Yuányīn 元音
Tones of the Yuán by 孫原理
About the work
A 12-juǎn early-Míng anthology of Yuán poetry, compiled by Sūn Yuánlǐ (孫原理) of Níngbō 寧波 — supplemented by editorial work of Chén Mèngchéng 陳孟誠 (Gǔtián 古田 magistrate) and Zhāng Zhōngdá 張中達 (Dìnghǎi yìchéng / county vice-administrator). Carrying ancient verse, song-style (gēxíng), and regulated verse, the collection records 176 named Yuán poets running from Liú Yīn 劉因 to Lóng Yúncóng 龍雲從, each entry accompanied by a brief zìhào juélǐ (style, sobriquet, rank-and-native-place) annotation. The selection emphasises end-of-Yuán more heavily than early-Yuán. An appendix preserves 11 anonymous poems plus a few pieces of Chén Yìjì 陳益稷, Chéng Wénhǎi 程文海, Téng Bīn 滕賓, and Yú Jí 虞集 — collectively labelled the Bǔyí (supplement), a juǎn not in the original table of contents (probably added by the engraver Zhāng Zhōngdá at his own initiative).
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Yuányīn in 12 juǎn — no editor’s name on the cover. The volume opens with Hóngwǔ jiǎzǐ (1384) preface of Wū Sīdào stating “Níngbō Sūn Yuánlǐ assembled the collection”; also a preface by Zēng Yòngzàng stating “engraved by Zhāng Zhōngdá of Dìnghǎi yìchéng”. The end-colophon is “Xīnsì 9th month xiàhuàn (= Jiànwén 3 / 1401)” but blanks for the two-character reign-name. Xīnsì is Jiànwén 3 (1401) — probably the Jìngnán coup expunged the reign-name from the woodblocks; this is still very nearly an early-Míng imprint.
The selection runs from Liú Yīn 劉因 to Lóng Yúncóng 龍雲從, 176 persons in all. Each entry has a brief annotation of zìhào juélǐ — generally fuller for end-of-Yuán than early-Yuán. The end has 11 anonymous pieces; further Chén Yìjì’s poem one, Chéng Wénhǎi’s poems four, Téng Bīn’s poem one, Yú Jí’s poems five — separately constituting one juǎn, titled Bǔyí — none in the original table of contents. The anonymous pieces in particular are qiǎnsú (shallow and vulgar), differing from the rest of the volume; perhaps Zhāng Zhōngdá inserted them at engraving-time.
Gù Sìlì’s Yuán bǎijiā shī xuǎn fánlì once criticised Sòng Gōngchuán’s Yuán shī tǐyào (KR4h0100), Jiǎng Yì’s Yuán fēngyǎ, and Yuánlǐ’s present book as all bù guǎng (not comprehensive). However, this book’s qùqǔ (selection-vs-rejection) shows fair discernment; though it cannot eliminate the contemporary tendency toward nóngrù (lush-and-thick) — yet broadly it esteems fēnggé (style and bearing), and has the merit of chúfán dílàn (cutting back the over-grown, washing away the excessive).
Reverently submitted, tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. The first preface — by the Sìmíng shānrén 四明山人 Wū Sīdào 烏斯道 — is dated Hóngwǔ 17 (1384), 10th month. Sūn Yuánlǐ assembled the material; Chén Mèngchéng (Gǔtián zǎi) helped with selection; Zhāng Zhōngdá (Dìnghǎi vice-magistrate) had it engraved. The 1401 xīnsì postface (by Zēng Yòngzàng) was added during the post-engraving period.
Significance. (1) The Yuányīn is the central early-Míng anthology of Yuán poetry, replacing the Yuán-period KR4h0082 HuángYuán fēngyǎ as the standard reference. Its scheme — author-roster + brief biographical headnotes — is patterned on the Yuán Hǎowèn 元好問 Zhōngzhōu jí 中州集 (the Jīn-anthology model). (2) The work belongs to a triad of early-Míng Yuán-anthologies: KR4h0092 Qiánkūn qīngqì (organised by form), the present KR4h0093 Yuányīn (organised by author), and KR4h0100 Yuán shī tǐyào (organised by 36 sub-forms). Together they document the early-Míng project of canonising the Yuán inheritance. (3) Wū Sīdào’s preface contains a famous statement of comparative literary-history theory: poetry of HànWèi to Sòng is well documented, but to read Yuán literature is to read the dynasty’s shèngshuāi (rise and fall) directly — implying that Yuán-period verse occupies a privileged position in the fēngjiào (poetic-as-instruction) tradition.
Translations and research
- 楊鎌 Yáng Lián, Yuán shī-shǐ (Beijing, 2003).
- 査洪德 Zhā Hóng-dé, Yuán dài wén-xué wén-xiàn xué.
- Hok-lam Chan, “Wū Sī-dào and the Yuán-Míng Transition” — Western study of the preface-author.
Other points of interest
The expungement of the Jiànwén reign-name from the volume’s date — the editors filled in two blank characters where Jiànwén should appear — is a small but documentary witness to the Yǒnglè (Yǒnglè 1, 1403) campaign of erasure following the Jìngnán coup against the Jiànwén emperor. The Sìkù editors note this with explicit comment, treating it as a small text-witness to the political instability of the early Míng’s second decade.
Links
- ctext
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §31.4–§32.