At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, there was a bibliophile in Jinling who was obsessed with reading and collecting books, and his family was rich in classics and famous all over the world, his name was Huang Yuji.
Huang Yuji (1629-1691), known as Yu Tai, was a native of Jinjiang (now Quanzhou) in the Ming Dynasty. He was nurtured by his father since he was a child, and he could write poetry at the age of seven, and he was studious and bookish. His father, Huang Juzhong (1562-1644), was the second son. In the thirteenth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1585), Huang Juzhong gave the teachings of Shanghai County (now Shanghai), moved to Nanjing Guozijian (the site is located in the Sipailou Campus of Southeast University) and settled in Jinling. Later, he transferred to Huangping Zhizhou (the site of the governance office is located in Huangping County, Guizhou), he resigned and did not go, and since then he has been dedicated to collecting books, reading and writing in Jinling.
A lifelong lover of books
Huang Juzhong loved classics all his life, and he often borrowed books to read before he became an official, and every time he got a different book, even if it was bitten by rats and damaged by silverfish, he would always cherish and bring it back, and personally patch and transcribe it; In his later years, he closed his doors to customers and read carefully, and his scholarly spirit was very touching.
Huang Juzhong collected more than 60,000 volumes of books in his life, in order to collect these books, he built a "thousand Qing Zhai" in Jinling, among which the writings of the Ming people are the most complete, up to the Ming Dynasty 16 dynasties of the emperor ministers, down to the common people literati poetry notes, all search for snares. Qing Dynasty scholar Zhu Yizun's "Jing Zhiju Poems and Appendix" said that Huang Juzhong "Ming Li is dedicated to studying the ancients, and he must write different books by hand, and he lives in Jinling, more than 80 years old, and he reads like a bonlamp, and he is tireless." In ancient times, it was called old and studious, and it was worthy of it"!
Huang Yuji, who settled in Jinling with his father, has been well-read since he was a child. After his father's death, his mother was very strict with him, requiring him to inherit his father's business and study hard. Huang Yuji carefully obeyed his mother's orders, while carefully guarding the collection of books of his ancestors, sorting out his father's collection, "diligently at dawn and night, not forgetting to investigate";
Qian Qianyi, a famous scholar and great bibliophile in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, wrote in "Huang's Qianqing Zhai Tibetan Secretary": "In the autumn of Wuzi, the rest of the lawsuit is Jinling, and there is a battle to collect poems and borrow books from others. Lin Gudu said that the middle son of Mr. Huang Mingli of Jinjiang kept his father's books very rich, virtuous and literate, so he borrowed books from Zhongzi and had to read the poems and texts of this dynasty. Even a great bibliophile like Qian Qianyi can read books from the Ming Dynasty that he has never seen when he goes to Huang Yuji's house, which shows the uniqueness and richness of the Huang family's book collection.
In order to increase the collection of books, Huang Yuji searched everywhere in Jinling, and whenever he saw rare books, he often spared no expense to buy them, and whenever he heard that someone among relatives and friends had obtained rare books or rare books, he would try to borrow and transcribe them.
Borrow and read with each other
In Longtan, which is more than ten miles away from Huang Yuji's Jinling "Qianqing Zhai", there is a famous bibliophile named Ding Xiongfei, who has a collection of more than 20,000 volumes, and Huang Yuji often goes to Ding's house to borrow and copy. The two soon became close friends. The two of them also made a gentleman's agreement to borrow books, as a code of conduct to be observed when borrowing each other's books:
"Thirteen to yellow every month, twenty-six yellow to ding. The date has been set, and the advance is not scheduled. If there is a problem, you will resign. If you don't join other friends, you may be involved in socializing and hindering the review. When the fruit core is six, the tea is not counted. Afternoon meal, one meat and one vegetable, not as good as wine. Those who exceed the quota will be punished by taking a different book. Each of the disciples gave 30 wen, but there were only three people. Books cannot be borrowed for more than half a month. The return of the book shall not be entrusted to the person. ”
In order to build a good relationship and do a good job of borrowing and reading from each other, they do not hesitate to lose other friendships, and when they visit each other, they have to entertain each other, and they also give each other's coachmen a reward, which is really a standard gentleman's agreement, which also fully shows that they are true gentlemen who love books.
On the appointed day, they always gave each other their best collections, talked about books and studies, exchanged ideas, and questioned each other, which made a good story in the history of book collection. Huang Yuji also copied many secret ancient books from the Ding family, greatly enriching his family collection.
What is even more selfless and commendable is that Huang Yuji also made no reservations about Zhou Zaijun, the son of Zhou Lianggong, an official, writer and collector in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and took out the rare books he had collected for many years to share, carefully selected 96 kinds of Tang and Song Dynasty secret books from their respective homes, revised them in detail, and compiled a volume of "Engraved Tang and Song Dynasty Secret Bibliography", which was engraved and published, and solicited powerful people of insight to print and publish.
This move received a positive response from many scholars, and later the first large-scale book series in the Qing Dynasty to explain the meaning of the Confucian scriptures, "Tongzhitang Sutra Interpretation", was first included in the scriptures provided by Huang Yuji and Zhou Zaijun. Subsequently, in the official compilation of the "Wuyingdian Collector's Edition Series" and the private publication of the "Knowing the Lack of Zhai Series", most of the rare books in the "Secret Bibliography of the Tang and Song Dynasties" were printed.
This practice has made people look sideways at these two bibliophiles, so that many rare and ancient books that are likely to be lost can be circulated to the world, which is of great significance for the preservation and dissemination of Chinese cultural documents.
Communicate with academics
Huang Yuji was good at collecting books, and used his family's collection of rare books to communicate with scholars, celebrities, and literati in Jinling, and won the support of Jinling's book collection and academic circles, and opened his collection to him, so that he broadened his horizons and learned a wider range of knowledge.
Zhou Lianggong contained in "The Seven Orders of Ni Mu and Mrs. Zhu": "The gentlemen of Wumen...... Naiyan Gong (i.e. Ni Can) and Huang Zi Yu Tai, Gao Zi Kangsheng, Tao Zi Su Gong, Huang Zi Youchen and Yu Congzi Lufeng, and then succeeded to repair the Society, in Qin Huai, the Quartet rose and responded, all through the Confucianism of Bogu, so as to be the minister, and the strange feats at home and abroad, innumerable. It can be seen from this that during this period, Huang Yuji communicated with these Jinling scholars for more than ten years.
Huang Yuji also worked in the Fuzhong Pavilion of Gong Jiayu, a famous bibliophile and seal carver in Jinling, to educate his children and help him proofread and publish books such as "Teaching Diagrams" and "Spring and Autumn Compilation Regulations".
Huang Yuji, who has a deep family history, is well versed in the study of the bibliography of scriptures, and on the basis of the six volumes of the "Qianqingzhai Collection Catalogue" compiled by his father, he has compiled the thirty-two volumes of the "Qianqingtang Bibliography" known as the "Book of the Ming Dynasty". It was evaluated by the "Summary of the Four Libraries of the Whole Book" as: "The author of the Ming generation finally takes the book as the basis." ”
In the eighteenth year of the reign of Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1679), the Qing court opened the museum to compile and revise the History of the Ming Dynasty, and Xu Yuanwen, a cabinet scholar, served as the chief compiler. He heard that Huang Yuji was "very knowledgeable and elegant in writing", and recommended him to participate in the compilation of the "History of the Ming Dynasty: Art and Literature Chronicles", and his "Art and Literature Chronicles" was praised by scholars at that time and later generations, and in the 28th year of the Kangxi reign (1689), he was recommended to participate in the compilation of the "Great Qing Dynasty Unification Chronicles".
In the thirtieth year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1691), Huang Yuji died in Jinling at the age of 62. In his lifetime, he wrote "My Guixuan Collection", "Chaoshuang Pavilion Collection", "Cicada Nest Collection", "Historical Biography Chronicle", "Jianchu Collection" and "Luoyuan Magazine" books, but unfortunately most of them have been lost.
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