古今源流至論

Gǔjīn yuánliú zhìlùn 古今源流至論

Ultimate Discussions on the Origins and Streams of Past and Present

by 林駉 (Lín Jiōng, Southern Sòng, 撰) — qiánjí, hòují, xùjí (each 10 juan); by 黃履翁 (Huáng Lǚwēng, Southern Sòng, 撰) — biéjí (10 juan).

About the work

A late-Southern-Sòng cèlùn examination crammer in 40 juan across four jí. The first three jí (30 juan) are by Lín Jiōng 林駉 (zì Désòng 德頌) of Níngdé 寧德 in Fújiàn, who passed the prefectural xiāngjiàn 鄉薦 in the Yì jīng (Book of Changes) and taught privately; the fourth jí (the biéjí, also 10 juan) is by Huáng Lǚwēng 黃履翁 (zì Jífǔ 吉父), another Fújiàn man. The work was structured around roughly 100 institutional-and-historical topics, each analyzed by tracing its yuán 源 (origin) and liú 流 (subsequent development) — the title’s framing image of “origins and streams”. For each topic Lín provides a yuán analysis (canonical-classical reasoning) followed by liú analysis (Sòng-period institutional development). Huáng’s preface places the work in the post-Wáng-Ān-shí reform-era examination culture, in which the throne shifted from shīfù to cèlùn selection and candidates therefore needed institutional-history training.

The Sìkù editors group this work with the senior-scholar Yǒngjiā / Wùxué tradition (Bāmiàn fēng KR3k0022, Lìdài zhìdù xiángshuō KR3k0021, Shāntáng kǎosuǒ KR3k0029) — distinguishing it from the lower-tier Máshā commercial fāngběn trade — and praise it for tǐyào (essential structure). Its principal modern value is its careful institutional exposition of Sòng court precedents.

Tiyao (abridged)

Gǔjīn yuánliú zhìlùn qiánjí in 10 juan, hòují in 10, xùjí in 10, by Lín Jiōng of the Sòng; biéjí in 10 by Huáng Lǚwēng of the Sòng. Jiōng, zì Désòng, native of Níngdé, lived simply and studied hard; once won prefectural recommendation through the Yì and wrote books and taught — neighbouring counties competed to invite him. His traces are in the Mǐn shū. Lǚwēng, zì Jífǔ, native place not known but also a Fújiàn man.

Since Shénzōng abolished shīfù and used cèlùn to select officials, scholars all sought to be widely conversant with past and present and to consult the institutions — but found the vastness impossible to master quickly. So lèishì houses arranged and connected materials for use in the examination hall. In that period, Máshā shop-cut editions were many — mostly from rural-school pedants and recycled platitudes, none worth taking. Only Zhāng Jùnqīng’s KR3k0029 Shāntáng qúnshū kǎosuǒ is most refined and broadly useful for evidential research.

This compilation, on classical and historical differences and on the dynastic evolution of institutions, lays things out in order and ties them together — also containing essentials. Although prepared for the kējǔ, the Sòng-dynasty court rituals and state laws, divided by category and described in detail, contain much not in other books — truly a resource for evidential research; the tǐlì approaches sú (the popular) but should not be discarded.

Respectfully revised and submitted, seventh month of the forty-third year of Qiánlóng [1778].

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

Abstract

The Gǔjīn yuánliú zhìlùn is one of the principal cèlùn crammers of the senior-scholar tradition in the late Southern Sòng, comparable in genre and quality to Chén Fùliáng’s Bāmiàn fēng and Lǚ Zǔqiān’s Lìdài zhìdù xiángshuō, although less famous than those works. The compiler Lín Jiōng was a Níngdé scholar-teacher whose reputation in his lifetime rested on his Yì jīng mastery and his teaching practice; the Mǐn shū (Fújiàn local gazetteer) preserves a brief biographical notice. Huáng Lǚwēng wrote both the preface and the biéjí; the precise relation between the two scholars is not recorded but they were evidently close colleagues in the late-Southern-Sòng Fújiàn teaching tradition.

Composition is bracketed here to the broad mid-13th-c. window of late-Southern-Sòng Fújiàn scholarship (1230s–1260s); the Sìkù editors do not give a precise date. The four jí arrangement (with Lín’s three core jí and Huáng’s biéjí) parallels the pattern of Hébì shìlèi bèiyào (KR3k0030) and other late-Southern-Sòng compendia.

For the modern student the work’s chief value is its institutional analysis of Sòng court precedents, particularly its treatment of bureaucratic offices, ritual disputes, fiscal policies, and the kējǔ system itself. The yuánliú organizing principle — origin in canonical-classical institutions, development through subsequent dynasties — provides a useful guide to how late-Sòng intellectuals saw their own institutional inheritance.

Translations and research

• Hú Dào-jìng 胡道靜, Zhōngguó gǔdài de lèishū (Zhōng-huá, 1982), §Sòng.
• Lucille Chia, Printing for Profit (Harvard, 2002), §III, contextualises the work in late-Southern-Sòng Fú-jiàn book culture.

No European-language complete translation.

Other points of interest

The Sìkù tíyào’s explicit ranking — distinguishing senior-scholar cèlùn compendia (this work, Bāmiàn fēng, Lìdài zhìdù xiángshuō, Shāntáng kǎosuǒ) from Máshā commercial fāngběn — provides a clear methodological framework for navigating the late-Southern-Sòng kējǔ literature, a substantial fraction of which survives in the Sìkù.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Lèishū lèi, Gǔjīn yuánliú zhìlùn entry.
• Wikidata: Q11074406.