Yùshān jìyóu 玉山紀遊
Record of Roamings from Jade Mountain by 顧瑛, compiled by 袁華
About the work
A 1-juǎn travel-anthology of the Yùshān cǎotáng literary circle — companion to KR4h0085 Yùshān míngshèng jí and KR4h0086 Cǎotáng yǎjí. Where the earlier two volumes anthologise compositions made at the Yùshān estate (organised by place, then by author), the Jìyóu anthologises compositions made during excursions away from the estate. The destinations recorded include 天平山 Tiānpíngshān (in Sūzhōu), 靈巖山 Língyánshān, 虎邱 Hǔqiū, 西湖 Xīhú (Hángzhōu), 吳江 Wújiāng, 錫山 Xíshān (Wúxī), 上方山 Shàngfāngshān, 觀音山 Guānyīnshān — some of these “several hundred lǐ away” from Kūnshān, but all rendezvous-points to which Gù Yīng would convene his circle. The compilation was carried out by Yuán Huá (袁華) of Kūnshān, who is included as one of the participating poets.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Yùshān jìyóu in 1 juǎn — composed by the Yuán Gù Yīng and his circle as roaming-poetry-and-harmonisation pieces, the Míng Yuán Huá classified-and-arranged them into the present volume.
The destinations covered — beyond Kūnshān itself — include Tiānpíngshān, Língyánshān, Hǔqiū, Xīhú, Wújiāng, Xíshān, Shàngfāngshān, Guānyīnshān — some at distances of several hundred lǐ. The collection’s overall title is Yùshān yóu — the travellers are several persons, but Gù Yīng is the host of them; the destinations are several places, but the arrivals and gatherings all return to the Yùshān Hall.
Each excursion is recorded with poems, each poem with a short preface to mark month and year. Those who joined the excursions — beyond Yuán Huá: Yáng Wéizhēn of Kuàijī, Zhèng Yuányòu of Suìchāng, Tán Sháo 郯韶 of Wúxīng, Shěn Míngyuǎn 沈明遠, Yú Lì 于立 of Nánkāng, Tiāntái 天台 Chén Jī 陳基, Zhāng Wò 張渥 of Huáinán, Qú Zhì 瞿智 of Jiāyuán, Zhōu Dǐ (周砥) of Wúzhōng, monk Liángqí 良琦, Lù Rén 陸仁 of Kūnshān — all one age’s prevailing literary talents. Further: Gù Zuǒ 顧佐, Féng Yù 馮郁, Wáng Rúzhī 王濡之 — three persons whose native place and life-events are unknown; but to judge from their peers, certainly not vulgar men.
The collection’s contents are not as rich as those of the Míngshèng jí and Cǎotáng yǎjí. But the shānshuǐ qīngyīn (mountain-and-water pure sounds), the qínzūn jiāxìng (zither-and-wine fine inspirations) of one era’s literary brilliance and refined manner — even a thousand years later, one seems still to see them.
Yuán Huá had already entered Míng. But his poems were all composed during Zhìzhèng (1341–1368); his compilation of this collection was also still in the Zhìzhèng era. Therefore we do not date by the compiler’s lifetime — but by the poet’s lifetime — and still place this in the Yuán dynasty section.
Reverently submitted, third month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. As for KR4h0085 and KR4h0086: Zhìzhèng 8–16 (1348–1356), the active period of the Yùshān cǎotáng. Yuán Huá’s editorial work was also in the Zhìzhèng era; he survived into the Hóngwǔ period but the compositions are pre-Hóng-wǔ.
Form and significance. (1) The work completes the Yùshān trilogy: place-anthology (Míngshèng jí) + author-anthology (Cǎotáng yǎjí) + excursion-anthology (Jìyóu). All three are mutually complementary records of the same circle’s literary activity. (2) The travel-destinations — Tiānpíngshān, Língyánshān, Hǔqiū, Xīhú, Wújiāng, Xíshān — sketch the literary-aesthetic geography of late-Yuán WúzhōngHángzhōu: these were the canonical scenic sites for YuánMíng literati outings. (3) The composition of the circle on tour — Yáng Wéizhēn, Zhèng Yuányòu, Tán Sháo, Sòng-loyalist 周砥, etc. — overlaps with the Míngshèng jí and Cǎotáng yǎjí rosters but with slight variation, providing prosopographic triangulation. (4) Yuán Huá himself (Hóng-wǔ-era survivor) is the compiler — making the work also a small witness to the Hóng-wǔ-period redaction of late-Yuán Wúzhōng materials, contemporary to but independent of the contemporaneous Yuánshǐ compilation (1369–1370).
Translations and research
- David Sensabaugh, “Guests at Jade Mountain” — companion study to his Yùshān-estate work.
- 戴麗珠 Dài Lì-zhū, Gù Yīng yán-jiū (Taipei, 1981).
- 楊鎌 Yáng Lián, Yuán shī-shǐ (Beijing, 2003).
Other points of interest
The Jìyóu is among the earliest substantial documented examples of Chinese literary-tour anthology as a distinct sub-genre — distinct from the single-author yóujì tradition (e.g. Liǔ Zōngyuán 柳宗元 Yǒngzhōu bājì) and from the more general fēngtǔ jì tradition. The model is taken up by later Míng literary-circle anthologies (e.g. 海岱會集 KR4h0104).
Links
- ctext
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §31.4.