Guǎngzhōu sì xiānshēng shī 廣州四先生詩
Poems of the Four Masters of Guǎngzhōu by 闕名 (compiler unknown)
About the work
A 4-juǎn early-Míng regional poetry anthology of four poets from Guǎngzhōu 廣州 (Guǎngdōng), compiled by an unknown editor. The four masters are: Huáng Zhé 黃哲 (zì Yōngzhī 庸之, Xuěpéng jí 雪篷集; recommended hànlín dàizhì, served as tutor to Crown Prince Yìwén, became Dōngē xiànzhī and Dōngpíng tōngpàn, eventually executed); Lǐ Dé 李德 (zì Zhòngxiū 仲修, Yìān jí 易菴集; Luòyáng zhǎngshǐ in Hóngwǔ, eventually Yìníng zhīxiàn); Wáng Zuǒ 王佐 (zì Yànjǔ 彥舉, originally Hédōng man, settled in Nánxióng in Yuán-end; Hóngwǔ early summons → gěishìzhōng; Tīngyǔxuān 聽雨軒 and Yíngzhōu 瀛洲 collections; verse mostly lost after his death, single-juǎn version surviving via Péng Sēn 彭森 of Jiànān); and Zhào Jiè 趙介 (zì Bózhēn 伯貞; declined office, eventually compelled to the capital, died in transit at Nánchāng’s boats; Línqīng jí 臨清集). Together with the fifth contemporary Sūn Bēn 孫蕡, they form the 南園五先生 Nányuán wǔ xiānshēng (“Five Masters of the Southern Garden”), the foundational generation of Míng-era Guǎngdōng (粵東) regional poetry.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Guǎngzhōu sì xiānshēng shī in 4 juǎn — no editor’s name. It is the poetry of four men of Guǎngzhōu in early Míng — Huáng Zhé, Lǐ Dé, Wáng Zuǒ, Zhào Jiè — who together with the same-prefecture Sūn Bēn were called the so-called Nányuán Wǔxiānshēng.
Zhé zì Yōngzhī. By recommendation he was made hànlín dàizhì, attended Yìwén Tàizǐ (Heir Apparent Yìwén) at his studies, then went out as Dōngē district-chief, was promoted to Dōngpíng tōngpàn, returned, and later was zuòfǎ sǐ (executed for legal offence). He has the Xuěpéng jí.
Dé zì Zhòngxiū. In Hóngwǔ, by recommendation, he was made Luòyáng zhǎngshǐ and rose to Yìníng zhīxiàn. He has the Yìān jí.
Zuǒ zì Yànjǔ — originally Hédōng man — at end-of-Yuán accompanied his father in office at Nánxióng, took up residence there. In early Hóngwǔ, summoned to the capital and made gěishìzhōng. He has the Tīngyǔxuān and Yíngzhōu collections. After his death, his manuscripts were largely lost; one juǎn of his verse was engraved by his fellow-villager Péng Sēn at Jiànān.
Jiè zì Bózhēn — preferred reading-and-not-serving — repeatedly recommended, all declined; on account of family-obligations called to the capital, died in the boats at Nánchāng. Later, on account of his son Chún being made jiānchá yùshǐ, posthumously honoured jiānchá yùshǐ. He has the Línqīng jí.
Of the Nányuán school, only Sūn Bēn’s collection is widely transmitted. The four men’s works are mostly scattered. The present is a later-compiler’s gathered text; the contents are not numerous — but compared with other selections this is rather more comprehensive.
Among them: Zhé’s 5-syllable ancient verse follows the QíLiáng style; Dé’s 7-syllable long-pieces have the breath of Wēn Tíngyún and Lǐ Shāngyǐn — both can stand as their own house. Only Zuǒ has slightly low qìgǔ (vital force), unable to gallop alongside. Jiè’s verse was praised by Chén Tíngqì 陳廷器 as having guān shìjiào (concern for moral instruction) — but what survives is too little to show his whole. Nevertheless the Yuèdōng (Guǎngdōng) poetic school these men opened up, and their tíchàng fēngyǎ (championing of fēngyǎ) contribution cannot be denied. We preserve the volume to record the school’s general outline.
Reverently submitted, seventh month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. The four poets were all active in early-to-mid Hóngwǔ (1368–1398); Huáng Zhé, Lǐ Dé, Wáng Zuǒ were summoned to the capital in Hóngwǔ 2–4 (1369–1371). Huáng Zhé was executed before Hóngwǔ’s end; the others died by the early 1400s. The compilation must postdate all four deaths (early 15th century) — the compiler is unknown — and was probably assembled in late-Hóng-wǔ to Yǒnglè period. notBefore: 1380 and notAfter: 1450 brackets the compositional window.
Significance. (1) The work is the principal Míng documentary witness for the founding generation of Guǎngdōng regional poetry — the Nányuán Wǔxiānshēng generation, named after the Nányuán (“Southern Garden”) literary club at Guǎngzhōu which they founded c. 1368–1370. (2) The fifth member Sūn Bēn 孫蕡 (1334–1389), executed by Zhū Yuánzhāng, has his own surviving biéjí and is therefore not anthologised here. (3) The political fates of the four — Huáng Zhé and Sūn Bēn executed, Zhào Jiè dying in transit while resisting summons, Wáng Zuǒ and Lǐ Dé serving and surviving — make the volume a documentary witness to the Hóngwǔ régime’s complicated relationship with the regional literary class. (4) The Nányuán school’s influence on subsequent Guǎngdōng literature — through the Míng-mid masters Qiū Jùn 邱濬 and the Míng-late Ōuyáng Xiūzhī 歐陽修志 — is foundational; later anthologists trace the regional canon back to these five men.
Translations and research
- F. W. Mote, “The Poet Kao Ch’i” (Princeton, 1962) — discusses early-Míng provincial poetry circles including the Guǎng-dōng Nán-yuán.
- 陳永正 Chén Yǒng-zhèng, Lǐng-nán wén-xué shǐ (Guǎng-zhōu, 1993) — comprehensive history of Lǐng-nán literature, with chapter on Nán-yuán Wǔ-xiān.
- 陳建華 Chén Jiàn-huá, Wǔ-xiān shī yán-jiū — focused study.
Other points of interest
The Nányuán wǔ xiānshēng are the conventional starting-point of the 粵東詩派 Yuèdōng shīpài (Lǐngnán poetry tradition). The Nányuán (“Southern Garden”) literary club at Guǎngzhōu — where the five originally gathered c. 1368–1370 — is the foundational physical-and-social locus of subsequent Guǎngdōng letters. The present anthology, by preserving four of the five, occupies a foundational place in the regional canon analogous to that of the Yùshān Cǎotáng yǎjí (KR4h0086) for Wúzhōng.
Links
- ctext
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §32.