忠義集

Zhōngyì jí 忠義集

Collection of the Loyal and Righteous by 趙景良

About the work

A 7-juǎn commemorative anthology of Sòng-loyalist martyr-poetry, assembled by Zhào Jǐngliáng (趙景良, zì Bǐngshàn) of Nánfēng (Jiāngxī), combining three pre-existing collections:

(1) Liú Xūn 劉壎 (zì Qǐqián 起潛, sobriquet Shuǐyúncūn 水雲村, 1240–1319, fl. Yuán Yányòu period) wrote in his earlier career the 補史十忠詩 Bǔshǐ shízhōng shī in 1 juǎn — verse-portraits of ten Sòng-end loyalist martyrs: Lǐ Fú 李芾, Zhào Mǎofā 趙卯發, Wén Tiānxiáng 文天祥, Lù Xiùfū 陸秀夫, Jiāng Wànlǐ 江萬里, Mì Yòu 密祐, Lǐ Tíngzhī 李庭芝, Chén Wénlóng 陳文龍, Zhāng Shìjié 張世傑, Zhāng Jué 張珏. Each is the subject of one qīyán (or other) narrative-and-elegy poem with brief prose context. Liú Xūn supplies his own preface — “Bǔshǐ” because the Sòngshǐ had not yet been written (it was compiled under the Yuán Tuōtuō from 1343–1345).

(2) Liú Xūn’s son Liú Línruì 劉麟瑞 (sobriquet Rúcūn 如村, Yuán Zhì-zhì-era figure) wrote the 昭忠逸詠 Zhāozhōng yìyǒng in 4 juǎn — 50 regulated-verse poems on additional Sòng-end jiéyì zhī shì (gentlemen of integrity), with Liú Línruì’s own prefaces and postfaces.

(3) Zhào Jǐngliáng combined (1) + (2) and added 2 supplementary juǎn of late-Sòng yílǎo writings — including poems by Wāng Yuánliàng 汪元量 (Shuǐyún) and others.

The whole was named 忠義集 Zhōngyì jí. Yuè Tiānyòu 岳天祐 also supplied a preface. The book did not circulate widely under the Yuán because of the dynasty’s discouragement of Sòng-loyalist literature, and was printed only in the Hóngzhì period (1488–1505) by Hé Qiáoxīn 何喬新 of Jiāngxī (Hé’s preface). The SKQS editors note two errors: (i) Hé Qiáoxīn’s preface mentions Wāng Yuánliàng’s verse in the appendix, but no Wāng poems are actually included; (ii) Fāng Huí (方回) — who surrendered Yánzhōu to the Yuán in 1276 and was widely scorned — is improperly listed among the “Loyal and Righteous”, an inclusion which “the editors find inexplicable”.

Tiyao

Your servants respectfully submit: the Zhōngyì jí in 7 juǎn — the Yuán Zhào Jǐngliáng edited it. At first, Liú Xūn made the Bǔshǐ shízhōng shī in 1 juǎn — narrating Sòng-end Lǐ Fú, Zhào Mǎofā, Wén Tiānxiáng, Lù Xiùfū, Jiāng Wànlǐ, Mì Yòu, Lǐ Tíngzhī, Chén Wénlóng, Zhāng Shìjié, Zhāng Jué affairs. Xūn provided his own preface. His son Línruì further took Sòng-end jiéyì zhī shì, narrated their remaining stories, made 50 lǜshī, titling them Zhāozhōng yìyǒng — in 4 juǎn — also provided his own pre- and post- prefaces. Further, Yuè Tiānyòu prefaced it.

Jǐngliáng combined the two collections into one, and further gathered Sòng-end yílǎo various productions, continued for 2 juǎn; together with Línruì’s verses’ 4 juǎn, making 3 juǎn — total named 忠義集 Zhōngyì jí. At the time the Sòngshǐ had not been compiled — so he borrowed poetry to preserve history.

The book was not very current in the Yuán. In the Míng Hóngzhì period, Jiāngxī’s Hé Qiáoxīn first prefaced and printed it. The preface says the fùlù (appendix) contains Wāng Yuánliàng poetry — but in fact none is present — the reason is undetailed.

Again: Fāng Huí turned-back on Sòng, surrendered-Yuán — by the world is lùxiào (mocked); the man is the least worthy of mention. Yet Jǐngliáng lists him among the Zhōngyì — also undetailed.

Xūn, zì Qǐqián, Nánfēng man; born in Sòng Chúnyòu-period; entered Yuán became Yánpíng jiàoshòu. What he composed has the Shuǐyúncūn gǎo and the Yǐnjū tōngyì, already on record (see KR4d0388 and elsewhere). Línruì sobriquet Rúcūn, Zhì-zhì-period man. Jǐngliáng, zì Bǐngshàn, the xiāngrén (fellow-villager) of the two Liús.

Reverently submitted, tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.

Abstract

Date. Compilation early-to-mid Yuán (c. 1280–1340), the original Bǔshǐ shízhōng shī of Liú Xūn slightly earlier than the Zhāozhōng yìyǒng of Liú Línruì. The composite Zhōngyì jí was assembled by Zhào Jǐngliáng in the mid-Yuán. First print: Míng Hóngzhì period (1488–1505) by Hé Qiáoxīn.

Significance. (1) Pre-Sòngshǐ documentary witness. The work was compiled before the official Sòngshǐ (1343–1345); for the ten zhōng and other Sòng-loyalist martyrs, the poems and prefaces preserve independent textual traces that complement the eventual official history. The Bǔshǐ shízhōng shī — “to supplement the history” — is historically and politically self-conscious.

(2) Genre: documentary-elegiac poetry. The Liú-family pattern of yǒngshǐshī (history-elegy verse) combined with prose-introduction is the principal Yuán documentary genre for Sòng-loyalist memorialisation — alongside the bēimíng and xíngzhuàng in formal historiography.

(3) Yuán proscription evidence. The work’s near-suppression under the Yuán — circulating only in manuscript until the Míng Hóngzhì period — is documentary evidence for the Yuán-state’s discouragement of explicit Sòng-loyalist remembrance in print culture, and for the role of Míng dynastic recovery in re-publishing such material as part of the post-1368 cultural restoration.

The Fāng Huí inclusion problem. The SKQS editors’ bafflement at Zhào Jǐngliáng’s inclusion of Fāng Huí — who had surrendered Yánzhōu to the Yuán in 1276 — among the “Loyal and Righteous” probably reflects Zhào’s view that Fāng’s literary championship of late-Sòng poetic memory (in the Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ KR4h0074) compensated for his political surrender. The inclusion is one of the few overt editorial value-judgements the editors flag for explicit complaint.

Translations and research

• Jennifer W. Jay, A Change in Dynasties: Loyalism in Thirteenth-Century China (Bellingham, 1991) — the principal English study of Sòng loyalism, with discussion of all ten subjects of the Bǔ-shǐ shí-zhōng shī.
• Richard L. Davis, Wind Against the Mountain: The Crisis of Politics and Culture in Thirteenth-Century China (Cambridge MA, 1996) — late-Sòng political-cultural history.
• 方勇 Fāng Yǒng, Nán-Sòng yí-mín shī-rén qún-tǐ yán-jiū (Beijing, 2000).
• 王水照 Wáng Shuǐ-zhào, Sòng-dài wén-xué tōng-lùn.

Other points of interest

The work’s status as the most explicit Yuán-period catalogue of Sòng-loyalist martyrs — predating the official Sòngshǐ by decades — makes it a foundational text in the moral-political construction of late-imperial Chinese loyalist tradition. The ten subjects of the Bǔshǐ shízhōng shī became canonical exemplars of jiéyì (integrity-righteousness) throughout the YuánMíngQīng period.

Links

• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §31.4.
• ctext