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初寮詞

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Text ID
KR4j0016
Date
1100–1141
Dynasty
宋

Chūliáo cí 初寮詞

Lyrics of the First Hut by 王安中 (撰)

About the work

The Chūliáo cí 初寮詞 is the one-juǎn Sìkù cí collection of Wáng Ānzhōng 王安中 (1076–1141; zì Lǚdào 履道, hào Chūliáo jūshì 初寮居士), a late-Northern-Sòng official and writer who began as a Sū Shì 蘇軾 disciple but, per the Tíyào’s harsh judgment, “later attached himself to Cài Jīng 蔡京” and conspicuously cultivated Cài Yōu 蔡攸 and the imperial concubine Lady Zhèng 鄭妃. The Chūliáo jí 初寮集 in 20 juǎn was lost by Qiánlóng times; the Sìkù editors reconstructed it from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and catalogued it separately. The cí-only volume, descending from Máo Jìn 毛晉’s Sòng-cut text, preserves about thirty-two cí; Huáng Shēng 黃昇’s Huāān cí xuǎn KR4j0066 cites the most-quoted lines of his Xiǎo chóng shān 小重山 and Dié liàn huā 蝶戀花 as the touchstone of his style. A textual oddity (signalled in the Tíyào): nine Ānyáng hǎo 安陽好 cí in the collection are arguably the work of Hán Qí 韓琦, since Hán governed Ānyáng during Xīníng, while Wáng never did.

Tiyao

Chūliáo cí, one juǎn, by Wáng Ānzhōng of the Sòng. Ānzhōng has the Chūliáo jí in 20 juǎn, long since scattered; today we have re-collected it from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn into a separate catalog. Chén Zhènsūn 陳振孫’s Shūlù jiětí separately records the Chūliáo cí in one juǎn; the present text is Máo Jìn’s cutting, identical in extent — apparently the original. The Gǔjīn cíhuà says: “Ānzhōng began as a Dōngpō disciple; in Shàoxīng (the Tíyào writes Shàoxīng, but Wáng died in 1141 — chronologically this is more likely Xuānhé) he came back to attach himself to Cài Jīng.” The Yòu lǎo chūnqiū says he was tied to Cài Yōu, presented spring-equinox-tablet shī, and so on, with Lady Zhèng — so the man himself is not commendable. Yet Huáng Shēng’s Huāān cí xuǎn records his cí; Xiǎo chóng shān’s chuánzhú chuízhū qīng lòu cháng, chíliú chūnsǔn huǎn cuīshāng 椽燭垂珠清漏長，遲留春筍緩催觴 (“the eaves-candles drip pearls in the clear water-clock’s length; the spring-bamboo-shoot fingers linger and slowly press the cup”); and Dié liàn huā’s cuìwù yíngyū xiāo zhuàn yìn, zhēngshēng qià dù qiūhóng zhèn 翠霧縈紆消篆印，箏聲恰度秋鴻陣 (“kingfisher-mist coils and dissolves the seal-imprint, the zhēng note exactly carries the rank of autumn geese”) — all lines praised in his day; his talent really cannot be matched away. The nine Ānyáng hǎo in the collection: per the Nénggǎi zhāi mànlù, Hán Wèigōng 韓琦 in early Huángyòu governed Wéiyáng and composed Wéiyáng hǎo in four pieces; later in Xīníng, after stepping down as Councillor, he governed Ānyáng and composed Ānyáng hǎo in ten — popularly transmitted; one piece is quoted, which matches Wáng’s collection’s Ānyáng hǎo first piece. Ānyáng was the Wèijùn region; Ānzhōng never governed it; these cí should belong to Hán Qí; how they entered this collection is unknown. We retain them under uncertainty for the cross-reference.

Abstract

The transmitted Chūliáo cí descends through Máo Jìn’s cutting; the Sìkù form preserves Máo’s witness without correction. Modern editions: the Quán Sòng cí of Táng Guīzhāng 唐圭璋 gives Wáng Ānzhōng around 32 cí. The Hán Qí 韓琦 attribution of the Ānyáng hǎo nine pieces is now generally accepted in modern criticism; the Quán Sòng cí moves them to Hán’s corpus on the textual basis the Tíyào identifies. Wáng’s biography (Sòng shǐ 352) confirms the political trajectory the Tíyào picks out: jìnshì of Yuánfú 3 / 1100, member of the Sū circle in his youth, later attached to Cài Jīng’s faction, and a leading agent of the SòngLiáo and SòngJīn diplomacy of Xuānhé; demoted on the fall of Cài Jīng under Qīnzōng and dying in retirement in Shàoxīng 11 / 1141. His cí split the same way: refined xiǎolìng in his Sū-disciple register, and ornate court-banquet pieces (the Yìngzhì 應制 register) for the Huīzōng circle.

Translations and research

  • Táng Guī-zhāng 唐圭璋 et al., Quán Sòng cí 全宋詞 (Zhōng-huá shū-jú, 1965; rev. 1999), vol. 2 — collated text and reattribution of Ān-yáng hǎo to Hán Qí.
  • Sòng shǐ 352 — zhuàn of Wáng Ān-zhōng (compiled Yuán by Tuō-tuō 脫脫).
  • Xià Chéng-tāo 夏承燾, Táng Sòng cí rén nián-pǔ 唐宋詞人年譜 — includes Wáng Ān-zhōng chronology.

Other points of interest

The Tíyào’s exposure of the Ānyáng hǎo misattribution is a useful example of the Sìkù compilers’ practice of using anecdotal bǐjì (here the Nénggǎi zhāi mànlù) to triangulate against the late-Míng Máo Jìn cuttings; it is one of the most-cited Sìkù cí-philology cases.

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