Literary Records of the Examination (Qing - Modern)

Author: Zheng Weizhang
Editor: Qiu Zhengwei et al.
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1999-06-01
Features:
Fragment: Survivors. The Muzhang Yishi records: "Only the former residence in the East City remained, where the books were fortunate to be unharmed." Most of the books left were acquired by Qian Zeng. In his postscript to the Jiu Jing, Mu Zhang wrote: "These are the books saved from the conflagration of the Jingyun Pavilion. The five carts of the four divisions of books were taken away by the Six Ding, leaving only this Jing. Heaven must have allowed me to spend my old age in drunkenness, hence transferring it to Zun Wang." "After the Jingyun Pavilion burned down, most of the remaining books were old editions collected by Zhao Xuandu in the Maywang Pavilion. The official generously donated them all." Thus, Qian Zeng's Shudu Minqiu Ji records many of Mu Zhang's old collections and the Maywang Pavilion's editions. For example, in his postscript to the Luoyang Galan Ji: "After the Jingyun Pavilion burned, all the secret manuscripts hand-corrected by Qing Chang (Zhao's alias) were not taken away by the Six Ding. Mu Gong generously donated them to Cai Yong." In his postscript to the Shaozi Huangji Jingshi Guowu Pian Jie: "I recall in the late spring of Jichou (the sixth year of Shunzhi), serving Mu Gong in the Yanyu Hall. Just then, I saw him reviewing this volume. From the side, I secretly glanced at it, struck dumb with wonder. After the Jingyun Pavilion burned, Mu Gong donated all his remaining books, and this volume came with it." In his postscript to the Tianyuan Yuli Senluo Ji: "This is an early handwritten copy by Mu Gong. He handed over all his literary drafts to me, so I consider it authentic." The Minqiu Ji records over forty books by Mu Zhang and Zhao's editions, too many to list here. After the Jingyun fire, Qian Zeng immersed himself in Buddhism, copying and annotating Buddhist books, traveling to Suzhou and Hangzhou to pass his days, eventually falling into extreme destitution. In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi, at the age of eighty, his home was robbed again. "His wife and children crawled in the barren fields, leaving not a single sheet or thread behind," to the point of wearing winter coats in May and relying on friends' donated salaries to make simple clothing for protection. In the winter of the second year of Kangxi, one of his poems in Bingtuo Xiaohan Zaoying reads: "My withered body still does not awaken this year, the ghost of poverty mocks the ghost of illness. I pawned my treasury to pay for medicine vouchers, and the debtors sold my books for money. Lu Ji left his country with three rooms, Wu Yun tilled one field with a plow. I sigh that the ancients were like me, huddled in a broken window, sheltered by wind and rain, sleeping with books." Six months later, the great literary figure passed away in poverty and illness. Although his books were donated as gifts before his death, some remained after his passing. Qian Zeng, however, relentlessly forced and seized them from He Dongjun, earning him condemnation from later generations. After Qian Zeng's books were scattered, many were acquired by Ji Cangwei. In Ji's Yanling Songshu Mulu, the books such as the Baopuzi, Yangzi Fayan, Fangyan, Libu Yunlue, Zhan Guo Ce, and Shijia Laozi Daodejing Jizhu Huijie bear inscriptions of "a certain old man" or "a certain studio," all of which were Mu Zhang's collections, hidden due to the strict literary censors.