Yǎsòng zhèngyīn 雅頌正音
The Correct Tones of Yǎ and Sòng by 劉仔肩
About the work
A 5-juǎn early-Hóng-wǔ anthology of contemporary poetry, compiled by Liú Zǐjiān (劉仔肩, zì Rǔbì 汝弼, of Póyáng 鄱陽 / Jiāngxī). The work was assembled at the imperial capital in early Hóngwǔ after Liú was summoned in response to a search for talent. It gathers the verse of his contemporaries — running from gōngqīng (high officials) down to monk-poets (nàzǐ, “patched-robed monks”) — totalling 50-plus authors, with Liú’s own compositions appended at the end (following the Tang Wáng Yì 王逸, Six-Dynasties Xú Líng 徐陵, and Ruì Tǐngzhāng 芮挺章 model of self-inclusion in zǒngjí). Each author has only a few pieces selected — the SKQS editors note that this is because, at this early-Míng moment, most contemporary poets did not yet have their own biéjí (no individual collections had yet been compiled), so Liú simply gathered what was available.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Yǎsòng zhèngyīn in 5 juǎn — the Míng Liú Zǐjiān edited it. Zǐjiān zì Rǔbì, Póyáng man. In early Hóngwǔ, by recommendation, he answered the summons and reached the capital — there assembling contemporary poetry into this volume. From gōngqīng down to nàzǐ, 50-plus persons in all; Zǐjiān’s own compositions are also appended. He uses the precedent of Wáng Yì, Xú Líng, and Ruì Tǐngzhāng (i.e. zǒngjí whose compilers anthologise themselves).
The poems selected from each are extremely few — only a handful — because at this time the various poets’ biéjí had not yet been formed; he recorded what he obtained, and could not be comprehensive. Yet for early-Míng houses with no zhuānjí (specialised collection) transmitted today, this volume considerably preserves their general outline. The era was just past the first military pacification, and culture-and-government were just rising; Liú compared it to Yǎ-and-Sòng (the Shījīng’s court-and-temple verse) — which is doubtless a flattering excess — but the chōngróng xiéwǎn (rhythmical and harmonious) tones are the yōngyōng (peaceful) sounds of dynasty-founding; preserving it is enough to show the early-Míng fēngqì (epoch’s atmosphere).
This recension is still the old Hóng-wǔ-period imprint; long-aged and worn, with many smeared and missing places. As no other copy is available for collation, we have followed the original. Reverently submitted, eleventh month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. The original preface by Sòng Lián 宋濂 (the Hóng-wǔ-era guózǐ sīyè and dean of early-Míng letters) is dated Hóngwǔ 3 (1370), twelfth month, fifteenth day. The compilation must therefore have been completed in Hóngwǔ 3 (1370) with first printing in Hóngwǔ 4 (1371) at the latest.
Significance. (1) The work is the earliest preserved Míng-dynasty anthology of Hóng-wǔ-era poetry. The era is too early for biéjí to have been compiled, so the volume preserves a unique stratum of early-Míng compositions. (2) Sòng Lián’s preface is itself one of the canonical early-Míng theoretical statements of poetics: he argues that contemporary fēngyǎ-poetry, though differing from the Shījīng’s court-and-temple verse, shares fùbǐxìng (descriptive-and-allegorical) form with it; ancient and modern verse differ in time but share the human voice in vocalising emotion — and this fundamental sameness justifies including contemporary verse in the Yǎsòng tradition. (3) The work documents the early-Hóng-wǔ rapprochement between the founding emperor and the literary class: many of the anthologised poets were summoned to the new capital, served in temporary advisory roles, and produced occasional verse for state functions. (4) The Hóngwǔ imprint itself is significant as one of the oldest extant Míng-printed books; the SKQS editors note its deteriorated condition without any alternative copy available.
Translations and research
- F. W. Mote, “Confucianism and the Founding of the Ming Dynasty” — discusses Sòng Lián’s role and his prefaces to early-Hóng-wǔ anthologies.
- John D. Langlois Jr. (ed.), China under Mongol Rule — relevant for the Yuán-Míng literary transition.
- 何文煥 Hé Wén-huàn, Lì-dài shī-huà — Qīng-era compilation containing Sòng Lián’s prefaces.
- No substantial Western-language monograph on Liú Zǐ-jiān located.
Other points of interest
The work’s title — 雅頌正音 “the correct sounds of Yǎ-and-Sòng” — is the most aggressive of all early-Míng anthology titles in claiming canonical status for the new dynasty’s verse. The implicit claim — that the early Míng has restored the YǎSòng tradition broken since the Sòng dynasty (or arguably since the Hàn) — is the foundational rhetoric of Hóng-wǔ-era cultural restoration. Sòng Lián’s preface — couched in the language of fùbǐxìng and fēngtǔ — is the canonical authoritative statement of that program.
Links
- ctext
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §32.