十國春秋

Shíguó Chūnqiū 十國春秋

Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms by 吳任臣 (撰)

About the work

The Shíguó Chūnqiū, in 114 juàn, is the definitive scholarly synthesis on the Ten Kingdoms of the Five Dynasties period (907–979) — the regional regimes that ruled south of the Yellow River while the Wǔdài 五代 succession ruled the north. It was composed by 吳任臣 Wú Rènchén (1628?–1689?, zì Zhìyī 志伊, of Rénhé 仁和 in modern Hángzhōu), one of the bóxué hóngcí 博學鴻詞 召試 scholars summoned to Beijing in Kāngxī 18 (1679), where he was appointed Hànlínyuàn jiǎntǎo 翰林院檢討. The principal motive was Wú’s dissatisfaction with 歐陽修 Ōuyáng Xiū’s brief zǎijì-style treatment of the Ten Kingdoms in the Xīn Wǔdàishǐ; he therefore drew systematically on all surviving regional histories (the Bàshǐ category in earlier catalogues) and on the Zhèngshǐ to produce a unified synthesis. Coverage: Wú 14 juàn, Southern Táng 20 juàn, Former Shǔ 13 juàn, Latter Shǔ 10 juàn, Southern Hàn 9 juàn, Chǔ 10 juàn, WúYuè 13 juàn, Mǐn 10 juàn, Jīngnán 4 juàn, Northern Hàn 5 juàn, plus a Shíguó jìyuán shìxìbiǎo 紀元世系表, dìlǐzhì 地理志 in 2 juàn, fānzhènbiǎo 藩鎮表, and bǎiguānbiǎo 百官表 — total 114 juàn. Each lièzhuàn carries Wú Rènchén’s own zǐzhù 子注 (sub-commentary), drawing on alternative histories and xiǎoshuō; the biǎo are particularly accomplished pieces of premodern Chinese historical-tabular scholarship.

Tiyao

By Wú Rènchén of the present dynasty. Rènchén, zì Zhìyī 志伊, of Rénhé 仁和. In Kāngxī jǐwèi 康熙己未 (= Kāngxī 18, 1679) he was summoned to the bóxué hóngcí kē 博學鴻詞科; appointed Hànlínyuàn jiǎntǎo 翰林院檢討. Rènchén held that Ōuyáng Xiū’s Wǔdàishǐ followed the Jìnshū model in treating the ten kingdoms in zǎijì form, but each was treated too briefly to be detailed. He therefore collected the bàshǐ 霸史, záshǐ 雜史, and xiǎoshuō sources, and verified them against the zhèngshǐ, to compile this. In all: Wú 14 juàn, Southern Táng 20 juàn, Former Shǔ 13 juàn, Latter Shǔ 10 juàn, Southern Hàn 9 juàn, Chǔ 10 juàn, WúYuè 13 juàn, Mǐn 10 juàn, Jīngnán 4 juàn, Northern Hàn 5 juàn — Shíguó jìyuán shìxìbiǎo 1 juàn, dìlǐzhì 2 juàn, fānzhènbiǎo 1 juàn, bǎiguānbiǎo 1 juàn. Each lièzhuàn below the main text has his own zhù (annotation) carrying alternative-source material. Following the precedent of 蕭大圜 Xiāo Dàyuán’s Huáihǎi luànlí zhì, 楊衒之 Yáng Xuànzhī’s Luòyáng qiélán jì, 宋孝王 Sòng Xiàowáng’s Guāndōng fēngsú zhuàn, and 王劭 Wáng Shào’s Qíjì. As Liú Zhījī’s Shǐtōng Bǔzhù chapter writes, “the man stands as historian, his hand its own redactor: to leave the wild lush would weigh on his discrimination, to set it all down would distort his words. Hence he distinguishes the chaff and arranges it as zǐzhù.” On much jiùshuō xūwū 舊說虛誣 (received false claims), there is much disputation. Tián Hùn 田頵’s capture of Sūn Rú 孫儒 — Wú follows the Wúlù 吳錄 against Xuē Jūzhèng’s Jiù Wǔdàishǐ; Lǚ Shīzhōu 呂師周’s flight to Húnán — follows the Tōngjiàn against the Jiǔguó zhì 九國志; Southern-Táng Lièzǔ — follows Liú Sù 劉恕 Shíguó jìnián and Ōuyáng Xiū against the Jiāngnán Yěshǐ and WúYuè Bèishǐ. All show clear judgment. Many similar examples. The five biǎo are especially well-researched — yānguàn 淹貫 (broad-and-thorough). The wúzhuànzhīrén 無傳之人 (figures with names but no biographies) are listed only by name at the ends of juàn, on the model of Chén Shòu’s Shǔzhì — but where Chén Shòu cited them through Yáng Xī 楊戲’s JìHàn fǔchénzàn, Wú Rènchén lists them empty as xūcún biāomù 虛存標目 (mere section-headings). This màotóng xīnyì 貌同心異 (looks the same, differs in spirit) is a small departure from the precedent.

Abstract

吳任臣 Wú Rènchén (1628?–1689?, per CBDB id 66030; the catalog meta gives the same range), zì Zhìyī 志伊, of Rénhé 仁和 (modern Hángzhōu), was an early-Qīng polymath. He passed the special bóxué hóngcí examination of Kāngxī 18 (1679) — a recruitment of distinguished Hàn-Chinese scholars by the early Manchu court — and was appointed Hànlínyuàn jiǎntǎo 翰林院檢討. The Shíguó Chūnqiū was the major work of his early-to-middle career; the precise period of composition is not known, but probably c. 1664–1689, with most of the writing done before his Beijing service. Scholarship suggests the book was substantially complete by 1669–1670 and was revised over the next two decades. Wú Rènchén drew extensively on every Sòng-period regional history catalogued in this division — the KR2i0009 Jiāngnán Yěshǐ, KR2i0010 Jiāngnán Biélù, KR2i0011 Jiāngbiǎo Zhì, KR2i0012 Jiāngnán Yúzǎi, KR2i0013 SānChǔ Xīnlù, KR2i0014 Jǐnlǐ Qíjiù Zhuàn, KR2i0015 Wǔguó Gùshì, KR2i0016 Shǔ Táowù, KR2i0017 Mǎshì NánTáng Shū, KR2i0018 Lùshì NánTáng Shū, KR2i0019 WúYuè Bèishǐ — and on the Jiǔguó zhì 九國志, Shíguó jìnián 十國紀年 (Liú Sù), and dozens of other sources, many lost. The work is the definitive synthesis of the Ten Kingdoms and remains the indispensable reference for the period. Its zǐzhù method — preserving alternative-source readings as sub-commentary — is widely admired. The biǎo (chronological tables, dynastic-genealogy table, regional commandery table, official-position table) are uniquely valuable: nowhere else in premodern Chinese scholarship is the institutional history of the Ten Kingdoms set out in tabular form. CBDB id 66030 gives 1628–1689 with question-marks; the dates 1628?–1689? are conventional. Standard modern critical edition: Shíguó Chūnqiū (Zhōnghuá shūjú, 1983, ed. Xú Mínxiá 徐敏霞 and Zhōu Yíng 周瑩), in 4 vols.

Translations and research

• Standard modern Chinese critical edition: Xú Mín-xiá 徐敏霞 and Zhōu Yíng 周瑩 (eds.). 1983. Shíguó Chūnqiū 十國春秋. Beijing: Zhōng-huá shū-jú. 4 vols.
• Schafer, Edward H. 1954. The Empire of Min. Tokyo: Tuttle. — Major Western monograph using the Shíguó Chūnqiū extensively.
• Schafer, Edward H. 1957. “The History of the Empire of Southern Han”. Asiatische Studien 13.
• Kurz, Johannes L. 2011. China’s Southern Tang Dynasty (937–976). London: Routledge. — Heavy use of Wú Rèn-chén.
• Hugh R. Clark. 2009. “The Southern Kingdoms between the T’ang and the Sung”. CHC 5.1.
• No standalone English translation; the standard secondary scholarship cited here all relies on the Shíguó Chūnqiū.

Other points of interest

Wú Rènchén’s zǐzhù method — embedding alternative-source variants in sub-commentary on the main text — is one of the great methodological achievements of late-imperial Chinese historiography, anticipating modern source-criticism. The biǎo (chronological / institutional tables) are the most ambitious tabular treatment of the Ten Kingdoms ever attempted. The book’s volume in the WYG (V465–V466) — extending across two of the Sìkù’s standard volumes — reflects its exceptional length and scholarly weight; only a handful of works in the entire Sìkù take up two volumes.

Links

• Wikipedia (Chinese)
• Wikidata: Q4035197
• Sìkù tíyào (Kyoto Zinbun)
• ctext.org