Cílín diǎngù 詞林典故
Precedents of the Forest of Wordsmiths (Hànlín Academy) by 鄂爾泰 (Èěrtài, 奉敕撰) and 張廷玉 (Zhāng Tíngyù, 奉敕撰)
About the work
The Cílín diǎngù in 8 juǎn is the official Qīng-court history of the Hànlín Academy. The work was commissioned by the Qiánlóng emperor in Qiánlóng 9 (1744), on the occasion of the rebuilding of the Hànlín Yuàn complex and the imperial visit and banquet that marked its completion; the chief Hànlín Academicians (掌院學士) Èěrtài 鄂爾泰 (1677–1745) and Zhāng Tíngyù 張廷玉 (1672–1755) were appointed to lead the compilation. It was completed and submitted in Qiánlóng 12 (1747), accompanied by an imperial preface and four imperial jué jù 絕句 (quatrains) bestowed upon Zhāng Tíngyù; the imperial preface, brushed by Qiánlóng himself in the Sānxī táng 三希堂, is preserved at the head of the work. The eight chapters are: (1) línxìng shèngdiǎn 臨幸盛典 (imperial visits); (2) guānzhì 官制 (official posts); (3) zhízhǎng 職掌 (duties); (4) ēnyù 恩遇 (special favours); (5) yìwén 藝文 (literary essays and poems on the Academy); (6) yíshì 儀式 (ceremonial protocol); (7) xièshǔ 廨署 (offices and buildings); (8) tímíng 題名 (officeholder lists). It thus stands in direct lineage with KR2l0002, KR2l0004, KR2l0006, and KR2l0009 — successive Tang, Sòng, and Míng monographs on the same institution.
Tiyao
The editors respectfully submit that the Cílín diǎngù in 8 juǎn: in Qiánlóng 9 (1744) when the Hànlín Yuàn was rebuilt, the imperial carriage visited; the imperial banquet was held and verses composed, whereupon the chief Academicians Èěrtài, Zhāng Tíngyù, and others were ordered to compile this book. In Qiánlóng 12 (1747) it was completed, submitted to the emperor, and the imperial preface was issued and printed. There are eight subdivisions: (1) imperial visits, (2) official posts, (3) office duties, (4) special favours, (5) literary writings, (6) ceremonial protocol, (7) offices and buildings, (8) officeholder lists. (The Tíyào breaks off at this point in the source-file; what follows treats the work’s relationship to its Tang–Sòng–Míng predecessors as a continuation of Hànlín literature.)
The imperial preface (“Preface, brushed in the Sānxī táng of the Hànlín, on the seventh day of the first month of wùchén 戊辰, the thirteenth year of Qiánlóng”) and four imperial jué jù in praise of Zhāng Tíngyù precede the Tíyào and are signed in the imperial brush. The verses memorialize the Yuán-era Hànlín scholars who had passed (Èěrtài among them, who had died in Qiánlóng 10 / 1745, before the work’s completion).
Abstract
Cílín diǎngù is the imperial Qīng counterpart to the Tang KR2l0002 Hànlín zhì, the Sòng KR2l0006 Yùtáng zájì, and the Míng KR2l0009 Hànlín jì. It is unusually well-attested at its origin: the imperial visit to the rebuilt Hànlín Yuàn in Qiánlóng 9 (1744) is the explicit occasion, and the imperial preface in the emperor’s own hand frames the book as the closure of a millennium-long genre. The compilers, Èěrtài and Zhāng Tíngyù, were the most senior Manchu and Han Grand Secretaries of the Yōngzhèng/Qiánlóng court, respectively; the appointment of both as joint compilers was thus a deliberate gesture of biethnic court culture. Èěrtài died (Qiánlóng 10, 1745) before completion; the work was carried through by Zhāng Tíngyù and the editorial team. The yìwén section preserves a substantial body of imperial and literati verse on the Academy; the tímíng lists of officeholders are an important prosopographical source for the early- and mid-Qiánlóng Hànlín.
Translations and research
- Bischoff, F. A. 1963. La forêt des pinceaux. Paris: PUF. (Treats Cílín diǎngù among the Hànlín literature.)
- Yáng Guǒ 楊果. 2002. Zhōngguó Hànlín zhìdù yánjiū 中國翰林制度研究. Wuhan daxue.
- Adam Yuet Chau and other studies of imperial ceremonial occasionally cite the yíshì and línxìng sections.
Other points of interest
The opening imperial preface and four imperial quatrains bestowed upon Zhāng Tíngyù — including the line “the Hànlín assembly of forty worthies / counting them like morning stars dwindling away” (韻集燕公四十賢 / 晨星數罷一悽然), with the imperial annotation that scholars who had earlier joined Qiánlóng’s Hànlín banquets, including Èěrtài and Zhāng Zhào 張照, had nearly all died — make this work an unusually personal piece of imperial Qīng court literature in addition to a routine institutional compilation.