Hànlì fēnyùn 漢隸分韻
Hàn Clerical Script Arranged by Rhyme by anonymous (闕名)
About the work
A seven-juàn dictionary of Hàn-period clerical-script (lìshū) graphic forms, drawn from Hóng Shì 洪适 et al.’s 12th-century epigraphic compendia and re-arranged by Yuán-period rhyme classes (1 dōng 東, 2 dōng 冬, 3 jiāng 江 — i.e., the post-Sòng Yùnfǔ qúnyù 韻府群玉 / Yuányùn scheme, not the Sòng Lǐbù yùnlüè). Each lemma collects multiple variant forms with stele-attribution. Anonymous author, Yuán date inferred from rhyme arrangement. Possibly identifiable with Wúqiū Yǎn’s 吾丘衍 Lìyùn (mentioned in his Xuégǔbiān’s “Lìshū pǐn” entry).
Tiyao
Hànlì fēnyùn in 7 juàn; no author named; no date given. Examining the rhyme-arrangement, with yīdōng èrdōng sānjiāng etc. as headings, this is a Yuán-period rhyme scheme, not Sòng. The book takes the Hàn clerical materials gathered by Hóng Shì 洪适 et al. and re-orders them; further, it lists the variant forms across the various stelae and analyses them. — Wúqiū Yǎn’s Xuégǔbiān has a Héyòng wénjí pǐnmù category; its seventh entry under “Lìshū pǐn” lists “Lìyùn in two volumes (Máshā print)” — paired with the Lìyùn. (Note: the Lìyùn there refers to Liú Qiú’s stele Lìyùn in 10 juàn.) “Zìtǐ bùhǎo — calligraphic style is poor — but because the volume-count is small, it can be used regularly; hence I list it” — this is probably the present text. Gù Ǎijí 顧藹吉’s preface to his Lìbiàn KR1j0052 also says “there is also a Hànlì fēnyùn — the graphs are dispersed, the forms ugly” — Gù’s complaint and Wúqiū Yǎn’s are similar. Both judge it on calligraphic merit only. — But its work of comparing strokes and reconciling variants does have documentary value. The earlier hand has its own cùn yǒu suǒ cháng (each inch has its strength); we must not banish the book entirely. Respectfully edited and presented in the seventh month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780).
Abstract
The Hànlì fēnyùn is an anonymous Yuán-period gleanings-dictionary of Hàn clerical-script forms, taking its content from Hóng Shì’s Lìshì 隸釋 and Lìyùn 隸韻 (12th century) and reorganizing it by Yuán-era rhyme classes. The Sìkù compilers — citing both Wúqiū Yǎn and Gù Ǎijí — note that contemporary calligraphic tradition considered the work poorly executed, but defend its documentary utility for variant-stroke and stele-attribution data. The Yuán-rhyme scheme suggests a date notBefore 1300 to notAfter 1368 (the Yuán dynasty’s full duration, with no internal evidence for a tighter bracket). The book complements Lóu Jī’s 婁機 earlier Hànlì zìyuán KR1j0033 and the Qing-period Lìbiàn KR1j0052 of Gù Ǎijí.
Translations and research
- Endymion Wilkinson. 2022. Chinese History: A New Manual, §39.