Chénshū 陳書
The Book of Chén by 姚思廉 (Yáo Sīlián, d. 637), completing the unfinished work of his father 姚察 (Yáo Chá, 533–606); under 魏徵’s supervision; Qing collation notes by 孫人龍.
About the work
The ninth of the Twenty-Four Histories, in 36 juǎn (6 jì, 30 lièzhuàn; no zhì), covering the Chén dynasty (557–589). Composition begun by Yáo Chá under the Chén court itself (he was a Chén Lìbù shàngshū); 2 juǎn are signed in his name. Yáo Sīlián received the imperial commission in 622 (Wǔdé 5) under Tang Gāozǔ to complete the work; the project was renewed under Tàizōng in Zhēnguān 3 (629); the completed work was presented in Zhēnguān 10, first month, rénzǐ (3 February 636).
Tiyao
By Yáo Sīlián, by imperial commission of the Táng. Liú Zhījī’s Shǐtōng says: “In the early Zhēnguān, Sīlián by edict completed two histories; through nine years of toil, the task was finally finished.” Zēng Gǒng’s collation preface says: “Yáo Chá recorded the affairs of Liáng and Chén; the work was unfinished; he passed it to his son Sīlián. In Wǔdé 5 (622) Sīlián received the order to write the Chén shū; in Zhēnguān 3 (629) he was set to compile in the inner secretariat; in Zhēnguān 10, first month, rénzǐ, he presented it.” So Sīlián’s editorial labour was certainly not confined to nine years.
Zhījī further says that the early Chén historiography had Gù Yěwáng 顧野王 and Fù Zǎi 傅縡 each as Zhuànshǐ xuéshì; in the early Tàijiàn era the Zhōngshū láng Lù Qióng 陸瓊 continued to compile some chapters; Yáo Chá emended these. So Chá’s compilation drew on three sources. The Suí shū jīngjí zhì records: Gù Yěwáng Chén shū in 3 juǎn, Fù Zǎi Chén shū in 3 juǎn, Lù Qióng Chén shū in 42 juǎn — these are the texts on which Chá relied. Sīlián’s biographies of Fù Zǎi and Lù Qióng describe their literary careers in detail but say nothing of their historical compilations — this is a striking omission. The Gù Yěwáng biography says he compiled the Guó shǐ jìzhuàn in 200 juǎn — at variance with the Suí zhì count, suggesting Sīlián’s record is the more accurate.
Chá’s biography is in juǎn 27, recording his Liáng and Chén histories in detail. The work is by imperial commission, not private composition — hence no xùzhuàn in the manner of Bān Gù; no need to reproach the departure from antiquity. But Chá, having entered Suí after the fall of Chén and held Mìshū chéng and Běijiàngjùn kāiguó gōng — together with Jiāng Zǒng 江總, Yuán Xiàn 袁憲, etc., having all bowed in obeisance to the new dynasty and held high posts there — having his biography in the Chén shū is a violation of the rule of dynastic limit. And what kind of man was Jiāng Zǒng, that the work should attach his biography to that of his own father? — particularly self-staining. Yet observing Lǐ Shāngyǐn’s poem to Dù Mù — “your former existence must have been the Liáng’s Jiāng Zǒng” — Lǐ borrows Zǒng’s name to praise Dù Mù; perhaps Zǒng’s character was not yet decisively settled in Tang opinion?
In the work, only juǎn 2 and 3 are signed “Chén Lìbù shàngshū Yáo Chá”; the others read “shǐ chén” — meaning Yáo Chá first compiled the Liáng shū, this work having only 2 juǎn finished, the rest all by Sīlián’s continuing composition. Reading the lièzhuàn, the form is consistent and seems to be from one hand — unlike the unevenness of the Liáng shū, this is also why. Only the chronological dating of jìzhuàn shows occasional contradiction — a shortcoming, but no different from any other zhèngshǐ; it cannot be charged uniquely to this work.
Abstract
The Chénshū is the ninth of the Twenty-Four Histories. It covers the Chén dynasty (557–589), 33 years of rule by the Chén 陳 imperial house — the briefest and weakest of the southern dynasties, terminated by the Suí conquest of 589 that completed the four-century reunification.
The compilation history mirrors that of the parallel Liáng shū (KR2a0018). Yáo Chá 姚察, Lìbù shàngshū of the Chén court, drew on the unfinished Chén histories of Gù Yěwáng 顧野王 (519–581), Fù Zǎi 傅縡 (530–585), and Lù Qióng 陸瓊 (537–586) and composed the bulk of the jì and the first portions of the zhuàn. He continued the work in Suí captivity but died in 606 with it unfinished. His son Yáo Sīlián 姚思廉 first received an imperial commission in Wǔdé 5 (622) under Tang Gāozǔ to complete it, then was re-commissioned in Zhēnguān 3 (629) under Tàizōng with Wèi Zhēng as supervising editor; the completed work was presented in Zhēnguān 10, first month, rénzǐ (3 February 636). Of the 36 juǎn, only juǎn 2 and 3 carry Yáo Chá’s authorial signature; the rest are Sīlián’s continuations.
Like the Liáng shū it has no zhì — the institutional, calendrical, and geographical material for the Chén is incorporated in the Wǔdài shǐ zhì attached to the Suí shū (KR2a0023). The 6 jì cover Chén Wǔdì 武帝 (the founder Chén Bàxiān 陳霸先), Wéndì 文帝, Fèidì 廢帝, Xuāndì 宣帝, Hòuzhǔ 後主 (the famous poet-emperor Chén Shūbǎo 陳叔寶, deposed by Suí). The 30 lièzhuàn are organised into the standard categories with notable chapters on Hòufēi 后妃, Wén xué 文學 (preserving fragments of southern court literature), and Bì xíng 嬖幸.
The Wényuāngé text further carries Qing kǎozhèng by Sūn Rénlóng 孫人龍 (catalog meta gives 10 juǎn of kǎozhèng). The standard modern punctuated edition is the Zhōnghuá Shūjú Chénshū (2 vols., 1972, ed. Zhāng Wéihuá 張維華).
Translations and research
No complete translation. Standard Chinese-language scholarship: Wáng Zhòngluò 王仲犖 WèiJìn NánBěicháo shǐ (Shanghai Rénmín, 1979–80); Zhōu Yīliáng 周一良 WèiJìn NánBěicháo shǐ zhájì (Zhōnghuá, 1985). On Chén Hòuzhǔ as the canonical “decadent late ruler” of southern poetic and historiographical imagination: Stephen Owen, The Late Tang (Harvard, 2006); on the Wén xué zhuàn as source: Tian Xiaofei 田曉菲, Beacon Fire and Shooting Star: The Literary Culture of the Liang (502–557) (Harvard, 2007).
Other points of interest
Together with the Liáng shū, the Chénshū is the joint product of the two-generation Yáo family and a rare example of explicit cross-generation co-authorship in the zhèngshǐ tradition. The Sìkù compilers note critically that Yáo Chá’s biography is included within the Chénshū despite his having served three subsequent dynasties — a violation of the duàn dài (dynastic limit) principle.