Shī jí zhuàn míngwù chāo 詩集傳名物鈔
Excerpts on Names and Things from the Collected Commentary on the Classic of Poetry by 許謙 (Xǔ Qiān, zì Yìzhī 益之, hào Báiyún shānrén 白雲山人, 1270–1337)
About the work
An 8-juǎn míngwù (names and things) supplement to Zhū Xī’s Shī jí zhuàn (KR1c0009 / KR1c0015) — the first major Yuan-period work in the ZhūXī line and the principal Mǐn-school Shī commentary of the early fourteenth century. Xǔ Qiān studied under Wáng Bǎi 王柏 (hào Lǔzhāi 魯齋, 1197–1274) — the late-Sòng Zhū-Xī-school radical who, in his Shī yí, attempted to delete 32 Guófēng odes as supposedly Zhèng and Wèi lewd-ode interpolations. Xǔ Qiān is doctrinally more measured than his teacher: although he records the Èr Nán xiāng pèi tú (Wáng Bǎi’s pseudo-restoration of the Èr Nán by transferring Gāntáng and Hé bǐ nóng yǐ from Zhào nán to Wáng fēng and removing Yě yǒu sǐ jūn, so that Zhào nán matches the eleven-ode count of Zhōu nán), he refuses to follow Wáng Bǎi in actually deleting Wáng Bǎi’s 32 fēng odes — “doubting but not daring to credit precipitously” — which the Sìkù editors take as proof of his exegetical fairness.
The work’s content is twofold: (1) extensive míngwù and yīnxùn (sound-glosses) supplementing the Jí zhuàn, drawing on Lù Démíng’s Jīngdiǎn shìwén, Kǒng Yǐngdá’s Zhèngyì, and Hàn-period commentary — Xǔ Qiān is not “fixed to one school”; (2) a final juǎn on the dating of each ode (pǔ zuò Shī shíshì 譜作詩時世), modelled on Zhèng Xuán’s Shī pǔ in form but following the Jí zhuàn’s readings in substance. The “excerpts” of the title (chāo 鈔) signals the eclectic compilatory method.
Tiyao
By the Yuán Xǔ Qiān. Qiān has the Dú shū cóngshuō, already catalogued. Qiān studied under Wáng Bǎi; in honesty-and-correctness he far surpassed his teacher. His investigation of the various Classics often illuminates ancient meaning. So this work’s míngwù and yīnxùn investigations have foundation, sufficient to supplement the Jí zhuàn’s lacunae. Only that Wáng Bǎi made the Èr Nán xiāng pèi tú, transferring Gāntáng and Hé bǐ nóng yǐ into Wáng fēng and removing Yě yǒu sǐ jūn, so that Zhào nán would also have 11 odes — exactly the Zhōu nán count. Following his own mind and stirring up the sage Classic — utterly impermissible. Xǔ Qiān, faithfully holding to his master’s account, included it. He has not escaped factional vision.
But the 32 Guófēng odes that Wáng Bǎi deleted, Qiān doubted and dared not credit precipitously — proof of fair judgement. Wú Shīdào’s preface to this work says: “Of the Zhèng tones already banished, why should they remain undeleted?” — heavily critical of Qiān. This is calling the un-mad mad. Not a fault on Qiān’s part.
The end-juǎn charts the date of each ode. The format is from Kāngchéng (Zhèng Xuán); the readings are from the Jí zhuàn. Source-and-transmission, each honouring what he heard. But the body of the book substantially adopts Lù Démíng’s Shìwén and Kǒng Yǐngdá’s Zhèngyì — not stuck to one school. The title “Chāo” is for that reason.
Abstract
The Shī jí zhuàn míngwù chāo is the principal monument of the early-Yuán Zhū-Xī-school Shī learning and the link between the late-Sòng WángBǎi line (with its radical Shī yí) and the standard Yuán curriculum that took the Jí zhuàn as its reading text. Xǔ Qiān’s exegetical position — taking the Jí zhuàn as base, supplementing with Hàn-and-Táng míngwù and phonological scholarship, and refusing the radical text-deletion of his teacher — is the position that became standard in the YuánMíng jīngyán and examination curricula. The notBefore of 1300 corresponds to Xǔ Qiān’s mature scholarly career, post-Wáng-Bǎi’s death (1274) and the maturity of his teaching at Báiyún Shān; notAfter is his own death in 1337. The Sìkù editors’ verdict — that Xǔ Qiān is “more honest and correct than his teacher” — is one of the more direct rebuttals they offer to the late-Sòng radical fringe.
Translations and research
No translation. Treated in studies of the Yuán Zhū-Xī-school Shī learning: Cài Fāngdé 蔡方鹿, Zhū Xī jīngxué (Rénmín, 2004); Bao Lǐlì 包麗麗, Yuándài Shī xué shǐ (Tāiwān: Wén jīn, 2010). Xǔ Qiān is also a substantial figure in the Yuán Jīnhuá-school history: Pān Fù-ēn, Lǚ Zǔqiān jí Jīnhuá xuépài yánjiū.
Other points of interest
Wú Shīdào’s complaint that Xǔ Qiān refused to delete the “banished Zhèng tones” — and the Sìkù editors’ tart rebuke “calling the un-mad mad” — is one of the more pointed late-imperial verdicts on Wáng Bǎi’s Shī yí radicalism, and is one of the cornerstones of the Sìkù editors’ broader project of distinguishing acceptable Sòng Zhū-Xī-school commentary from unacceptable Wáng-Bǎi-school text-mutilation.