyǎ (fish-and-fish, elegant-and-elegant) — slight as if unable to bear his clothes, near to Huáng Shūdù (i.e., Huáng Xiàn 黃憲 of Hàn) in style. Yet his poetry and prose are pāngpā àowù (full-and-burgeoning, lofty-and-vigorous), bēnfā zhuóluò (dashing-forth, eminent) — when dragon flies in flight and tiger phoenix leap. Among today’s poets, few can precede him. …
Yáojiāng Huáng Huìmù (i.e., 黃宗炎 Huáng Zōngyán’s brother) once compared his poetry to Jiànnán (Lù Yóu). I say: in modern-style verse, Jiànnán’s strange creative talent — Xiàzhòng perhaps yields him in scale; in detailed thought of Miánzhì, Jiànnán too has not gone beyond. Contending with the ancients, in this they are háolí (a hair-line apart). As for the five- and seven-character ancient style, Jiànnán did not much apply himself; but Xiàzhòng’s ornate prose flows continuously, gōngshāng kàng zhuì (raising and lowering the gōng and shāng notes), often having Chén Hòushān (Chén Shīdào 陳師道) and Yuán Yíshān (元好問) airs. Hòushān línglì qiàozhí, lì zhuī jué xiǎn; Yíshān jīnlì dùncuò, yǎ jí bōlán — Hòushān fierce-firm-stiff, his force reaches the peaks; Yíshān ornate-jolting, his elegance reaches the highest waves. I dare not say Xiàzhòng’s attainment already rides over those former worthies; but were one to raise Fàngwēng (Lù Yóu), Hòushān, and Yíshān into today, Xiàzhòng — wielding the Máohú (sword-belt clasp) to attend the dūnpán (the great drum) — would also not deign to call himself the LǔZhèng zhī fù (the fu of Lǔ and Zhèng, i.e., the fù-poems of the smallest states). …
Abstract
Zhā Shènxíng is the leading exponent of the Sòng-poetic line (Lù Yóu through Yuán Hàowèn through Chén Shīdào) in early-Qīng poetry. His verse is characterized by long-form ǎogǔ (twisted-and-firm) energy, broad social-and-political content, and a refusal of the Shényùn school’s compression. The Sìkù compilers’ programmatic deference to the Shényùn tradition has the effect of placing Zhā as the háofàng / Sòng-poetic counter to 王士禛; his discipleship of 黃宗炎 (Huáng Zōngxī’s brother) and the Yáojiāng yímín poetic-historical tradition gives him a yímín lineage despite his late official career.
His brother 查嗣瑮 Zhā Sìlián (1652–1733) had a parallel poetic career; the two brothers’ joint Cí corpus is one of the most distinguished mid-Kāngxī family literary outputs.
Zhā lived to 79; his late life was darkened by the Wéimín jí case (1727-1728) — when a poem in the Jìngyètáng corpus was alleged to contain forbidden references to the Yōngzhèng emperor’s enemies. Zhā was investigated under house arrest in Beijing in 1727 and died in 1728.
Composition window: 1671 (his earliest dated poetry) through 1727 (the year before his death). The chronological 50-juan arrangement preserves the dating throughout.
Translations and research
Stephen Owen, ed., The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, vol. 2 (Cambridge, 2010) — substantial chapter.
Wai-yee Li, “Heroic Transformations: Women and National Trauma in Early Qing Literature,” HJAS 59 (1999) — refs.
Yán Dí-chāng 嚴迪昌, Qīng shī shǐ (Jiāngsū gǔjí, 1990) — Zhā chapter.
ECCP 22–23 (Tu Lien-che).
Other points of interest
The catalog meta records the edition as WYG but the source dir base-edition is SBCK. The discrepancy reflects the fact that the Yōngzhèng-era Wéimín jí case complicated Zhā’s reception, and the Sìkù compilers’ inclusion of the Jìngyètáng shī jí in their WYG was contested — some accounts say the work was held back from the WYG and only included in the Sìkù cún mù (catalog-only). The SBCK reproduces the family-imprint full text.
Links
- Wikidata Q15885927 (Zha Shenxing)
- ECCP 22–23