Shǔ Táowù 蜀檮杌
The Shǔ “Táowù” (also titled Wàishǐ Táowù 外史檮杌) by 張唐英 (撰)
About the work
The Shǔ Táowù, in 2 juàn, is a Northern-Sòng annalistic chronicle of the Former Shǔ 前蜀 (907–925) and Latter Shǔ 後蜀 (934–965) regimes of Sìchuān, by the Xīníng-era statesman 張唐英 Zhāng Tángyīng (1029–1071, zì Cìgōng 次功, hào Huángsōngzǐ 黃松子, of Xīnjīn 新津 in Shǔ — elder brother of the Sòng chancellor 張商英 Zhāng Shāngyīng). The title alludes to the Chǔshǐ Táowù of antiquity (the legendary lost annals of Chǔ mentioned in Mèngzǐ), with táowù 檮杌 being a name applied to historical chronicles. The book modestly follows the Hànjì model of Xún Yuè 荀悅 — strictly chronological, by year and reign — and was based on Zhāng Tángyīng’s earlier QiánShǔ kāiguójì 前蜀開國記 and HòuShǔ shílù 後蜀實錄. It is the principal Sòng-period source for both Shǔ regimes and corrects 歐陽修 Ōuyáng Xiū’s brief and abbreviated Wǔdài shǐ jì treatment.
Tiyao
By Zhāng Tángyīng 張唐英 of the Sòng. Tángyīng, zì Cìgōng 次功, self-styled Huángsōngzǐ 黃松子, of Xīnjīn in Shǔzhōu — elder brother of the chancellor 張商英 Zhāng Shāngyīng. In Xīníng 熙寧, he reached Diànzhōng shìyùshǐ 殿中侍御史. His career is recorded in his brother’s biography in the Sòngshǐ. The book is based on his earlier QiánShǔ kāiguójì 前蜀開國記 and HòuShǔ shílù 後蜀實錄. He follows the Hànjì model of Xún Yuè — strict chronological annals — and arranges the events of 王建 Wáng Jiàn (Former Shǔ) and 孟知祥 Mèng Zhīxiáng (Latter Shǔ) in detailed sequence. 歐陽修 Ōuyáng Xiū’s two Shǔ shìjiā in the Xīn Wǔdàishǐ are too short; this book supplements him on what was lost. The famous “ěrfèng ěrlù míngāo mínzhī xiàmín yìnüè shàngcāng nánqī 爾俸爾祿、民膏民脂、下民易虐、上蒼難欺” inscribed on the Jièshí 戒石 of every Sòng prefectural administrator, in 黃庭堅 Huáng Tíngjiān’s calligraphy circulated under official mandate, are in fact extracted from 孟昶 Mèng Chǎng’s Guǎngzhèng 廣政 4 (941) Guānzhēn 官箴 — the full text of which is preserved in this book. Such material is most useful for the historian. Tángyīng also wrote a Jiāyòu míngchénzhuàn 嘉祐名臣傳, now lost. Only this Shǔ Táowù survives. Lóu Yáo’s 樓鑰 Gōngkuì jí 攻媿集 cites the Wàishǐ Táowù on Wáng Jiàn’s xiántōng 4 (= 893): Zhāng Lín 張琳 — Dàshùn 1 (= 890), Xī Shí actually held Qiánnán jiēdùshǐ 黔南節度使 and recruited Zhāng as pànguān; the present text lacks this entry. So this is also not the complete recension.
Abstract
張唐英 Zhāng Tángyīng (1029–1071, per CBDB id 10221, in agreement with the Sòngshǐ biography of his brother), zì Cìgōng 次功, hào Huángsōngzǐ 黃松子, of Xīnjīn 新津 in Shǔzhōu (Sìchuān), was a Xīníng-era senior official, rising to Diànzhōng shìyùshǐ 殿中侍御史. His younger brother 張商英 Zhāng Shāngyīng (1043–1121) was Sòng Wǔzōng-era chancellor; the Sòngshǐ biography of Shāngyīng (juàn 351) preserves Tángyīng’s career. The catalog meta dates 1029–1071 follow CBDB id 10221; CBDB id 47197 gives 1031–1101 for the same name and appears to be a homonym confusion. The Shǔ Táowù was composed during his late career (probably c. 1064–1071, the last decade of his life); it was based on his earlier dynastic kāiguójì and shílù drafts of the Former and Latter Shǔ. The chronological annalistic form (after Xún Yuè’s Hànjì) makes it the cleanest narrative source for Sìchuān in the Five Dynasties — used by 吳任臣 Wú Rènchén in the Shíguó Chūnqiū KR2i0021 as the principal Shǔ source. The book is also the unique source for the full text of 孟昶 Mèng Chǎng’s Guānzhēn 官箴 — including the four lines later inscribed on every Sòng Jièshí monument in 黃庭堅’s calligraphy. The Sìkù editors note the recension is incomplete (one passage on Wáng Jiàn cited in Lóu Yáo’s Gōngkuì jí is missing).
Translations and research
- Standard modern Chinese edition: in Wǔ-dài shǐ-shū huì-biān 五代史書彙編 (Hangzhou, 2004).
- Schafer, Edward H. (Various studies) on the Hòu-Shǔ.
- Yáng Wěi-shēng 楊偉生. 2007. “Shǔ Táo-wù yǔ Sòng-dài Shǔ-shǐ-xué” 蜀檮杌與宋代蜀史學. Shǐxué shǐ yánjiū 史學史研究.
- Hugh R. Clark. 2009. “The Southern Kingdoms between the T’ang and the Sung”. CHC 5.1.
- No standalone English translation.
Other points of interest
The phrase ěrfèng ěrlù, míngāo mínzhī, xiàmín yìnüè, shàngcāng nánqī (Your salaries, your stipends — they are the marrow and grease of the people. The people below are easily oppressed; Heaven above cannot be deceived) is one of the most-quoted lines of premodern Chinese political ethics, and the Shǔ Táowù is its unique full source: only this book preserves the text of the surrounding Guānzhēn in which the four lines are embedded.