唐才子傳

Táng cáizǐ zhuàn 唐才子傳

Biographies of Talented Scholars of the Táng by 辛文房 (撰)

About the work

A collective biography of Táng poets, by Xīn Wénfáng 辛文房 (zì Liángshǐ 良史), of the Western Regions (Xīyù 西域) — i.e., a sèmù 色目 ethnic identity, possibly Uighur — flourishing in the early Yuán Dàdé 大德 (1297–1307) and Zhìdà 至大 (1308–1311) periods. Xīn’s biographical details are not in the regular history; Lù Yǒurén’s 陸友仁 Yánběi zázhì 研北雜志 says he was a poet on a level with Wáng Zhíqiān 王執謙, and Sū Tiānjué’s 蘇天爵 Yuán wénlèi 元文類 preserves only his Sū Xiǎoxiǎo gē 蘇小小歌. The original work was 10 juàn totaling 397 men, including women courtesans and Daoist nuns who were poets; the work was lost as an integral text already in the early Míng (the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn’s “zhuàn” 傳-character rhyme volume, which would have contained the whole work, is precisely the Dàdiǎn volume that was lost in the fire), and the WYG copy is reconstructed from references in the surviving Dàdiǎn volumes — yielding 234 men with full biographies and 44 men in attached short notices, 278 men in total in 8 juàn. Of the 397 originally treated, only 100-some were in the two Tángshū; the rest were drawn from miscellaneous zhuànjì and biéjí. The format keys biography to poetry: only those Táng míngrén who had distinct poetic reputation were included, and the biographies emphasize anecdotes (yìshì) and the survival or loss of works rather than career and merit, since the work’s interest is poetic. Coverage is light on the Early-and-High Táng but dense on the Late Táng and Five Dynasties; figures like Lǐ Jiànxūn 李建勳, Sūn Fáng 孫魴, Shěn Bīn 沈彬, Jiāng Wéi 江為, Liào Tú 廖圖, Xióng Jiǎo 熊皦, Mèng Bīnyú 孟賓于, Mèng Guàn 孟貫, Chén Tuán 陳搏 (the famous Hua-shan recluse) are given separate biographies, so the work runs into the Five-Dynasties period. The Sìkù editors note various errors arising from over-reliance on Mèng Qǐ’s 孟棨 Běnshì shī 本事詩, Fàn Shū’s 范攄 Yúnxī yǒuyì 雲溪友議, and other untrustworthy sources — but on the whole find the work better organized than Jì Yǒugōng’s 計有功 Táng shī jìshì 唐詩紀事.

Tiyao

Táng cáizǐ zhuàn in eight juàn, by Xīn Wénfáng of the Yuán. Wénfáng, courtesy name Liángshǐ, was a man of the Western Regions; the start and end of his career are not in the historical record. Only Lù Yǒurén’s Yánběi zázhì says he was a poet on a level with Wáng Zhíqiān, and Sū Tiānjué’s Yuán wénlèi preserves a Sū Xiǎoxiǎo gē of his — that is all. The original was in 10 juàn and totalled 397 men, going down to courtesans and Daoist women who were poets; only some 100 of these were in the two Tángshū, the rest being gathered from zhuànjì and shuōbù sources. The format ties biography to poetry, so only those of the Táng with distinct poetic standing are recorded; even the men selected are mostly given anecdote and the survival of writings, with merit and conduct treated only summarily — the focus is on literary criticism, not biography proper. Generally, the Early-and-High Táng are sketchy; the Mid- and Late-Táng increasingly full; from Lǐ Jiànxūn, Sūn Fáng, Shěn Bīn, Jiāng Wéi, Liào Tú, Xióng Jiǎo, Mèng Bīnyú, Mèng Guàn, and Chén Tuán down, all with separate biographies, the coverage runs into the Five Dynasties. Yáng Shìqí’s Dōnglǐ jí contains a colophon to this work; in the early Míng a complete copy still existed, and the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn table-of-contents records the entire book under the zhuàn-character rhyme. Today that zhuàn-rhyme is just the volume that has been lost, and the world has no extant copy. Fortunately the various other rhyme-volumes of the Dàdiǎn contain quotations of the text scattered throughout. We have now combed through these, gathered them up by entry, and re-edited: 234 men with full biographies, 44 with attached notices, total 278 men, divided into 8 juàn. Yáng Shìqí’s colophon says: “what does not bear on the great matters and is not enough for moral admonition or warning is not recorded”; he also says: “miscellanies are not entirely reliable.” Examining the edited text: the Xǔ Hún 許渾 biography has him dreaming of a journey to Kūnlún; the Lǐ Qúnyù 李群玉 biography has him dreaming of meeting a goddess — these are gathered from Mèng Qǐ’s Běnshì shī and Fàn Shū’s Yúnxī yǒuyì, absurd materials with no place in proper historical narrative. Again: of Chǔ Guāngxī 儲光羲, who polluted himself by accepting a commission from the rebel Lùshān, Xīn says he “cultivated his vast and flowing qì” — quite contrary to broad principle. He also says Luò Bīnwáng 駱賓王 exchanged poems with Sòng Zhīwèn 宋之問 at the Língyǐnsì; that the Zhōngxīng jiānqì jí was edited by Gāo Shì 高適; that Lǐ Shāngyǐn 李商隱 served as Prefect of Guǎngzhōu; that the only Táng poet to have successfully imitated Dù Fǔ was Táng Yànqiān 唐彥謙 — these are wrong and contradictory by turns. Many of these errors are because Wénfáng was hasty in his accumulation and did not check carefully. But compared with Jì Yǒugōng’s Táng shī jìshì, his exposition is more orderly, his prose more graceful and pleasing; the verdicts at the end of each biography pick up on poetic strengths and weaknesses to good effect. For the student of Táng poetry and the verifier of poetic facts, the work is genuinely useful. Reverently presented in the ninth 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 Táng cáizǐ zhuàn is the principal early-Yuán collective-biography source for Táng poets and is the standard source for the lives of poets not in the two Tángshū (especially the Late-Táng and Five-Dynasties figures). Xīn Wénfáng (CBDB id 103808; Sèmù / Western Regions identity, possibly Uighur, but not securely identified) was active in the Dàdé (1297–1307) reign according to the surviving preface (dated Dàdé jiǎchén = 1304) — date bracket here 1304–1310. The original 10-juàn / 397-man work was lost as an integral text by the early Míng; the WYG copy is reconstructed from quotations in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn. The work has remained the foundation of Táng-poet prosopography down to modern times — most modern Chinese editions (Fù Xuáncōng 傅璇琮, Táng cáizǐ zhuàn jiàojiān 唐才子傳校箋, Beijing: Zhōnghuá shūjú, 1987–1995, 5 vols.) supplement it with the latest research.

Translations and research

• Fù Xuán-cōng 傅璇琮 et al., eds., Táng cái-zǐ zhuàn jiào-jiān (Beijing: Zhōnghuá shū-jú, 1987–1995, 5 vols.) — the indispensable modern critical edition with comprehensive collation against external sources.
• Stephen Owen, The Late Tang: Chinese Poetry of the Mid-Ninth Century (827–860) (HUP, 2006), and other Owen volumes, draw on the work for biographical material.
• The standard catalog notice is in Sì-kù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào 史部·傳記類三·總錄之屬.

Other points of interest

The fact that the work was transmitted through the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and reconstructed from there by the Sìkù editors makes it a textbook case of Dàdiǎn-retrieval philology. The author’s Sèmù (likely Uighur) ethnic identity is itself notable — a non-Han literary scholar at the early-Yuán court working on the Táng poetic canon.

Links

• Wilkinson 2018, Chinese History: A New Manual §49.
• CBDB person id 103808 (Xīn Wénfáng 辛文房).