Liùcháo shìjì biānlèi 六朝事迹編類
Classified Compilation of Affairs of the Six Dynasties (i.e. of Jiànkāng / Jīnlíng) by 張敦頤 (Zhāng Dūnyí, jìnshì 1138) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 2-juan Southern-Sòng historical-topographical monograph on Jīnlíng / Jiànkāng (modern Nánjīng), the capital of the Six Dynasties (Wú, Eastern Jìn, Sòng, Qí, Liáng, Chén) and the regional capital under the Southern Táng. Composed in Shàoxīng 30 gēngchén (1160) — twenty-two years after the author’s jìnshì — by Zhāng Dūnyí during his term as Zuǒ fèngyì láng chōng Jiāngnán dōnglù ānfǔsī gànbàn gōngshì. Conceived as a supplement to the Jīnlíng tújīng (now lost), the work is divided into fourteen subject-categories: general narrative (zǒngxù), terrain (xíngshì), city walls and gates (chéngquè), towers and pavilions (lóutái), rivers (jiānghé), mountains (shāngāng), residences (zháishè), prophecies (chènjì), miracles (língyì), Daoist immortals (shénxiān), Buddhist monasteries (sìyuàn), shrines (miàoyǔ), tombs (fénlíng), and stele inscriptions (bēikè). The bēikè category is particularly important, as it preserves transcriptions of inscriptions on Six-Dynasties and Sòng-period stelae now largely lost.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Liùcháo shìjì biānlèi in two juan was composed by Zhāng Dūnyí of Sòng. Dūnyí, zì Yǎngzhèng, native of Wùyuán; Shàoxīng 8 jìnshì (1138); friend of Zhū Sōng (朱松, father of Zhū Xī); rose from Education-Officer of Nánjiànzhōu through Shūzhōu and Héngzhōu, retiring on pension. His other works on the Hán Liǔ prose (Hán Liǔ wén yīnbiàn) and on chronological history are still transmitted.
This compilation has Dūnyí’s autograph preface dated Shàoxīng gēngchén (1160), with the heading Zuǒ fèngyì láng chōng Jiāngnán dōnglù ānfǔsī gànbàn gōngshì — twenty-two years after his jìnshì. The work is a supplement to the Jīnlíng tújīng. It opens with a general narrative; then terrain, then city walls, then towers, then rivers, then mountains, then residences, then prophecies, then miracles, then immortals, then monasteries, then shrines, then tombs, then steles — fourteen categories in all. The citations are detailed and broad, and the bēikè category is particularly useful for kǎojù. But although the title says “Six Dynasties,” among the ancient sites it also fully records works of the Southern Táng down to the Northern Sòng (such as those built by Dīng Wèi and Wáng Ānshí) — this is a definite failure of demarcation.
In the zǒngxù category, the entry “Six Dynasties Defence” enumerates that since Wú the Southern dynasties have been unable to invade the North; that northern expeditions have always failed; that even when fortunate enough to win, they have been unable to hold. This must be from the early period of the Crossing-South, when those forcefully advocating peace negotiations made themselves heard; their judgement is not free from the cowardice of inferiors. But examining the practical situation, his argument is not without basis: certainly compared to the empty boasting of the Jiāngdōng shí jiàn, it is rather more substantial. Respectfully proof-read in the fifth month of Qiánlóng 44 (1779).
Director-General compilers (chén /) Jǐ Yún, (chén /) Lù Xīxióng, (chén /) Sūn Shìyì; Director-General proof-reader (chén /) Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Liùcháo shìjì biānlèi is the principal mid-twelfth-century Southern-Sòng historical-topographical monograph on Jīnlíng (Nánjīng). It was composed in Shàoxīng 30 (1160) by Zhāng Dūnyí 張敦頤 (CBDB 15495, jìnshì 1138; zì Yǎngzhèng 養正, native of Wùyuán 婺源 in Huīzhōu, friend of Zhū Sōng 朱松 the father of Zhū Xī) during his service in the Jiāngnán dōnglù ānfǔsī. It is conceived as a supplement to the lost Jīnlíng tújīng and arranges its material across fourteen thematic categories.
The work’s principal scholarly contribution is in two areas: (i) the bēikè (stele-inscription) category, which preserves transcriptions and discussion of Six-Dynasties and Sòng-period stelae now largely lost — a major contribution to medieval Chinese epigraphy; (ii) the integration of administrative-historical material on the Jīnlíng / Jiànkāng / Shēngzhōu / Jiāngníngfǔ shifts from the Wú through the Northern Sòng. The Sìkù tíyào criticises the demarcation (the work treats post–Six Dynasties sites as well, e.g. those of Dīng Wèi and Wáng Ānshí) but commends the bēikè category and the substantive analysis in the Liùcháo bǎoshǒu essay on the geopolitical position of Jiànkāng.
The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 589.9). It is an essential primary source for the historical topography of pre-modern Nánjīng.
Translations and research
No comprehensive English translation. The work is regularly cited in studies of medieval Chinese urban history, Six-Dynasties historiography, and Sòng-period epigraphy. See Andrew Chittick, Patronage and Community in Medieval China: The Xiangyang Garrison, 400–600 CE (SUNY, 2009); Hugh Clark in Cambridge History of China, vol. 5, pt. 1; the Nánjīng historical topography studies by Liú Shū-fēn 劉淑芬, Liù-cháo de chéng-shì yǔ shèhuì 六朝的城市與社會 (Taipei: Xuésheng, 1992).
Other points of interest
The Liùcháo bǎoshǒu essay in juan 1 is one of the most articulate Southern-Sòng-period statements of the strategic argument that the southern dynasty could defend but not retake the north — a position which earned the work the suspicion of later commentators of being aligned with the Shàoxīng peace party.
Links
- Wikidata
- Liú Shūfēn, Liùcháo de chéngshì yǔ shèhuì (Taipei: Xuésheng, 1992)