Nán Qí shū 南齊書
The Book of the Southern Qí by 蕭子顯 (Xiāo Zǐxiǎn, 489–537); Qing collation notes by 王祖庚 (Wáng Zǔgēng).
About the work
The seventh of the Twenty-Four Histories, in 59 juǎn (originally 60; the xùzhuàn — author’s autobiographical postface — has been lost since the Tang). Composed by Xiāo Zǐxiǎn 蕭子顯, an imperial-clan member of the Qí (he was grandson of Qí Gāodì 高帝 Xiāo Dàochéng 蕭道成) writing under the Liáng dynasty that succeeded it. The work covers the Southern Qí dynasty (479–502), comprising 8 jì, 11 zhì, 40 lièzhuàn. The structurally novel feature is the substantial use of the xù (“preface”) at the head of group biographies as a vehicle for general historical reflection — a stylistic innovation that Liú Zhījī’s Shǐtōng singles out for praise.
Tiyao
By Xiāo Zǐxiǎn of the Liáng. His particulars are appended in the Liáng shū biography of Xiāo Zǐkè. Zhāng Jùnqīng’s Shāntáng kǎosuǒ cites the Guǎngé shūmù: the Nán Qí shū originally in 60 juǎn, now preserved in 59, one juǎn lost. Liú Zhījī’s Shǐtōng and Zēng Gǒng’s xùlù both report 8 jì, 11 zhì, 40 lièzhuàn, totalling 59 — no mention of any lacuna. Yet the Liáng shū and Nán shǐ biographies of Xiāo Zǐxiǎn give 60 juǎn, and so the Guǎngé shūmù is not without basis. The Nán shǐ preserves Xiāo Zǐxiǎn’s autobiographical xù, looking like part of his own postface; Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì further preserves his jǐn shū biǎo with the line “the celestial signs are secret, household-and-population data are unknown — these I do not dare privately to record” — suggesting the original 60 juǎn concluded with Xiāo Zǐxiǎn’s xùzhuàn (autobiography) plus a biǎo, on the model of the Běi shǐ of Lǐ Yánshòu. By the Tang the xùzhuàn was lost; by the Sòng even the biǎo was lost. Hence the present text has one fewer juǎn than the biographical record.
The Shǐtōng, Xùlì chapter, says: “Lìngshēng [Gān Bǎo] was the foresighted one, drawing on Qiūmíng [Zuǒ Qiūmíng]; the xù form revived after him, attaining a flowering in this age. ShěnSòng’s zhìxù, XiāoQí’s xùlù — though called xù, are in fact lì (canons). Zǐxiǎn’s prose is somewhat halting, but the substance is excellent; he ranks among the best of xùlì writers.” Examining this work, the Liáng zhèng 良政, Gāo yì 高逸, Xiào yì 孝義, Xìng chén 倖臣 chapters all have xù; only the Wén xué chapter has none — likely a Sòng-or-later lacuna. Qí Gāodì had a love of túchèn prophetic-text divination; Liáng Wǔdì revered Buddhism; hence Xiāo Zǐxiǎn cites the Tàiyī jiǔgōng zhàn in the Gāodì jì juǎn 1, attaches wěishū citations in the Xiángruì zhì, and develops chán doctrine in the Gāo yì lùn. — Carried by the spirit of his age, he could not entirely correct it.
(The tíyào notes minor faults — Wáng Yùn’s drawing of his sword, Yuán Càn’s suburban drinking, attached as little anecdotes in the Gāodì jì and not really annal-suitable; the lièzhuàn are particularly miscellaneous. But it praises the unblinking record of Shěn Yōuzhī’s letter in the Zhāng Jìngér biography, the words of Yán Língbǎo in the Wáng Jìngzé biography — straight writing without concealment, retaining historiographical impartiality. The Gāoshíèrwáng biography cites Chén Sī’s memorial and Cáo Jiǒng’s essay — invoking grief for the lost dynasty, with implicit subtext.) Since the rise of Lǐ Yánshòu’s Nán shǐ, this work has been little studied, and falls progressively into corruption: the Zhōujùn zhì and Guìyángwáng biography have lacunae no longer reparable. We collate widely and correct the manifest errors; what cannot be checked is left as quē yí (preserved in doubt).
Abstract
The Nán Qí shū covers the Southern Qí dynasty (479–502), the shortest of the southern dynasties at 23 years. Its compiler Xiāo Zǐxiǎn 蕭子顯 (489–537), grandson of Qí Gāodì 蕭道成 and son of Yǔzhāng wáng 豫章王 Xiāo Yí 蕭嶷, was uniquely placed to write the history of his own family’s dynasty under the protection of the Liáng court that had displaced it (Liáng Wǔdì Xiāo Yǎn 蕭衍 was his cousin in the third degree). The work was composed in the early Liáng period, ca. Tiānjiān 13–17 (514–518), and presented to the throne by Xiāo Zǐxiǎn before his death in 537. The catalog meta gives Xiāo Zǐxiǎn’s lifedates as 489–537, in agreement with CBDB.
The 60-juǎn original included a xùzhuàn and a biǎo of imperial-clan members on the model of the Hàn shū. The xùzhuàn was lost by the Tang (its substance is preserved in the Nán shǐ biography of Xiāo Zǐxiǎn); the biǎo survived to the Sòng (cited by Cháo Gōngwǔ) and was lost thereafter. Hence the present 59-juǎn text.
The work’s principal historiographical innovation is the use of the chapter-prefatory xù (preface) as a vehicle for canonical reflection on the genre being introduced — a method Liú Zhījī compares to the Zuǒzhuàn’s use of authorial framing. The xù of the Liáng zhèng 良政 (good officials), Gāo yì 高逸 (lofty hermits), Xiào yì 孝義 (filial righteousness), and Xìng chén 倖臣 (favoured ministers) chapters are the principal surviving examples; the Wén xué xu has been lost in transmission. The Xiáng ruì zhì 祥瑞志 incorporates substantial wěishū (apocryphal-text) material, reflecting Qí Gāodì’s interest in túchèn prognostication. The Wényuāngé text further carries Qing kǎozhèng by Wáng Zǔgēng 王祖庚 (catalog meta gives 18 juǎn of kǎozhèng).
The standard modern punctuated edition is the Zhōnghuá Shūjú Nán Qí shū (3 vols., 1972, ed. Wáng Zhòngluò 王仲犖); revised Xiūdìngběn in preparation.
Translations and research
No complete translation. Notable scholarly studies: J. D. Frodsham, The Murmuring Stream, 2 vols. (Kuala Lumpur, 1967) — uses Nán Qí shū extensively for biographies of the Yǒngmíng poets; Richard B. Mather, The Age of Eternal Brilliance, 2 vols. (Brill, 2003) — same context; Andreas Janousch, “The Emperor as Bodhisattva: The Bodhisattva Ordination and Ritual Assemblies of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty,” in State and Court Ritual in China (ed. McDermott, Cambridge, 1999), uses the Nán Qí shū on Buddhist court culture. Standard Chinese-language scholarship: Wáng Zhòngluò 王仲犖, Wèi Jìn Nán Běi cháo shǐ (Shanghai Rénmín, 1979–80); Tāng Yòngtǒng 湯用彤, HànWèi liǎng Jìn NánBěi cháo Fójiào shǐ 漢魏兩晉南北朝佛教史 (1938) — uses Nán Qí shū on Buddhist patronage. The Nán Qí shū has not received a separate critical commentary in the Chinese tradition comparable to Wáng Xiānqiān’s Hàn shū bǔzhù.
Other points of interest
The Wén xué zhuàn (juǎn 52) is one of the principal early sources for the Yǒngmíng tǐ poets and includes substantial fragments of 沈約’s contemporary critical writings now otherwise lost; the Xiáng ruì zhì preserves a unique catalogue of late-fifth-century Buddhist and Daoist omen-narratives.