Píngzhāi cí 平齋詞
Lyrics of the Level Studio by 洪咨夔 (撰)
About the work
The Píngzhāi cí 平齋詞 is the one-juǎn Sìkù cí collection of Hóng Zīkuí 洪咨夔 (1176–1236; zì Shùnyú 舜俞, hào Píngzhāi 平齋, posthumous Zhōngwén 忠文), of Yúqián 於潛 (Hángzhōu). The Tíyào corrects a chronic error: Hóng’s jìnshì date is Jiādìng 1 / 1208 (per the Xiánchún Línān zhì), not the Jiādìng 2 of the Sòng shǐ. Under Lǐzōng, Hóng rose to Xíngbù shàngshū, Hànlín xuéshì zhīzhìgào, Duānmíngdiàn xuéshì; he died in 1236, posthumous Zhōngwén 忠文. The Píngzhāi wénjí (separately catalogued) is the principal corpus; the present is the Máo Jìn 毛晉 cí-only extraction (Máo’s colophon notes he had not seen the parent collection — Jígǔgé happened to lack it). Hóng was talented-and-self-confident; after his jìnshì he submitted a memorial to Shǐ Míyuǎn 史彌遠 (the chief councillor) criticizing officials at every level from councillor to county magistrate, and was kept out of advancement for ten years — the experience accounts for the cí-corpus’s línlí jīzhuàng 淋漓激壯 (“drenched-and-stirring”) quality, akin to Xīn Qìjí 辛棄疾 and Liú Guò 劉過. The Máo Jìn colophon’s comparison to Wāng Qí 王岐 (Wāng Wéngōng) “rich-and-noble qì” is rebutted by the Tíyào.
Tiyao
Píngzhāi cí, one juǎn, by Hóng Zīkuí of the Sòng. Zīkuí, zì Shùnyú, hào Píngzhāi, a man of Yúqián, jìnshì of Jiādìng 1 (1208). The Sòng shǐ records his jìnshì in Jiādìng 2 (1209). The Xiánchún Línān zhì has the Jiādìng 1 Zhèng Zìchéng bǎng (list); has no Jiādìng 2 bǎng; Sòng shǐ is in error. Under Lǐzōng he reached Xíngbù shàngshū, Hànlín xuéshì zhīzhìgào, added Duānmíngdiàn xuéshì; died, posthumous Zhōngwén. Has Píngzhāi wénjí separately catalogued. The present cí in one juǎn was cut by Máo Jìn; Jìn’s colophon notes he had not seen the collected works — Jígǔgé happened to lack the parent book; only saw the cí. Zīkuí, talented-and-confident, after his new jìnshì memorialized Shǐ Míyuǎn from councillor down to county-magistrate level scooping up every flaw; thereafter the chief minister hated him; ten years no advance. Hence his cí are drenched-and-stirring, much carrying hindered-towering breath, with passages resembling Jiàxuān (Xīn Qìjí) and Lóngzhōu (Liú Guò) 劉過. Máo Jìn’s colophon merely compares him to Wāng Qí wén duō fùguì qì (rich-and-noble qì) — not right at all. Zīkuí’s father, named Yuè 鉞, hào Gǔyǐn 谷隱, had shī-renown; Zīkuí leaving Shǔ obtained several thousand juǎn of books and stored them at a Xiāo-temple; father and son discussed and chanted; learning grew more wide-ranging. The cí-annotations referring to lǎorén (the elder) all mean his father. His sons Xūn 勛 and Tāo 燾 also could continue the family learning. Zhègū tiān · Wéi lǎorén shòu back-half: zhūsūn rènqǔ wēngwēng yì, chājià shīshū bù fù rén — one imagines the household’s prosperity. Again, Hàngōng chūn one cí celebrating his father’s seventieth — per the Píngzhāi jí, has the Rénchén xiǎoxuě qián fèngqīn yóu DàochǎngHéshān 5-character ancient shī with the line lǎoqīn bāshí jiàn (old-parent at eighty, still vigorous); yet the collection lacks the Hàngōng chūn for the eightieth — suspect transmission has many losses. — Compiled, Qiánlóng 44 / 1779, 3rd month.
Abstract
The transmitted Píngzhāi cí descends through Máo Jìn’s cutting; modern editions (the Quán Sòng cí of Táng Guīzhāng 唐圭璋) preserve a corpus of around 87 cí. Hóng’s birth-date 1176 and death-date 1236 are confirmed. The Tíyào’s correction of the Sòng shǐ’s jìnshì-year — using the Xiánchún Línān zhì — is the standard modern position. Hóng is now best read as a key example of the late-Southern-Sòng patriot-protest cí line: politically marginalized by Shǐ Míyuǎn’s faction, restored under Lǐzōng’s early reign (post-1234 the formation of the Hélíngbó / Mènggǔ recovery effort), Hóng’s cí fit the broader XīnQìjí inheritance of military-and-statecraft cí.
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. 4 — collated corpus.
- Sòng shǐ 406 — zhuàn of Hóng Zī-kuí.
Other points of interest
The Hóng father-son line (Yuè / Zīkuí / XūnTāo) extending over three generations is one of the noteworthy multi-generational cí-shī houses of the late Southern Sòng. The Tíyào’s use of the Xiánchún Línān zhì jìnshì-list to correct the Sòng shǐ is a clean instance of regional-gazetteer evidence prevailing over the standard history.