Sòng Jǐngwén bǐ jì 宋景文筆記
Notes of Sòng Jǐng-wén
by 宋祁 (Sòng Qí, zì Zǐjīng 子京, posthumous title Jǐngwén 景文, 998–1061; co-author of the Xīn Táng shū; Gōngbù shàngshū, Hànlín xuéshì chéngzhǐ)
About the work
A 3-juan Northern Sòng bǐjì by Sòng Qí, posthumously styled Jǐngwén 景文, the co-author (with Ōuyáng Xiū 歐陽修) of the Xīn Táng shū 新唐書. The book is divided into three thematic juan: Shì sú 釋俗 (clarifying vulgar mis-readings), Kǎo gǔ 考古 (investigating antiquity), and Zá jì 雜記 (miscellaneous notes). The first two juan are devoted to xiǎo xué — rectifying míng wù, yīn xùn (lexicology, phonology) — with some incursions into literary and historical matter. The last juan is more aphoristic and zǐshū (philosophical-pithy-saying) in style, comparable to Jiāo Gàn’s 焦贛 Yì lín 易林 and Tán Qiào’s 譚峭 Huà shū 化書. The work survives in some uncertainty about whether the Zǐkě (children’s-rules) and Zhǎo jiè (pool-warnings) and Zuǒ zhì yòu míng (left-record, right-inscription) sections at the back are author-original or later attribution.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit that Sòng Jǐngwén bǐ jì in three juan was compiled by Sòng Qí of the Sòng. Qí’s zì was Zǐjīng. A native of Ānzhōu Ānlù; later moved to Yōngqiū in Kāifēng. With his elder brother Xiáng 庠 he won the jìnshì in the Tiānshèng (1023–1032) period. Ended his career at Gōngbù shàngshū, Hànlín xuéshì chéngzhǐ; posthumous title Jǐngwén.
The book’s upper juan is Shì sú (clarifying vulgar usage), middle juan Kǎo gǔ (investigating antiquity) — both setting straight names-and-things and phonological-glossatorial matters, mostly helpful for xiǎo xué (lexicology) with occasional engagement with literature and history. The lower juan is Zá jì (miscellaneous notes) — apparently aimed at producing a zǐshū (philosophical-personal-handbook) — with phrasing strange and pithy, mostly resembling Jiāo Gàn’s Yì lín and Tán Qiào’s Huà shū. The closing sections — Tíng jiè 庭戒 (court-warning), Zhǎo jiè 沼戒 (pond-warning), Zuǒ zhì 左志 (left-record), Yòu míng 右銘 (right-inscription) — it is uncertain whether the author wrote in advance or his descendants added.
At the end is a Bǎoqìng 2 (1226) colophon by Lǐ Kàn 李衎 of Shàngyú, noting seven points of doubt: [the tíyào enumerates seven specific errors in detail, e.g. on the gǔ duǒ / guā tuó error, on Bào Zhào 鮑照 / Bào Zhāo confusion (Hú missing the Wǔ Hòu taboo), etc.]. Lǐ’s hits are mostly correct. Yet the bulk of the work’s evidential investigation is precise, not the casual yóu tán (drifting talk) of other miscellanies.
Within it, the entry on Hàn Gāozǔ and Lǚhòu was later wholly the basis of Sū Xún’s 蘇洵 Gāo zǔ lùn 高祖論. The entry on Xiāo Gāi 蕭該’s Hàn shū yīnyì — which Yán Shīgǔ did not see — is preserved here in fragmentary form; this book is one of the principal jí yì sources for Xiāo Gāi.
Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì records that this book at the head of every chapter has “gōng yuē” 公曰 (“the master said”), and that the editor is unknown. This recension lacks the gōng yuē — probably the engraver dropped them.
The Tōng kǎo cites Zhōngxīng yìwén zhì identifying this book as compiled in the Shàoshèng (1094–1098) period by Sòng Zhào 宋肇 from his ancestor Xiáng’s words — different from Cháo Gōngwǔ’s view. Mǎ Duānlín notes that “the two bǐlù are the same juan-count, and Qí and Xiáng are brothers; one cannot determine which is which.” Now: the book repeatedly cites “Jǔgōng” 莒公 — and Jǔgōng is precisely Xiáng — so this book is clearly Qí’s. Perhaps Zhào’s compilation is a different work also titled Bǐ lù.
Respectfully revised and submitted, tenth month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng [1781].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. General Reviser: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
Sòng Qí 宋祁 (998–1061), zì Zǐjīng 子京, posthumous title Jǐngwén 景文, of Ānlù 安陸 (originally) and Yōngqiū 雍邱 in Kāifēng (residence). Younger brother of Sòng Xiáng 宋庠 (Jǔgōng 莒公, also a senior Sòng minister). Both brothers won the jìnshì in Tiānshèng 2 (1024) — Qí coming second of the gǎo dì third tier, but conventionally given precedence after the empress dowager’s intervention. Career: Hànlín xuéshì, zhī zhìgào, Gōngbù shàngshū, Hànlín xuéshì chéngzhǐ. Major scholarly output: co-author (with Ōuyáng Xiū) of the Xīn Táng shū 新唐書 — Sòng Qí responsible for the liè zhuàn (biographies); also extensive poetry and prose. The biographical record is Sòng shǐ j. 284.
The Bǐ jì gathers Sòng Qí’s evidential and aphoristic notes accumulated over his career. The lexicological-evidential Shì sú and Kǎo gǔ juan are useful but already exhibit (per the Sìkù editors’ detailed enumeration) seven specific errors of the kind familiar in Sòng bǐjì. The Zá jì aphoristic juan is in the zǐshū tradition and is methodologically distinct.
Dating. The book covers Sòng Qí’s full adult life (notBefore 1020, notAfter 1061 his death-year).
Textual transmission: the SKQS recension. Modern punctuated edition in Quán Sòng bǐ jì 全宋筆記.
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language complete translation. The work features in Western scholarship on the Xīn Táng shū (Sòng Qí is one of the most-studied Sòng historiographers) and on Sòng bǐjì. The Hàn Gāo-zǔ / Lǚ-hòu entry’s transmission into Sū Xún’s Gāo zǔ lùn is itself a significant intellectual-historical detail in Northern Sòng political philosophy.
Other points of interest
The book preserves valuable fragments of Xiāo Gāi’s 蕭該 (Suí) Hàn shū yīnyì 漢書音義 — a lost Hàn shū commentary that Yán Shīgǔ did not have access to. The book is one of the principal jí yì sources for Xiāo Gāi.
The Sòngshì family-rivalry / family-collaboration history (Qí and Xiáng) is itself an interesting Northern Sòng intellectual-biographical episode. Mǎ Duānlín’s confused note on the authorship of “the two bǐlù” reflects the family-internal authorship-ambiguity.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào 四庫全書總目提要, Zǐbù · Zájiā lèi 3 · Záshuō zhī shǔ, Sòng Jǐngwén bǐ jì entry.
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1059099 (Sòng Qí).