Rì zhī huì shuō 日知薈說
Daily-Knowing Gathered Discussions by 高宗弘曆 (Qiánlóng emperor, 1711–1799, 清)
About the work
A four-juan biji of imperial reflections by the Qiánlóng emperor, drawing the title from the Lúnyǔ’s “rì zhī qí suǒ wáng, yuè wú wàng qí suǒ néng” (daily knowing what one was missing, monthly not forgetting what one was capable of). The work covers a broad range of topics in the imperial biji tradition: classical interpretation, historical commentary, observations on governance, reflections on the Lǐxué tradition, with the imperial yùzhì register typical of Qiánlóng-period imperial-composed works. The work is conventionally dated to the Qiánlóng era; the catalog meta gives no precise composition date. The frontmatter brackets to the Qiánlóng reign (1736–1796) with the SKQS-base completion bringing the editorial terminus ad quem to ca. 1782.
Abstract
The Rì zhī huì shuō is the principal Qiánlóng-emperor biji-style work, complementing the more numerous yùzhì prefaces and colophons attached to specific SKQS texts. The work’s scale (4 juan) makes it the longest single Qiánlóng imperial-composed prose work in the SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi.
The substantive content covers the major topics of imperial reflection in the late-imperial Chinese tradition: classical scholarship, historical comparison, governance-philosophy, literary-cultural commentary. The work is uneven in Lǐxué-doctrinal sophistication but substantial in topical coverage.
The bibliographic record: SKQS Zǐbù — Rújiā lèi. The work is largely preserved within the SKQS rather than printed for wider circulation.
Translations and research
- No substantial English-language secondary literature located on the Rì zhī huì shuō specifically.
- For Qiánlóng’s intellectual life: studies of the SKQS project (R. Kent Guy, The Emperor’s Four Treasuries, Council on East Asian Studies, 1987); Pamela Crossley, A Translucent Mirror; Mark Elliott’s writings on Qing imperial ideology.