Yílǐ shíwù 儀禮識誤
Identifying Errors in the Yílǐ
by 張淳 (撰)
About the work
Zhāng Chún’s 張淳 (1121–1181) three-juan critical-edition study of the Yílǐ (KR1d0025), composed in 1172 in conjunction with Wēnzhōu prefect Zēng Dài’s 曾逮 commission of a new printing of the Yílǐ Zhèngshì zhù in 17 juan with Lù Démíng’s Shìwén in 1 juan. Zhāng was charged with the textual collation; his corrections, organised separately as a list, became this work. The book is divided into three juan: the first two cover the seventeen chapters of the canonical text; the third covers Lù Démíng’s Shìwén glosses. Zhāng consults multiple Sòng-period exemplars: the imperial Stone Classic of 953 (HòuZhōu Guǎngshùn 3) re-cut in 959 (Xiǎndé 6), the Biàn (Kāifēng) jīnxiāng (small-format wallet) edition, the Hángzhōu small-character edition, the Yánzhōu jīnxiāng re-cut edition, and the Shìwén. Praised by Zhū Xī as “the most precise of all the editions.”
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that Yílǐ shíwù in three juan was composed by Zhāng Chún of the Sòng. Chún (zì Zhōngfǔ, native of Yǒngjiā) in the eighth year of Qiándào, as Liǎngzhè zhuǎnyùn pànguān and Zhí mìgé, [Wēnzhōu prefect] Zēng Dài printed the Yílǐ Zhèngshì zhù in seventeen juan and Lùshì Shìwén in one juan; Chún was responsible for collation, and on the basis of his alterations established this separate book. The citations include the imperial Stone Classic of Guǎngshùn 3 [953] of HòuZhōu and the Xiǎndé 6 [959] reprint Office editions; the Biànjīng jīnxiāng edition; the Hángzhōu small-character edition; the Yánzhōu re-cut jīnxiāng edition; consulting them with the Shìwén. The verification of variants is most thorough.
In recent ages without a transmitted copy, Zhū Yízūn’s Jīngyì kǎo takes it as already lost; only the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn loaded passages still scattered alongside other commentators’ explanations after the classical text — recoverable as one whole. The Xiāngshè and Dàshè two chapters fall in lacunae of the Dàdiǎn, hence cannot be supplied.
Zhū Xī’s Yǔlèi says: “Yílǐ is read by few, no good text easily found; outside Zhèng’s note and Jiǎ’s sub-commentary, the older scholars’ accounts are largely no longer visible; Lùshì’s Shìwén is also rather sparse-and-rough; recently Yǒngjiā Zhāng Chún Zhōngfǔ’s collation print is also one book to identify the errors, called precise — yet still not without lapses.” Again: “Zhāng Zhōngfǔ collated the Yílǐ most carefully — better than any other edition.” His commendation by Zhū Xī is to this extent. Now examining the book — sticking to Shìwén, often substituting common-character forms for the liùshū (Six-Script) standard forms — what Zhū Xī said as “still not without lapses” is unavoidable. Yet the book’s preserving the errors-and-omissions of the ancient classic and Hàn note, by which we can investigate the editorial history of the no-longer-transmitted Sòng-printed editions, is no small merit. We have now added case-judgements correcting the gains-and-losses, so that the jewels-and-flaws are not mutually-concealed; the original-book’s several missing places are also investigated, supplemented, and edited each at the bottom of the page.
The book in the Sòng zhì Yìwén is given as one juan; Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí and the Wénxiàn tōngkǎo are both three juan. Examining Chún’s autograph preface — “I gather the collated characters and arrange them as two juan, with Shìwén errors as one juan appended at the back, totalling three juan” — the Sòng zhì’s one-juan figure is plainly a transcription error.
Respectfully revised and submitted, fifth month of the forty-fifth year of Qiánlóng [1780].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. General Reviser: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The Yílǐ shíwù is the principal surviving Southern-Sòng critical-edition study of the Yílǐ and the foundation of all subsequent textual collation of the work. Zhāng Chún’s autograph preface (preserved here at the head) provides invaluable testimony on the early-Sòng Yílǐ printing history: the HòuZhōu GuǎngshùnXiǎndé Stone Classic editions, the Northern Sòng Imperial Office (jiānběn) printings, the Bīanjīng jīnxiāng small-format edition, the Hángzhōu small-character edition, and the Yánzhōu jīnxiāng re-cut edition. Most of these printings are now lost as physical objects; Zhāng Chún’s collation notes are the principal evidence for their textual readings.
The Sìkù editors’ restoration of the work from Yǒnglè dàdiǎn fragments (recovering 15 of the 17 Yílǐ chapters; the Xiāngshè and Dàshè fall in Dàdiǎn lacunae) is one of the standard Sìkù recovery operations. The editors also include their own kǎozhèng notes correcting Zhāng’s Shìwén-influenced substitution of common-character forms for the liùshū (Six-Script) standard forms.
Composition is securely dated to 1172 (Qiándào 8) on the autograph preface. The bracket “1172–1175” allows for slight post-print revision before Zhāng’s later career.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located. Treated in surveys of Sòng-period text-critical scholarship and in introductions to Yílǐ critical editions.
Other points of interest
Zhāng Chún’s autograph preface — written with conscious philological humility (“preserved as preserving my own errors as well”) — is one of the more reflective Southern-Sòng statements of text-critical methodology. The preface explicitly distinguishes between Office-printed editions taken as broadly authoritative (jiānběn), private printings (jīnxiāng), and re-cuts; it discusses the chain of custody from the HòuZhōu Stone Classic through the Northern Sòng. The metadata Zhāng provides on each edition’s typesetting and provenance is more detailed than most contemporary collation prefaces.
Links
- Chinaknowledge: http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Classics/yili.html