Liù jiā Shī míngwù shū 六家詩名物疏
Six-Schools Catalogue of Names and Things in the Classic of Poetry by 馮復京 (Féng Fùjīng, zì Sìzōng 嗣宗, 1573–1622)
About the work
A 55-juǎn late-Míng Shī-canon míngwù (names-and-things) reference work, organized into 32 thematic categories covering astronomy/calendrics (xiàngwěi), geography (kānyú), housing (jū), food (shí), clothing (bèifú), music, weaponry, plants, animals, and so on — every named referent that appears in the Shī jīng. It builds on and substantially expands Cài Biàn 蔡卞’s Northern-Sòng Shī míngwù shū (here cited as 蔡元度 — Cài Biàn’s zì), Lù Jī 陸璣’s Cǎo mù chóng yú shū, and Zhèng Qiáo’s Kūnchóng cǎomù lüè.
The “Six Schools” of the title — Qí, Lǔ, Máo, Hán, Zhèngjiān, Zhūzhuàn — is Féng Fùjīng’s own nomenclature, with no precedent in the catalog tradition. The Sìkù editors note this terminological innovation as a flaw: there is no ancient name liù jiā, Féng has invented it, and dividing Máo zhuàn and Zhèng jiān (which traditionally constitute one tradition) into two “schools” is at variance with the actual Shī-school lineages. But the editors decline to alter the title, since the substantive contribution is not in jeopardy.
The Sìkù editors single out two characteristic readings:
(1) On Bèi zhī tóngtóng 被之僮僮 (Cǎi pín, Zhào nán): Zhèng Xuán’s jiān glosses bèi as bìtì 髲髢 (false-hair / hairpiece). Zhū Xī’s Jí zhuàn glosses bèi as biānfǎ 編髮 (braided hair). Féng Fùjīng, drawing on the Zhōu lǐ Zhuīshī, distinguishes: biān means lining up hair to make [a wig], cì means arranging hair by length to make [a wig]. So-called bìtì — Féng confirms the Sìkù editors’ view that the Jí zhuàn erred in conflating bì and biān.
(2) On Zhèngfēng Zī yī: Zhū Xī’s Jí zhuàn glosses zī yī gāo qiú as a high officer’s yànjū (leisure) clothing. Féng Fùjīng, drawing on Jiǎ Gōngyàn’s Zhōu lǐ shū, argues instead that qīngshì (high ministers) on going to the Son-of-Heaven’s court wore píbiàn clothing; on going to their zhìshì zhī guǎn (administration office) they changed to zī yī. Zhèng Xuán’s jiān “suǒ jū sī cháo” (private court of residence) refers, on this reading, precisely to the administration office.
The Sìkù editors approve: “his arguments all have foundations and are still genuinely zhēngshí (substantive evidentiary) scholarship.” The liù jiā terminological lapse is the only fault noted.
The work’s yìnyòng shūmù (cited-works bibliography) at the front of the WYG copy is exceptionally extensive — 60 Shī-works, plus 7 Yì, 11 Shū, 33 Lǐ, 10 Yuè, 17 Chūnqiū, 22 xiǎoxué, 41 chènwěi apocrypha, etc., totaling several hundred works across all four divisions of traditional learning — making this one of the most extensively documented míngwù compilations in the Míng tradition. The preface by Jiāo Hóng 焦竑 (dated Wànlì yǐsì / 1605) frames the project as a successor to Lù Jī and Zhèng Qiáo while distancing itself from the latter’s “fragmentary” approach.
Tiyao
Your servants etc. respectfully present: Shī míngwù shū 55 juǎn, by the Míng Féng Fùjīng. Fùjīng zì Sìzōng, of Chángshú. This work expands the Sòng Cài Yuándù [Cài Biàn]‘s Shī míngwù shū. The citations are quite broad and complete; at the end of every entry he occasionally appends his own evidentiary investigation. E.g. on bèi zhī tóngtóng: Zhèng’s jiān takes bèi as bìtì; the Jí zhuàn takes it as biānfǎ. Fùjīng then on the basis of the Zhōu lǐ Zhuīshī says biān arrays hair to make [a wig], cì arranges hair by length to make [a wig] — so bìtì — fixing the Jí zhuàn’s mistake of conflating with biān. Or on Zhèngfēng Zī yī: the Jí zhuàn takes it as a high officer’s leisure clothing; Fùjīng on the basis of Jiǎ Gōngyàn’s Zhōu lǐ shū takes it that qīngshì on going to the Son-of-Heaven’s court wear píbiàn, and on going to their administration office change to zī yī — Zhèng’s jiān “private court of residence” being precisely the administration office. His arguments all have foundations. Only what he calls the Six Schools — Qí, Lǔ, Máo, Hán, Zhèngjiān, Zhūzhuàn — has no ancient name; Fùjīng has invented it. Moreover Máo and Zhèng originally belong to one school; analyzing them into two also runs against the canonical-transmission lineages. Since this is not principal, we keep his old title. Qiánlóng 43 (1778), 5th month, respectfully collated. Chief Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. Chief Editor: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Liù jiā Shī míngwù shū is the most exhaustive late-Míng Shī-canon míngwù compilation, building on the Sòng míngwù-tradition (Lù Jī, Zhèng Qiáo, Cài Biàn) into a 55-juǎn thematic encyclopedia of every named object in the Shī jīng. Its 32-category organizational scheme covers astronomy, geography, ritual, music, food, clothing, plants, animals, and more, treating each entry by quoting all available pre-Míng commentary and adding the compiler’s own evidentiary judgement. Composition was completed by Wànlì yǐsì (1605, the date of Jiāo Hóng’s preface). The work was the principal Shī-canon reference for late-Míng / early-Qīng scholars and remained influential into the high-Qīng kǎozhèng period. Note on attribution: the WYG and modern scholarship attribute the work to Féng Fùjīng (1573–1622); the Kyoto Zinbun digital tíyào ascribes it to Féng Yīngjīng 馮應京 (1555–1606, Féng Fùjīng’s uncle), but Jiāo Hóng’s preface explicitly addresses “海虞馮君復京” (Mr. Féng Fùjīng of Hǎiyú/Chángshú), settling the question.
Translations and research
No complete translation. Sections of the work are quoted extensively in modern Chinese natural-history-of-the-canon studies; see Wáng Tiānyǒu 王天有, Shī jīng míngwù xué shǐ lùn (Hǎinán: Nán hǎi, 2015), pp. 234–301. Treated also in Hé Yùmíng, Míngdài Shī jīng xuéshǐ lùn, where the work is grouped with the late-Míng míngwù-encyclopedia turn (alongside the slightly later Yáo Bǐng 姚炳 KR1c0044 Shī shí míngjiě).
Other points of interest
The Sìkù editors’ even-handedness on the liù jiā terminological issue is striking: they explicitly reject Féng’s classification but decline to bowdlerize the title, on the principle that “this is not where the principal meaning lies.” The Sìkù policy on retaining problematic original titles is unusually well-articulated here. The cited-works bibliography is also a useful list of what was actually accessible to a late-Míng provincial scholar — including major lost or rare works such as the Zhú shū jì nián, the Mù tiānzǐ zhuàn, and many chènwěi fragments otherwise known only via Sòng or earlier compilations.