Shī zhuàn míng wù jí lǎn 詩傳名物集覽
Collected Survey of the Names and Things in the Tradition on the Poetry by 陳大章 (Chén Dàzhāng, zì Zhòngkuí 仲夔, hào Yǔshān 雨山, 1659–1727)
About the work
A 12-juǎn Shī-natural-history compendium by the Kāngxī-period Hànlín scholar Chén Dàzhāng (jìnshì of 1688). The catalog meta dates the work to 1688 — the year of his jìnshì — but this likely reflects the start, not the completion, of the long compositional process: the Sìkù tíyào records that he had drafted a 100-juǎn version with three drafts before settling, and that the present 12-juǎn recension represents a partial advance-publication. The dating bracket is therefore Chén’s jìnshì (1688) to his death (1727).
Structure (per the Sìkù-recension table of contents):
- juǎn 1–2: birds (niǎo);
- juǎn 3–4: beasts (shòu);
- juǎn 5: insects (chóng zhì);
- juǎn 6: scaly-and-shelled creatures (lín jiè);
- juǎn 7–10: plants (cǎo);
- juǎn 11–12: trees (mù).
The methodology: under each míngwù identification, Chén first summarizes Zhū Xī’s Jí zhuàn gloss as the principal authority, then collates extensive citations from Lù Jī 陸璣, Cài Biàn 蔡卞, the běn cǎo (medical herbal) tradition, and the broader natural-history corpus. The work is jí lǎn (collected survey) by self-description: encyclopaedic in citation rather than original in argument.
The Sìkù tíyào registers two principal weaknesses:
- Genre confusion: the work edges into lèi shū (encyclopaedia) territory, as where the chún (quail) entry adopts material from Zhuāngzǐ’s chún jū (quail-dwelling), Lièzǐ’s frog-changing-into-quail, the astronomical zhū niǎo wéi chún shǒu (red-bird-as-the-head-of-the-quail-mansion), and Zǐ Xià’s yī ruò xuán chún (clothes hanging like a half-quail) — all material distantly related to the actual míngwù identification. The same in the jī qī yú shí (chicken-roosting-on-the-perch) entry, drawing in Lièzǐ’s wooden-rooster, Lǚshì chūnqiū’s rooster-toe, and Hànguānyí’s long-crowing-rooster. The Sìkù editors call this “shēn guāi shuō jīng zhī zhǐ” (deeply contrary to the principle of jīng explanation).
- Specific error: in the entry on Sòng Tàizōng bestowing flag-and-drum on Yēlǜ Xiūgē 耶律休格 (the original printed text reading 休哥, today corrected — the Sìkù editors’ parenthetical note flags the typographical correction), Chén misattributes a Liáo-dynasty event to the Sòng — a substantive historical error.
The Sìkù conclusion is mixed but accommodating: “zhēng yǐn jì zhòng kě zī bó lǎn” (its extensive citations may be drawn on for broad reading); not refined-and-precise but rich-and-abundant — useful as one resource for the duō shí (broad-knowledge) sense of Shī-reading.
Tiyao
Your servants etc. respectfully present: Shī zhuàn míng wù jí lǎn in 12 juǎn. By the guócháo (Qīng) Chén Dàzhāng. Dàzhāng’s zì Zhòngkuí, hào Yǔshān, native of Huánggāng. Kāngxī wùchén (1688) jìnshì, transferred to Hànlínyuàn shùjíshì; on account of his mother’s age, he requested leave and returned. On Máo Shī his application was deep and considerable.
The Jí lǎn he composed was originally in 100 juǎn, three drafts before completion; this is its early-extracted partial-cutting recension. Niǎo in 2 juǎn, shòu in 2 juǎn, chóng zhì 1 juǎn, lín jiè 1 juǎn, cǎo in 4 juǎn, mù in 2 juǎn — clearly the place where his life-long efforts were focused.
Of those who have explained the Máo Shī names since Lù Jī, there are dozens of authors. This work was completed last, hence its citations from the various authors are especially abundant. Among its breaches of the explanation-of-jīng method are: under chún zhī bēnbēn (the quail-running-loose poem), it cites the Zhuāngzǐ chún jū, the Lièzǐ wā biàn (frog-quail-changing), as far as zhū niǎo wéi chún shǒu (the southern-bird = quail-head astronomy), and Zǐ Xià’s yī ruò xuán chún (clothes hanging-like-half-a-quail) — all are cited; under jī qī yú shí (chicken-roosting-on-the-perch), the Lièzǐ mù jī, the Lǚshì chūnqiū chicken-toe, and the Hànguānyí long-crowing-chicken are likewise all collected. All this is lèi shū-style — deeply contrary to the principle of jīng explanation.
Further: each entry first records the Zhū zhuàn’s gist, on the principle of taking Zǐyáng (Zhū Xī) as principal. Hence on è bù wěiwěi (calyces shining) he takes qǐ bù guāngmíng (how can it not shine) and rejects the è zuò è bù zuò fū (calyx-not-as-protector) reading; this approaches over-strained reasoning. As for the entry on Sòng Tàizōng bestowing flag-and-drum on Yēlǜ Xiūgē (originally written 休哥, corrected here), this is mistaking a Liáo affair as a Sòng affair — especially erroneous.
Yet his evidentiary citation being rich, it can be drawn on for broad reading; though not refined and precise, it is abundant. It is not without help to those reading the Shī with duō shí (broad-knowledge) in view. Qiánlóng 43 (1778), 6th month, respectfully collated. Chief Compilers: Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. Chief Editor: Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Shī zhuàn míng wù jí lǎn is the encyclopaedic Shī-natural-history compendium of Chén Dàzhāng. Composition is dated by the catalog meta to 1688, which likely refers to the jìnshì year and the start of the work; final compilation extended decades. The Sìkù-recension represents an advance-publication of 12 juǎn drawn from a longer 100-juǎn draft, which has not survived independently.
Methodologically, the work belongs to the jí lǎn (collected-survey) genre — encyclopaedic in citation rather than original in argument. The Sìkù editors’ criticism — that the work edges into lèi shū (encyclopaedia) territory by drawing in distantly-related natural-history material under each gloss-entry — registers the genre-tension inherent in late-Kāngxī Shī-natural-history scholarship. Within the four substantial Qīng works in this tradition (KR1c0054, KR1c0055, KR1c0056, KR1c0060), Chén’s is the most encyclopaedic and the least constrained by the jīng yì-only mandate; for that reason, it is most useful as a kǎo dìng (collation) reference rather than as a verse-by-verse Shī commentary.
Translations and research
No translation. Treated in the standard surveys of Qīng natural-history-of-the-Shī scholarship: Lín Qìngzhāng 林慶彰 et al., Qīngdài Shī jīng zhe shù xiàn cáng mù lù; Bao Lǐlì 包麗麗, Qīngdài Shī jīng xué shǐ shuǎngyào (Wén jīn, 2018). For broader natural-history context, Roel Sterckx, The Animal and the Daemon in Early China (SUNY, 2002).
Other points of interest
The Sìkù editors’ parenthetical correction of the printed Yēlǜ Xiūgē 耶律休哥 to Yēlǜ Xiūgé 耶律休格 — reflecting the standard form in the Liáo shǐ — is a representative example of the kind of small typographical-historical correction the Sìkù editors performed in passing. The error itself (treating a Liáo event as Sòng) registers a real lapse on Chén’s part, since the Liáo shǐ was widely available in the Kāngxī period; the Sìkù editors’ restraint in calling it merely “yóu wéi guāichuǎn” (especially erroneous) — without further moralizing — is of a piece with their generally accommodating tone toward the work.