Rénlún dàtǒng fù 人倫大統賦
Composition on the Comprehensive Order of Human Relations by 張行簡 (Zhāng Xíngjiǎn, Jìngfǔ, 金, zhuàn 撰); annotated by 薛延年 (Xuē Yánnián, Shòuzhī, 元, Huángqìng 2 = 1313)
About the work
Zhāng Xíngjiǎn’s compact physiognomic composition-poem (fù) of approximately 2,000-3,000 characters, with Xuē Yánnián’s elaborate annotation. The work is presented in fù (composition) form for ease of memorization and is one of the more elegant physiognomic texts of the late-Jīn / Yuán period.
The 提要 commends the work’s brevity-and-comprehensiveness: per Xuē Yánnián’s preface, the work “lifts-the-outline grasps-the-essential, in not 2-or-3 thousand words enpouches the physiognomic art exhaustively. The conditions are dispelled-and-flowing, with [appropriate] joints” — a fair description.
The work’s substantive limitation: “[Zhāng Xíngjiǎn] aimed to deify his technique; in places the language slips into the empty-and-boastful” — characteristic shùshù tendency. Xuē Yánnián’s commentary “although developed in detail, on those [statements] not requiring annotation has indiscriminately added prolix material; on average somewhat verbose-and-shallow”. The Sìkù editors retain the commentary despite these criticisms because the Jīnyuán (Jīn / Yuán-period) scholarship preserved is rare.
The Sìkù-recension is from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn with first-and-last completeness — a complete recension. The work is preserved as a representative of the Jīnyuán-period physiognomic tradition and as one of the few surviving works of the Jīn dynasty’s authorial production (the 提要 notes “Jīnyuán transmitted compositions are rare in the world”).
For Zhāng Xíngjiǎn’s biography, see 張行簡. For the broader physiognomic tradition, see KR3g0043 Yuèbō dòngzhōng jì, KR3g0044 Yùguǎn zhàoshén jú, KR3g0045 Tàiqīng shénjiàn.
Tiyao
[Full text in source file. Dated Qiánlóng 46 (1781), ninth month.]