元經

Yuán jīng 元經

The Primal Classic (an annalistic chronicle 290–618 CE) nominally by 王通 (Wáng Tōng, 584–617, zhuàn 撰) with continuation by 薛收 (Xuē Shōu, 592–624, zhuàn 傳) and commentary by 阮逸 (Ruǎn Yì, fl. 1027–1063, zhù 註); but in fact, on overwhelming evidence, a Northern Sòng forgery composed in toto by Ruǎn Yì.

About the work

A 10-juan annalistic chronicle running from Jìn Tàixī 1 (290 CE) to Suí Kāihuáng 9 (589 CE) in nine juan (the Wáng Tōng “original”), with a tenth juan extending from Suí Kāihuáng 10 (590) to Táng Wǔdé 1 (618) ascribed to the Wǔdé scholar Xuē Shōu. The work survives only in the recension printed by Ruǎn Yì in the early-to-mid Northern Sòng. The Sìkù editors, following Cháo Gōngwǔ, Chén Zhènsūn, and others, judge it a Sòng forgery and probably Ruǎn Yì’s own composition.

Tiyao

Yuán jīng, 10 juǎn. (Jiāngsū Provincial Governor’s submitted copy.) The old text is captioned “by Wáng Tōng of the Suí, with continuation and zhuàn by Xuē Shōu of the Táng, annotated by Ruǎn Yì of the Sòng.” It begins in Tàixī 1 of the Jìn and ends in Kāihuáng 9 of the Suí, in nine juǎn, called Tōng’s original; the last juan, from Kāihuáng 10 of Suí to Wǔdé 1 of Táng, is called Shōu’s continuation.

Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì says: “On examination, the Chóngwén catalog has no entry — likely Ruǎn Yì’s fabrication.” Chén Zhènsūn’s Shū lù jiě tí says: “Of the books of the Wáng of Héfén family, apart from the Zhōng shuō, none are recorded in the Táng Yìwén zhì; their transmission stems from Ruǎn Yì, and some say all are Yì’s forgeries.” The Táng founder Shényáo was tabooed Yuān; his ancestor Jǐnghuáng was tabooed Hǔ. Hence in the Jìn shū, both Dài Yuān and Shí Hǔ are referred to by their zì. Xuē Shōu was a Táng man; for him to refer to them as “Dài Ruòsī” and “Shí Jìlóng” is appropriate. But the Yuán jīng, written in Suí Dàyè 4, also writes “Ruòsī” — why? On further examination: in Xiánhé 8 of Jìn Chéngdì this book records “Zhāng Gōngtíng made Zhènxī dà jiāngjūn”; in Jiànyuán 1 of Jìn Kāngdì it records “Shí Hǔ invaded Zhāng Jùn.” “Gōngtíng” is Jùn’s zì — one might say writing the name and zì are interchangeable. But under Kāngníng 3 the Jìn shū’s Shénhǔmén 神虎門 is here written Shénshòumén 神獸門 — a clear borrowing from the (later-Táng-tabooed-then-untabooed) Jìn shū, beyond all dispute. And in Zhōu Dàdìng 1 it openly writes “Yáng Jiān assists in government.” Tōng was born in the Suí — even if he wantonly took himself for a sage, would he dare so flagrant a transgression?

Chén Shīdào’s Hòushān tán cóng, Hé Wèi’s Chūnzhǔ jìwén, and Shào Bó’s Wénjiàn hòulù all state that Yì made this book and once showed the draft to Sū Xún. Hé Wèi and Shào Bó’s word is open to doubt; but Shīdào was a man of unblemished conduct and absolutely no liar — his record may be trusted. Yì zì Tiānyǐn, a man of Jiànyáng. Jìnshì of Tiānshèng 5 (1027); rose to Shàngshū túntián yuánwài láng. The Sòng shǐ biography of Hú Yuàn says that in the early Jǐngyòu, in renewing the standard music, he and Ruǎn Yì Zhèndōngjūn jiédù tuīguān together collated bell-pitches — that is the man.

Wáng Gǒng’s Jiǎshēn zá jì further records his composing the verse “easy to set up Tàishān stones, hard to grow flowers among Shànglín willows” — for which an enemy denounced him, and he ended his life in banishment. He delighted in compiling forgeries throughout his life; this is just one specimen. The Wénxiàn tōngkǎo lists this book at 15 juǎn; the present text is only 10. From Wèi Tàihé onwards, decades sometimes pass with not a single event recorded — even Yì’s full forged text it is not. Late in the Míng, Dèng Bógāo in his Yì gòu claimed the book was Guān Lǎng’s. But Lǎng was a man of Wèi Xiàowéndì’s time — how could he record events of Kāihuáng 9? Perhaps he confused this with the Guān Lǎng Yì zhuàn, also issued by Ruǎn Yì. The book itself has nothing to recommend it; but since it has been current since the Sòng, we record it for the record, citing the relevant testimonies and noting its forgery as above.

Abstract

The Yuán jīng claims to be Wáng Tōng’s chronicle (in conscious imitation of the Chūnqiū) of the Northern dynasties from the year of the death of Jìn Wǔdì (290) — taken as the symbolic onset of disunity — through the Suí reunification of 589, with a Táng-period continuation by his disciple Xuē Shōu down to Wǔdé 1. Wáng Tōng (also styled WénZhōngzǐ) was the most prominent late-Suí classicist of the Héfén 河汾 school and grandfather of the early-Táng poet Wáng Bó. The Zhōng shuō 中說 (KR3a0014) likewise attributed to him is a real text, even if heavily padded; the Yuán jīng, by contrast, has been judged a Northern Sòng forgery by every careful reader since Cháo Gōngwǔ.

The Sìkù tíyào lays out the demonstration in compact form: (a) bibliographic — neither the Chóngwén zǒng mù nor the Táng Yìwén zhì lists it; the textual transmission begins only with Ruǎn Yì in the early eleventh century; (b) onomastic — the text uses graphs that violate Táng imperial taboos in passages it ascribes to a Suí author, and it inverts the historical sequence of zì-versus-name usages; (c) intertextual — phrases such as Shénshòumén are demonstrably back-borrowed from the (post-Suí) Táng Jìn shū; (d) doctrinal — the open reference to “Yáng Jiān assists in government” in Zhōu Dàdìng 1 is impossible from a Suí writer; (e) the most damning — Chén Shīdào (Hòushān tán cóng), Hé Wèi, and Shào Bó all preserve the report that Ruǎn Yì showed his draft of the work to Sū Xún 蘇洵.

The dating bracket here is therefore set to Ruǎn Yì’s known active years (1027 jìnshì — 1063 latest documented activity), with the most likely composition in the 1040s–1050s. The Wáng Tōng / Xuē Shōu attributions are preserved in frontmatter as found in the catalog (in keeping with the protocol of preserving the catalog face-value), with the explicit “(attributed)” marker, and Ruǎn Yì added with his actual function as compiler. Despite its forged character, the work was current from the Northern Sòng onwards and was admitted into the Sìkù under bù cún (preserved-but-suspect) standards rather than excluded; the editors append a particularly sharp critical apparatus.

The work has no value as a historical source for the period it purports to cover; its interest is wholly as a specimen of eleventh-century Sòng pseudepigraphy in the Wáng Tōng line, alongside the Guān Lǎng Yì zhuàn (KR1a0024) and the additions to the Zhōng shuō (KR3a0014) — all transmitted via Ruǎn Yì.

Translations and research

• Howard L. Goodman, “Wang Tong on Religion and Society,” in Religion and Chinese Society, vol. 1 (CUHK, 2004) — uses the Yuán jīng sceptically.
• Yìn Xiéhé 殷協和, Yuán jīng kǎo wěi 元經考偽 (1936; repr. in Wáng Tōng yánjiū zī liào huì biān, ed. Yáng Mèngwén 楊夢文, Sānlián 1992).
• See the apparatus and discussion in Anne D. Birdwhistell, Transition to Neo-Confucianism: Shao Yung on Knowledge and Symbols of Reality (Stanford, 1989), which treats the Wáng Tōng / Ruǎn Yì pseudepigraphic complex as background to Shào Yōng.
• Discussion in Sìkù quánshū zǒng mù tíyào (juǎn 47) is itself a major piece of kǎojù literature.

Other points of interest

The Sìkù tíyào’s denial here, together with its sharper denial of Ruǎn Yì’s Guān Lǎng Yì zhuàn (KR1a0024) and its qualified treatment of the Zhōng shuō (KR3a0014), forms one of the most consequential moves in the Sìkù catalog — collectively, they isolate Wáng Tōng’s authentic teaching from the eleventh-century WénZhōngzǐ mythology that grew up around him.

Links

• Wikidata Q11084077
• ctext.org: Yuan Jing
• Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào 0102602.