Yu Ji

Life

His ancestral line came from Shu; after the Song fell, his father, Yu Ji (虞汲), lived as a sojourner in Chongren, Linchuan. Educated in his family tradition, he read the classics and understood their essential meaning, and he later studied with Wu Cheng. His mother was Yang; his elder brother was Yu Cai, his younger brother was Yu Pan, his paternal cousin was Yu Deguan, his son was Yu Anmin, and the husband of his niece was Zhan Tong. Early in life, he and his younger brother Yu Pan established two study rooms: the left bore the name Tao'an, after Tao Yuanming, and the right Shaoan, after Shao Yong; he consequently became known as Master Shaoan. His friends included Ouyang Xuan, Zhao Mengfu, and Ke Jiusi.

In the early Dade era (1302), he was recommended for appointment as Professor of Confucian Learning for the Dadu Route, and later served as assistant instructor and boshi at the Imperial Academy, as well as boshi in the Court of Imperial Rites. Under Renzong, he was promoted to editor at the Jixian Academy, took part in discussions of educational affairs, and argued that school officials should be chosen from men learned in the classics, cultivated in conduct, and morally accomplished, rather than appointed indiscriminately by qualifications; he was then appointed attendant in the Hanlin Academy and National History Institute. In Taiding 1 (1324), he served as guozi siye at the Imperial College; he later became vice supervisor of the Palace Library and a direct Hanlin academician concurrently serving as director of the Imperial College. When Wenzong came to the throne, he was appointed shishu xueshi at the Kuizhang Pavilion, directed the compilation of the Jingshi Dadian, and was promoted to lecturer. After Wenzong died, Yu Ji retired on grounds of an eye ailment and because he had incurred the displeasure of powerful favorites. He died in the fifth month of Zhizheng 8 (1348), aged seventy-seven. He was posthumously granted the honorary office of Vice Director of the Jiangxi Provincial Administration, the title Renshou Commandery Duke, and the posthumous name Wenjing.

Learning and literature

Broad in talent and learning, Yu Ji excelled at poetry and prose; when summoned for consultation, he gave detailed answers and remonstrated as circumstances required. During the Zhizhi and Tianli eras, the ritual and court documents of the state and the inscriptions of high officials were largely produced by him, forming a distinctive literary voice. His household was poor, yet he returned the fees and gifts he received to pay for entertaining guests and did not resent his material want. His poetry achieved fame alongside Yang Zhonghong, Fan Deji, and Jie Manshuo; contemporaries spoke of Yu, Yang, Fan, and Jie, and counted him among the Four Great Masters of the Yuan. He likened the three poets respectively to a battle-hardened soldier, a Tang copy of a Jin model, and a beauty adorned with flowers, while describing his own poetry as that of an old Han court clerk; contemporary opinion accepted the comparison. His calligraphy was accomplished in the regular, running, cursive, and seal scripts, all of which were rounded, graceful, and disciplined.

Works

He wrote ten thousand pieces, of which only twelve or thirteen survived; his disciples arranged the court, imperial-response, retirement, and religious drafts into fifty volumes under the title Daoyuan Xuegu Lu, while his poetry manuscripts were also known as Zhi ting yong yan. His other works include Daoyuan Yigao and Daoyuan Yuefu. Guzi Bianlan, in one volume, and Daoyuanzi are also identified as works he composed.