The Natural

Interests of the Elite

About 135 stories mainly describe the interests of the elite. Here, more often than in stories with other subjects, Ji Yun communicates results of his own research as well as his opinion and evaluations. He states a wish for preserving old sources, correcting wrongly transmitted old documents, and contemporary accounts. The narratives show Ji Yun as a very educated, manifold interested, and critical scholar, who wishes to pass his knowledge on to his readers.

These notes are mainly about unusual occurrences or objects, such as rarities and collections. Ji Yun comments upon natural science, classical or modern literature, philosophy, and religion. In addition to his many interests, his taste, as well as that of his circle of friends and colleagues, is displayed. 

1 Marvellous Occurrences and Unusual Items 

40 stories describe unusual happenings that are thought of as natural and, if possible, are explained to the reader. One example is the account about Li Chengfang’s 李承芳 (1752 jinshi) unusual resemblance to a portrait of Tao Qian 陶潛 (365−427), which hangs on the wall of Ji Yun's office. Other worthwhile narratives are about strange dreams that are linked to reality, but not understood as prophetic; or a mysterious box made of stone standing in the Forbidden City, whose function is then made clear by Tu Yuzhai 圖裕齋 (fl. 1789); as well as the explainable occurrence that the water of Liu Quanzhi 劉權之 (1738−1818) well changes its' taste every mid-day. Nevertheless, some stories are simply told because they cannot be clarified and seem mysterious. This is the case with a happy looking couple, who is surprisingly found dead by hanging, the morning after their wedding ceremony, without any signs of the presence or interference of a third party. Of interest are also accounts of humans and animals with strange deformities, or unusual behaviour of animals. As a result, creatures are thought of as being as stupid as persons, behaving unexplainable, as having the same feelings as humans, or even being more sensitive and morally superior.[1] A repeated topic is cruelty towards animals, which is disapproved of, because of the similar nature of humans and creatures.

2 Rarities 

These stories recount rarities and items that are considered as especially cunning. For example, a game of chess consisting of pieces out of laboriously searched for uniform pebbles. A Korean envoy had given this as a present to Ji Yun, who, nevertheless, passed it on to someone else. Items that are thought of as being worthy of collecting include rare ink slabs, paintings, and poems, as well as jade, jade carvings, corals, and naturally strangely shaped stones. Mentioned are carvings made of rhinoceros ivory and a paper-weight made of marble, even though these are not necessarily in accordance with Ji Yun's taste.

Culinary specialties are also referred to, like complicatedly brewed liquor from Cangzhou. As a rule, this local liquor is never offered to officials because, as people say, it is 'too bad to be presented'. Anyhow, Dong Siren 董思任 once had the chance to drink it after his retirement from office. The taste of the liquor turns out to be so good, that Dong Siren at once regrets not having resigned from office earlier.[2] Another exceptional specialty is told of by Li Chengrui 李承瑞 (1751 jinshi) in the report about an official by the name of Bi from Guizhou, who was once sent to the border to inspect the minority of the Miao:

[…] The chieftain held a banquet to honourably welcome Mr. Bi. At the table, in front of the host and the guest, stood a covered bowl of porcelain. When the chieftain removed the cover, a worm became visible inside the bowl. It resembled a tropical millipede and slowly moved around in circles. The translator explained to Mr. Bi that this worm solely lives as long as the orchids have flowers, and dies when the flowers wither. Only when the orchid is in bud can the creature be eaten; a task, that is not easy to accomplish. As, to everyone’s great delight, right now is the exact time, they had searched every corner and crevice to finally caught two worms. As a sign of respect, the chieftain wanted to show them alive to his guest. With the addition of a little salt and alcohol, the worm is put into a bowl and covered. After a short while, it has disintegrated and the left over liquid is clear, has a bright green colour, and a strong smell of orchid. This can be used instead of vinegar and leaves a nice fragrance in the mouth which one is aware of for half a day thereafter. [...] (GW I.15).

The exceptional here is more the rarity and difficulty to obtain the food, than the strangeness of the food itself. Ji Yun also mentions how he once received one of the Eight Delicacies, monkey's lips [face], as a present from Min Eyuan 閔鶚元 (1720−1797). But since no one knew how to serve this, he gave it away (GW I.14). Ji Yun does not hesitate to declare expensive presents as not being to his liking and occasionally reports how he passes them on or simply loses them. Whereas the giving away might be seen as privilege, documenting having lost an expensive item, seems slightly disrespectful, even as a reference to the idea that one should not be too devoted to any earthly possessions.

3 Literature and Scientific Topics 

The narratives about humanities and natural science have many overlaps, for example, when Ji Yun uses textual criticism (kaozheng 考證) to examine and evaluate literature, or discovers a wrong indication of a place in a history book.

3.1 Literature, Philosophy and Religion

The majority of these stories include poetry and literary works, as well as Ji Yun's thoughts on philosophical and religious topics or theories. In nearly half of these notes, a verse is quoted or a story related to a poem is told. A typical plot is that the protagonist finds an anonymous poem, written on a wall of a house or lodging, and starts to ponder about the author. Because of the particular circumstances under which he finds the poem, it becomes more valuable and often the hope is expressed that it could be of marvellous, or even supernatural origin. Ji Yun often scrutinizes the form and content of the verse and lets the reader take part in his critical thoughts. One example is the report in which Ji Yun finds a paper with a poem written on in a book he had bought. It is signed with a name that refers to the author as being an immortal. Ever doubtful, Ji Yun examines the poem and comes to the conclusion that due to its' style and content, it is most likely written by a ghost during a planchette (fuji 扶乩), than by an immortal (LY II.17).[3] Another example of Ji Yun's investigation concerning the authenticity of a poem is the following story: Tian Zhongyi 田中義 (d. 1761) tells of a famous prostitute, who frequently used to visit the official and poet Wang Shizhen 王士禎 (1634−1711). Thereupon, Su Dounan 蘇斗南 (fl. 1733) relates, how he had once met a prostitute, who claims to be her grandchild and to be in the possession of a fan with a poem, which Yuyang shanren had given to her grandmother. The poem is quoted and Su Dounan expresses his doubts about its' genuineness. Ji Yun, after analysing in detail the contents and the wording of the piece of poetry, comes to the conclusion that it can indeed hardly be authentic (HX III.75).

A curious instance of overestimating a verse is a story how Yang Fengyuan 楊逢元 (1757 進士), writes one of Ji Yun's poems on the wall of a temple in Xinjiang. Shortly afterwards, a travelling Daoist declares in public that the writing is by an immortal and subsequently, it becomes the attraction of the temple. Later on, when Ji Yun reveals the truth, everybody is discontent about the profane origin of the poem (GW II.49).

Next to poetry, Ji Yun also mentions diverse books and quotes stories that are to his taste; like those, for example, by his protégés 門生 Wu Zhongqiao 吳鍾僑 (d. c 1800) and Wang Huizhu 汪輝祖 (1731−1807), as well as a narrative from the Sisong tangji 四松堂集 by Duncheng 敦誠 (1734−1791). Ji Yun criticises the incredibility of certain accounts, corrects two stories regarding his family in the Zi bu yu by Yuan Mei 袁枚, and objects writers, who 'misuse the genre of xiaoshuo 小說 for whatever literal adornments they personally fancy'. In comparison, he praises the xiaoshuo of his friend, the official Ge Tao 戈濤 (1717–1768), who wrote the annals of Xianxian, the Xianxian zhi 獻縣志 (RS I.61).

Ji Yun also comments on religion and in a lengthy treatise disapproves of the thesis in [An Overview of] Western Learning, Xixue [fan] 西學[凡], by the Italian Jesuit missionary Giulio Aleni (1582−1649), that Western religion did not come to China before the time of the Tang dynasty (618−905). He mockingly remarks that if the scholars at the end of the Ming dynasty (1368−1644) would have engaged themselves more with the science of textual criticism, instead of eight-legged essays and the teachings of Wang Yangming 王陽明 (1472−1529), such a wrong statement would not have been possible to appear in the first place. (HX II.40)