Yuányīn yíxiǎng 元音遺響
Surviving Echoes of Yuán Tones by 胡布, 張達, 劉紹
About the work
A 10-juǎn anthology of the verse of three Yuán yílǎo (loyalist survivors) — Hú Bù (胡布, zì Zǐshēn 子申, of Xūjiāng 旴江, Jiāngxī) for the first 8 juǎn (also titled separately Kōngtóng qiáoyīn 崆峒樵音), and Zhāng Dá (張達, zì Xiùchōng 秀充, Xūjiāng) and Liú Shào (劉紹, zì Zǐxiàn 子憲, of Líchuān 黎川) jointly for the final 2 juǎn. All three were Yuán-end loyalists; none of their biographies appears in standard sources, and the SKQS editors had to reconstruct their careers entirely from internal evidence in the verse. The work is the principal documentary witness for end-of-Yuán Jiāngxī (Xūjiāng / Líchuān) loyalist poetry.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Yuányīn yíxiǎng in 10 juǎn — the first 8 juǎn are the poetry of Hú Bù, also titled Kōngtóng qiáoyīn; the last 2 juǎn are the poetry of Zhāng Dá and Liú Shào. The three were probably yílǎo (loyalist survivors) of the Yuán; no other source describes them — so the details of their careers cannot be confirmed.
But examining the poetry: Liú Shào was Hú Bù’s yīnjiā (in-law), and once served in the Rǔnánwáng 汝南王 mù (mu/staff). The preface to Hú Bù’s poems on Liú Shào states “both of us served in the Fújiàn shuài mù — neither realised our ambitions” — so at the end of Yuán both did participate in military strategising. Hú Bù further has verse stating: “I at that time, zhànglìshǐ, was sent on errand to the southern wilds” — and again “since I served as dǎoyí xiánmìng, I went out on diplomatic mission to barbarian zhàng”. So Hú Bù was also a Yuán-end envoy to the islands (a shǐdǎoyí mission overseas).
Hú Bù has a poem titled Rù lǐwèn suǒ 入理問所 and one bǐngchén suì yùzhōng yuánxī shī 丙辰歲獄中元夕詩 — the note says “the Master was gāotà (lofty-stepping; recluse-flavoured) and ran afoul of contemporary politics, and was therefore demoted” — and again the bǐngchén 10th month 5th day, departing Lóngjiāng poem says: “the jīrén gaining release as if receiving a despatch — twilight boarded the boat as if coming home” — bǐngchén is Hóngwǔ 9 (1376). This indicates that the Míng-early summons did not find him compliant; he was imprisoned, and then released later.
Among his Jìnwén zìcóng etc. poems is the line “I would like to see the Níjīng banners surround the Xíngzài” — this must have been composed after Shùndì’s northern hunt (i.e. Hóngwǔ 1, 1368, when Shùndì fled north) — the gùguó gùjūn (old-state, old-prince) yearning is sincere and unappeased; his commitment deserves pity.
His other compositions also are gāogǔ and do not lose the inheritance of HànWèi yíyīn. Yet from the past, those who anthologised Yuán and Míng poetry have generally not been able to give his surname and given name. The present recension we do not know who compiled — but can be said to have barely survived.
Hú Bù zì Zǐshēn 子申; Zhāng Dá zì Xiùchōng 秀充 — both Xūjiāng 旴江 men. Liú Shào zì Zǐxiàn 子憲, Líchuān 黎川 man.
Reverently submitted, sixth month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Reconstructed from internal evidence: Hú Bù was active under late Yuán (military adviser in Fújiàn) through Hóngwǔ 9 (bǐngchén = 1376, prison-poem) and was released later. The verse documenting Shùndì’s Xíngzài in northern xúnshǒu dates from after 1368. The compilation’s terminus a quo is c. 1376; the terminus ad quem is uncertain — probably late Hóngwǔ (1380s). The compiler is unknown.
Significance. (1) The work is the principal documentary witness for Yuán yílǎo verse from Jiāngxī — a Yuán-loyalist literary tradition usually overshadowed by the more famous Wúzhōng circle. (2) Hú Bù’s prison poetry from the Hóngwǔ 9 (1376) imperial summons documents the early-Míng régime’s policy of compelling Yuán yílǎo into office — and the personal cost of refusal. (3) The Yáng-Wéi-zhēn-style preservation of “hidden” regional poets (cf. KR4h0088 Dàyǎ jí) is the implicit editorial principle of this work as well — but applied across the YuánMíng dynastic divide. (4) The SKQS editors’ praise — “gāogǔ bùshī HànWèi yíyīn” (lofty and ancient, not departing from the HànWèi tradition) — places the work in the highest tier of late-imperial canonical evaluation.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
- 楊鎌 Yáng Lián, Yuán dài wén-xué shǐ (Beijing, 2003) — chapter on Yuán yí-lǎo poetry.
- 査洪德 Zhā Hóng-dé, Yuán dài wén-xué wén-xiàn xué.
- 何錦山 Hé Jǐn-shān, “Hú Bù Yuán-yīn yí-xiǎng yán-jiū” — 1990s journal article on Hú Bù.
Other points of interest
The work’s three poets — Hú Bù, Zhāng Dá, Liú Shào — are otherwise undocumented; for all three, this anthology is the sole substantial source for both poetry and biography. The SKQS editors’ detective-work in reconstructing Hú Bù’s career from poems (Fújiàn military service; overseas diplomatic mission to “dǎoyí” — i.e. probably Ryūkyū 琉球 or Korea 高麗 — under late Yuán; refusal of Hóngwǔ summons and consequent imprisonment) is exemplary of the Sìkù method.