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石經考

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Text ID
KR2n0038
Date
1660–1682
Dynasty
清

Shíjīng kǎo 石經考

Investigation of the Stone Classics

by 顧炎武 (Gù Yánwǔ, 1613–1682)

About the work

A 1-juan critical study of the seven Chinese stone-classics traditions: Hàn Xīpíng (175–183), Wèi Zhèngshǐ (240–248), Tang Kāiyuán (745), HòuShǔ MèngChàng (10th c.), Sòng Tianlì (1041), Sòng Gāozōng (1144), and Qing Qiánlóng (1791, the latter post-dating Gù’s work). The Hàn Xīpíng and Wèi Zhèngshǐ stone classics — the two most controversial in SòngMíng jīnshí tradition — are treated in detail. Pèi Wěi’s 裴頠 stones are not extant; the Kāiyuán and later cuttings are uncontroversial. Only the Hàn (one-character / yīzì) and Wèi (three-character / sānzì) editions had been the subject of long polemic.

Ōuyáng Xiū’s Jígǔ lù could not adjudicate the Hàn/Wèi distinction. Zhào Míngchéng’s Jīnshí lù KR2n0013 and Hóng Kuò’s Lìshì KR2n0017 settled it: the yīzì (one-character) edition is Hàn; the sānzì (three-character) is Wèi. But their evidence was limited. Gù gathers all the views and re-collates: drawing on Wèi Héng’s 衞恆 Shū shì 書勢* to argue that the Wèi sānzì stones are not by Hándān Chún 邯鄲淳 (a long-standing Sòng misattribution); drawing on the Zhōushū Xuāndì jì and Suíshū Liú Zhuó zhuàn to correct the Suí Jīngjízhì’s erroneous claim that the stones were transferred from Yè 鄴 to Cháng’ān. These are real advances. The work has lapses: it does not cover Hóng Kuò’s records of additional Hàn Yílǐ and Wèi Sāntǐ stelae; it ignores the Northern Sòng Kāifēng stones (lost to flood but with surviving rubbings).

Tiyao

[Translated and condensed from the Sìkù tíyào]

Compiled by Gù Yánwǔ of the present (Qing) dynasty. He examines the seven stone-classic cuttings. Pèi Wěi’s stones are lost. The Kāiyuán-era and later cuttings are uncontroversial. Only the Hàn and Wèi cuttings — because the HòuHàn shū Rúlín zhuàn has an erroneous statement, yīzì-versus-sānzì has been disputed like temple-pile-arguments. Ōuyáng made Jígǔ lù and could not clarify it; Zhào made Jīnshí lù; Hóng made Lìshì — and they settled it: yīzì is Hàn, sānzì is Wèi. But their evidence was not wide; doubters remained.

Yánwǔ’s book broadly arrays all the views and cross-collates. He uses Wèi Héng’s Shū shì to argue that sānzì is not by Hándān Chún; he uses the Zhōushū Xuāndì jì and Suíshū Liú Zhuó zhuàn to correct the Jīngjízhì’s mistaken statement that the stones were transferred from Yè to Cháng’ān. Both are first-time discoveries.

But Hóng Kuò’s Lìxù still has one Hàn Yílǐ stele and several Wèi Sāntǐ stelae. Also the Kāifēng stones — although submerged in the Yellow River, surviving rubbings still preserve two stelae. Yánwǔ did not investigate these and so does not mention them. A thousand-thoughts lapse.

Abstract

The Shíjīng kǎo is Gù Yánwǔ’s specialised contribution to jīnshí scholarship — a compact 1-juan critical history of the Chinese stone-classics tradition, published probably in the 1660s or 1670s. The catalog meta dates Gù’s lifespan; notBefore 1660 / notAfter 1682 here.

The work’s contributions:

  1. Hàn / Wèi distinction made systematic. Building on Zhào and Hóng but with broader evidence.
  2. Hándān Chún disattribution. Wèi Héng’s Shū shì evidence rules out the long-held SòngMíng identification of Hándān Chún as Wèi sānzì calligrapher.
  3. Yè-to-Cháng’ān correction. Suí Jīngjízhì’s claim of stone-transfer corrected via the Zhōushū and Suíshū internal evidence.
  4. Genre-defining. The Shíjīng kǎo is a methodological model: monographic jīnshí on a single category. Wàn Sītóng’s Wànshì Shíjīng kǎo KR2n0039 follows directly; Háng Shìjùn’s Shíjīng kǎoyì KR2n0047 is a Qing critical extension.

CBDB confirms Gù Yánwǔ 1613–1682.

Translations and research

No English translation. Studies as for KR2n0036 and KR2n0037:

  • Hummel (ed.), Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period, s.v. “Ku Yen-wu”.
  • Endymion Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, 6th ed., on the stone-classics tradition.
  • For Shíjīng studies more broadly: Tsuen-Hsuin Tsien, Written on Bamboo and Silk (Chicago, 2nd ed. 2004), with notice on the various stone-classic cuttings.

Other points of interest

Gù’s Shíjīng kǎo is the prototype Qing monograph in the field; the immediate sequels — Wàn Sītóng’s Shíjīng kǎo KR2n0039 and Háng Shìjùn’s Shíjīng kǎoyì KR2n0047 — both directly engage Gù’s text. The Sìkù sequence places them together (KR2n0038, 0039, 0047) as a coherent monographic series.

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