Shìfǎ 謚法
Code of Posthumous Names by 蘇洵 (撰)
About the work
A definitive Sòng-period codification of the rules for awarding posthumous names (shìhào 謚號), compiled by Sū Xún 蘇洵 (1009–1066) on imperial commission as part of his work on the Tàicháng yīngé lǐ 太常因革禮 in the early Yīngzōng reign. The work synthesizes the seven major prior treatments (those of Liú Xī, Lái Ào, Shěn Yuē, Hè Chēn, Wáng Yànwēi, Sū Miǎn, and Hù Méng) into a defensible authoritative list of 168 posthumous epithets distributed across 311 categories, with 23 newly defined and 17 newly added. It became the standard reference for posthumous-name protocol from the late Sòng onward; Zhèng Qiáo’s Tōngzhì shì lüè expanded directly on it.
Tiyao
By Sū Xún of the Sòng. Xún, zì Míngyǔn, of Méishān; Mìshū shěng jiàoshū láng; Bàzhōu Wén’ānxiàn zhǔbù. He compiled the Tàicháng yīngé lǐ; on completion of that work he died. His career is recorded in his Sòngshǐ biography. After the Duke of Zhōu’s Shìfǎ, those who treated posthumous names through later ages include Liú Xī, Lái Ào, Shěn Yuē, Hè Chēn, Wáng Yànwēi, Sū Miǎn, and Hù Méng. But all are mixed and added-to and not authoritative. Sū Xún was commissioned to consolidate the six families’ shìfǎ and accordingly drew on the Chūnqiū guǎngshì and the various works to delete, correct, and verify, producing this book. 168 shì are taken, in 311 categories; 23 are newly modified and 17 newly added. There is also a “seven removed eight categories” portion. From the older texts much is excised.
Within the work, names like Yáo, Shùn, Yǔ, Tāng, Jié, Zhòu—names of ancient sovereigns, not posthumous titles—are still listed in continuation of the older error: a small lapse. But compared to the other works, the structure is rigorous. Zhèng Qiáo’s Tōngzhì shì lüè is largely an expansion of this work; he praises Sū’s “decisive selection: good and evil receive a fixed judgment,” noting it as a real advance on his predecessors. Sū’s adjustments and definitions all rest on solid evidence; the ritualists therefore took it as their authority. Even though some of its archaic graphs are now no longer in actual use, it remains the standard reference for transmitted protocol.
Zēng Gǒng’s epitaph (mùzhì) records this work in 3 juǎn, while the present text is in 4—presumably a later subdivision.
Abstract
The Shìfǎ belongs to Sū Xún’s late-life work on the Tàicháng yīngé lǐ (Statute Code of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices), which Yīngzōng commissioned in 1064 and which Sū worked on until his death in 1066. The dating bracket here reflects this: notBefore=1064, notAfter=1066. The 4-juǎn recension is the Sìkù version; Zēng Gǒng’s epitaph attests an original 3-juǎn form, suggesting later editorial subdivision.
The work is the foundation of Sòng-and-after posthumous-name practice. Wilkinson does not single it out individually but treats the shìfǎ literature in connection with the imperial-genealogy and ritual chapters of the Wénxiàn Tōngkǎo and the Sòngshǐ Lǐzhì. For Sòng prosopography, the work is essential because Sòng shìhào assignments are densely cross-referenced to its definitions. Su Xun’s own life-dates are confirmed by the Sòngshǐ and CBDB as 1009–1066.
Translations and research
Standard editions: the Wényuāngé Sìkù and the Cóngshū jíchéng reprint. Western literature on Sū Xún has tended to focus on his prose and political theory rather than this technical work; George Hatch’s chapter “Su Hsün” in Hervouet, ed., A Sung Bibliography, is a useful overview. The principal modern Chinese edition is Wāng Cǎihuá 汪採華, Sū Xún Shìfǎ jiàoshì 蘇洵諡法校釋 (Shànghǎi gǔjí, 2007). Carrie Reed, “Posthumous Names” in Reading Medieval Ritual (Brill, 2016), surveys the institutional context.
Other points of interest
The minor cataloging error in including Yáo, Shùn, Yǔ, Tāng, Jié, and Zhòu—names of legendary sovereigns and tyrants, not posthumous titles—is preserved by Sū Xún from his predecessors and noted (gently) by the Sìkù editors. The error became canonical: subsequent shìfǎ treatises retain it.