Jīngkǒu qíjiù zhuàn 京口耆舊傳
Biographies of the Old Worthies of Jīng-kǒu edited anonymously (闕名)
About the work
A nine-juàn anonymous local-worthies (xiāngxián) collective biography of the eminent men of Jīngkǒu 京口 (= Zhènjiāngfǔ 鎮江府, the Sòng-period prefecture comprising Dāntú 丹徒, Dānyáng 丹陽, Yánlíng 延令, and Jīntán 金壇 — although Yánlíng was merged into Dānyáng in Xīníng 5 (1072), so only three counties remain by Sòng times). The author is anonymous in the Wényuāngé shūmù of Yáng Shìqí 楊士奇 and the Guóshǐ jīngjí zhì of Jiāo Hóng 焦竑; internal evidence (the work’s biography of Sū Xiáng 蘇庠 noting that “I am of a Dānyáng family” and recording use of materials borrowed from Sū Xiáng’s grandson) places the author as a Dānyáng man writing in the late Southern Sòng (Sū Xiáng died in 1147; the author met Sū’s grandson, so was active a generation later — in Duānpíng (1234–1236) and Jiāxī (1237–1240) per the work’s terminus ad quem). The 80-some biographies cover the late-Northern-Sòng to mid-Southern-Sòng Jīngkǒu worthies — the resistance martyr Chén Dōng 陳東 (executed 1127); the zhèngshì 政事 figures Zhāng Què 張慤, Zhāng Zhěn 張縝, Tāng Dōngyě 湯東野, Liú Gōngyàn 劉公彥; the fēngjié 風節 figures Wáng Cún 王存, Wáng Suì 王遂, Jiǎng Yóu 蔣猷, Liú Zǎi 劉宰; the men of letters Shěn Kuò 沈括, Hóng Xìngzǔ 洪興祖; the calligraphers and painters Mǐ Fú 米芾 and his son Mǐ Yǒurén 米友仁. The biographies are unusually full, often correcting the Sòngshǐ — the Sìkù editors document several specific cases (the Tāng Dōngyě / Zhāng Jùn affair; the count of Chén Dōng’s memorials; the lifedates of Wáng Gǒng’s sons Wáng Kuò 王廓 and Wáng Dù 王度).
Tiyao
Jīngkǒu qíjiù zhuàn in nine juàn; no compiler’s name. The Míng Wényuāngé shūmù of Yáng Shìqí and the Guóshǐ jīngjí zhì of Jiāo Hóng both record the title without compiler. Examining the work: the end of the Sū Xiáng biography says “my family is of Dānyáng; my forefathers knew his particulars in detail; further, I borrowed his grandson Zhé’s family-history” — so the compiler must be a Dānyáng man. Sū Xiáng died in Shàoxīng 17 (1147); the compiler had access to his grandson — so the compiler is a Southern-Sòng late-period figure. The work gathers the careers of the Jīngkǒu worthies, beginning at the founding of the Sòng and ending in the Duānpíng / Jiāxī period (1234–1240). Among these, the zhōngliè (loyal-and-fierce) Chén Dōng, the jīngjì (statesman) Zhāng Què, Zhāng Zhěn, Tāng Dōngyě, Liú Gōngyàn; the fēngjié Wáng Cún, Wáng Suì, Jiǎng Yóu, Liú Zǎi; the men of letters Shěn Kuò and Hóng Xìngzǔ; the calligrapher-painters Mǐ Fú father and son — although all are recorded in the regular history, the yìwén yìshì given here are more detailed. The Tāng Dōngyě biography reports that, when the Míngshòu amnesty arrived, Dōngyě consulted Zhāng Jùn 張浚 about hiding the amnesty rather than promulgating it; the Sòngshǐ Zhāng Jùn biography says Jùn ordered the prefect Tāng Dōngyě to keep the amnesty secret — the two accounts differ; verified against Liú Zǎi’s Màntáng jí colophon to Tāng shìláng qínwáng lù, the present account is the correct one, so the Sòngshǐ is here in error. The Màntáng jí says Chén Dōng under Qīnzōng wrote six memorials and under Gāozōng four; the Sòngshǐ Chén Dōng biography says under Qīnzōng five and under Gāozōng three — verified by this work, the Sòngshǐ count is correct, the Màntáng count is in error. Wáng Gǒng’s 王鞏 Jiǎshēn zájì says Chén Kàng 陳亢 was born in Xīníng 8 (1075), with sons Kuò and Dù — verified by this work, Kuò took the jìnshì in Xīníng 9 (1076; only one year after his father’s birth!) and Dù in Yuánfēng 2 (1079) — only five years after the father’s birth. This is enough to falsify the xiǎoshuō’s confused report. Such cases are many. The work’s editorial method follows the regular history exactly: each biography is full from beginning to end, with birth and death dated; unlike the various záshuō and suíbǐ records that lack proper biographical structure. Therefore its facts are largely reliable and its contribution to the historical sciences is real. The Wényuāngé shūmù records the work without juàn-count; the Jīngjí zhì gives 4 juàn. We have now drawn the text from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and combined it into nine juàn. According to the Sòngshǐ Dìlǐ zhì, Jīngkǒu had four counties: Dāntú, Dānyáng, Yánlíng, Jīntán; in Shénzōng Xīníng 5 Yánlíng was reduced to a town and merged into Dānyáng — only three counties remain. Yet in this work the Wú Zhìyáo 吳致堯 biography (a Xuānhé end-period figure) still calls him a Yánlíng man — using the old name out of habit, never corrected: not unlike the Hàn Gāodì shíyī renaming of Zhēndìng to Dōngyuán, after which the Nán Yuèwáng zhuàn still called Wèi Tuō 尉佗 a Zhēndìng man — the historian’s slip is no evidence; we therefore now divide the men by the three remaining counties to keep to fact. Where the various other sources differ, we attach the variants below each biography for verification. Reverently presented in the second month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Chief Editors: Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The Jīngkǒu qíjiù zhuàn is one of the most substantial Southern-Sòng xiāngxián compilations of a single prefecture (in this case Zhènjiāng); it is also one of the rare instances where the Sìkù editors retrieved a substantial work from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and reorganized it (here from the four juàn of the Jīngjí zhì listing into nine juàn). The compiler’s anonymity has not been resolved; the strong internal evidence places him in mid-13th-century Dānyáng. The work is unusually rigorous in form (full zhuàn with dated birth and death) and so has independent evidentiary value as the Sìkù editors’ careful comparison with the Sòngshǐ and other sources demonstrates. Date bracket here is 1234–1240 (= Duānpíng / Jiāxī).
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language translation located. The work is briefly noted in Robert Hartwell, “Demographic, Political, and Social Transformations of China, 750–1550,” HJAS 42 (1982); it is one of the principal source for Jīng-kǒu-area Sòng prosopography in the CBDB project. The Sì-kù tíyào notice is in 史部·傳記類三·總錄之屬.
Other points of interest
The work’s textbook editorial value — particularly the comparative collation against the Sòngshǐ by the Sìkù editors — makes it a textbook example of Sìkù historiographical method. The retrieval from the Dàdiǎn with reorganization from 4 to 9 juàn is also typical of the Sìkù editors’ procedure with retrieved texts.
Links
- Wilkinson 2018, Chinese History: A New Manual §49.