項氏家說

Xiàngshì jiā shuō 項氏家說

The Xiàng-Family Discussions by 項安世 (Xiàng Ānshì, zì Píngfǔ 平甫, 1146–1208, 宋)

About the work

A ten-juan classical-historical biji by Xiàng Ānshì, with two juan of appendix, composed during his ten-year exile to Jiānglíng 江陵 in the Qìngyuán dǎngjìn (after 1196). The work is divided thematically: Shuō jīng 說經 (juan 1–7, on classical exegesis — Yì, Shū, Shī, Zhōu lǐ, Lǐjì, Lúnyǔ Mèngzǐ etc.), Shuō shì 說事 (juan 8–9), Shuō zhèng 說政 / Shuō xué 說學 (juan 10). Two juan of fùlù — Xiào jīng shuō 孝經說, Zhōng yōng yì shuō 中庸臆說 — are appended. The substantive position is Lǐxué-aligned but methodologically rigorous: Xiàng’s classical work, distinguished from contemporary kōng yán (empty discourse), examines variants and verifies positions with care, often (per the SKQS tíyào) penetrating to the source where contemporaries could not.

The work was lost from circulation by the early Míng. The SKQS editors recovered it from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn’s scattered citations, reconstructing the 10-juan body and 2-juan appendix on the basis of Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí description; the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn preserved only the Xiàojīng shuō and Zhōngyōng yì shuō of the original four-juan appendix, the Shīpiān cì 詩篇次 and Qiūchéng tú 邱乘圖 portions being already lost. The Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì records the work in 10 juan + 4 juan fùlù.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit that the Xiàngshì jiā shuō in 10 juan with 2 juan of appendix was composed by Xiàng Ānshì of the Sòng. Ānshì’s Zhōuyì wán cí has been catalogued elsewhere. This is presumably what he, in reading the classics and histories, recorded item-by-item — an accumulating composition.

By Lè Zhāng’s 樂章 Jiādìng xīnwèi (1211) postface to Zhōuyì wán cí: “Master Xiàng once offended the powerful minister and was banished for ten years. Closing his door, sweeping up footsteps, his feet did not cross the threshold. Devoting himself to classics and history, he completed several books. When the border opened and the frontier announced emergency, he was commanded out and stood alone on one front, externally checking the encroachment, internally consolidating the foundation — distinguished achievement.” Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí also says that during the Qìngyuán proscription he resided at Jiānglíng, closed his door and concentrated his mind, neither attending nor seeing visitors out beyond the threshold; all the various works carried discussions. So this book was composed during his Qìngyuán exile to Jiānglíng.

Ānshì’s learning had substance and use, comprehended the way of governance, and his exegesis did not stress empty words. His verification of variants and investigation of right and wrong often penetrated to the source — far above the various contemporary schools.

The work is recorded in the Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì as 10 juan with 4-juan appendix; it also separately lists Xiào jīng shuō 1 juan and Zhōng yōng shuō 1 juan. The Shūlù jiětí matches. From early Míng on, the text was lost. We have now scattered-found from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn under each rhyme, examining the contents — Shuō jīng, Shuō shì, Shuō zhèng, Shuō xué and other 篇 — each item with its own biāotí; the original work’s tǐlì can be roughly recovered, and the piān are still mostly preserved. Respectfully arranging by category: classics first by classical sequence — juan 1, 2 Yì shuō; juan 3 Shū shuō; juan 4 Shī shuō; juan 5 Zhōu lǐ; juan 6 Lǐjì; juan 7 Lúnyǔ Mèngzǐ etc. — these constituting Shuō jīng in 7 juan. Juan 8, 9, 10 then carry Shuō shì, Shuō zhèng, Shuō xué. Although the original mù is not extant and the order may not entirely match the old, Chén Zhènsūn says “all nine classics have argument” and “from the eighth juan miscellaneous on text, history, government, learning” — the order largely matches.

Zhènsūn says the appendix had Xiào jīng, Zhōng yōng, Shīpiān cì, Qiūchéng tú — each a separate book brought in as appendix in 4 juan. Now examining the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn, only Xiào jīng shuō and Zhōng yōng yì shuō are preserved; Shīpiān cì and Qiūchéng tú are not collected — apparently already lost when the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn was compiled. We have followed what survives, combined as appendix in 2 juan, attached at the close to roughly recover the old form.

[Tíyào continues; abbreviated.]

Respectfully revised and submitted, eleventh month of the forty-seventh year of Qiánlóng [1782].

General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅.

Abstract

The Xiàngshì jiā shuō is a substantial classical-historical biji of the Qìngyuán dǎngjìn generation — composed in proscribed-status retreat, circulated by Sòng but lost in early Míng, recovered through the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn by the SKQS editors. The composition window is precisely Xiàng Ānshì’s ten-year Jiānglíng exile (Qìngyuán 2 / 1196 to ca. Kāixǐ 2 / 1206 when he was recalled). The frontmatter brackets the work to 1196–1206.

The substantive position — methodologically careful classical exegesis avoiding kōng yán, with a particularly developed xíngzhèng (governance) section in the Shuō zhèng juan — places Xiàng among the more philologically attentive late-twelfth-century Lǐxué writers. His combination of broad classical commentary with practical political-administrative discussion anticipates the late-Sòng Lǐxué turn toward applied jīngshì.

The textual restoration via the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn is substantial but not complete: the Shīpiān cì and Qiūchéng tú of the original 4-juan appendix were already lost by the early-Míng Yǒnglè dàdiǎn compilation; only the 2-juan Xiào jīng shuō / Zhōng yōng yì shuō portion survives.

The bibliographic record: Sòng shǐ yìwén zhì (10 juan + 4 juan appendix); Wénxiàn tōngkǎo; Zhízhāi shūlù jiětí; Yǒnglè dàdiǎn; SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi.

Translations and research

• No substantial English-language secondary literature located.
• The work is treated within studies of Xiàng Ānshì’s Yìjīng scholarship and within studies of the Qìng-yuán dǎng-jìn generation.

Other points of interest

The Xiàng Ānshì story — proscribed Lǐxué-aligned scholar who used a decade of forced retreat to produce major scholarship and was then recalled to military command at the moment of the SòngJīn frontier crisis — is a paradigmatic late-twelfth-century shìdàfū arc. The Xiàngshì jiā shuō’s recovery via the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn is one of the cleaner SKQS-period rescues of a substantial Sòng Rújiā work.

Links

• Sòng shǐ j. 397 (Xiàng Ānshì zhuàn).
• Xiàng Ānshì, Zhōuyì wán cí 周易玩辭 (companion work).
• Lè Zhāng 樂章, postface to Zhōuyì wán cí (Jiādìng xīnwèi / 1211).
• Yǒnglè dàdiǎn (the preserving source).
• Kyoto Zinbun, Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào
• Wikidata