氏族大全

Shìzú dàquán 氏族大全

Comprehensive Compendium of Lineages and Surnames

anonymous, Yuán Máshā commercial edition.

About the work

An anonymous Yuán-period commercial-edition surname compendium in 22 juan, organized by rhyme-class according to the Guǎngyùn system. For each surname the work gives the jùnwàng (lineage origin) followed by selected biographies of eminent persons, with notable phrases drawn from each gùshí highlighted as quotable 3-or-4-character tag-lines for letter-writing. A distinctive feature: each xìngmén (surname section) concludes with a Nǚdé hūnyīn 女德婚姻 (women’s virtue and marriage) sub-section gathering ancient shūyuán (virtuous women) and inter-lineage marriage gùshí — useful precisely because Sòng-and-Yuán marriage rites required a sìliù (parallel-prose) letter exchange between the families.

The work is a typical Jiànyáng Máshā 麻沙 commercial printing — the block-format and editing match the standard fāngběn pattern of late-Sòng / Yuán Jiànyáng commercial publishing (Lucille Chia documents the genre at length). Internal evidence places the compilation in early-to-mid Yuán; the latest entries date to the Southern Sòng’s closing years, and Yè Shèng’s Shuǐdōng rìjì (mid-15th c.) already cites the work by title.

Tiyao (abridged)

The Shìzú dàquán in 22 juan; no compiler given. The events cited extend to the end of the Southern Sòng — clearly Yuán-period compilation. The block-format matches the Jiànyáng Máshā cut — clearly a contemporary shūsì (book-shop) edition. Organized by Guǎngyùn four-tone rhyme-class; compound surnames at the end ranked by the first character. For each surname the work cites shǐzhuàn (historical biographies), gives a summary, and selects 3-or-4-character tag-lines as headings — broadly intent on extracting fresh-and-novel phrases for use in literary composition.

At each surname’s end a Nǚdé hūnyīn (women’s virtue and marriage) section appends material on past shūyuán (virtuous women) and inter-surname marriage gùshí — for the SòngYuán between, marriage rites had to have a sìliù shūqǐ, so the records are particularly detailed for ease of plagiaristic borrowing.

Yè Shèng’s Shuǐdōng rìjì says: “Modern miscellaneous books and compositions are imprecise in kǎojù; the Hànmò quánshū says Péng Sīyǒng was Míngdào’s maternal uncle; the Shìzú dàquán is even worse — taking Zhào Míngchéng as Zhào Biàn’s son; among the Ten Worthies of Guǎngzhōu, Lǐ Cháoyǐn 李朝隱 (alt. Lǐ Shàngyǐn 李尚隱) is corrupted as Lǐ Shāngyǐn 李商隱.”

Now examining the categories: the dynastic order is often reversed — e.g. Wáng Dǎo’s concubine Léishì who interfered with politics, and Chén’s Zhāng Guìfēi, Gōngfēi, Kǒngfēi who relied on imperial favour and brought down the state — are all placed in the Nǚdé category, deeply inappropriate. Wéi Sīlián, Liú Fènglín etc. have their own xiān (Daoist immortals) category; but Zhāng Guǒ, Jiāng Shí etc. (also famous xiānshù-practitioners) are mixed into the rénwù category without separation — careless category-handling.

At each surname’s end some yùnzǎo (rhyme-decoration) words are appended — hóng rhyme: pánghóng, hónghán; wēng rhyme: xiānwēng, sàiwēng — these have no bearing on surnames and inflate the work to no purpose. But the gathering is broad; some persons not in shǐzhuàn or zhìshèng survive only here, supplying useful evidential cross-reference. As: the Wáng surname distinction between Línyí and Tàiyuán branches; the Gōu 勾 surname avoidance-of-Gāozōng-taboo splitting into multiple surnames; the variant texts of the Lántíng jí poem author-names — all carry incidental kǎodìng. Each has its strength; not without use to the arts.

Respectfully revised and submitted, fourth 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

The Shìzú dàquán is a typical late-Sòng / early-Yuán Jiànyáng Máshā commercial surname compendium, produced for general literacy and letter-writing use. The work circulates anonymously; the editorial and physical form indicates a commercial-edition production, probably in Jiànyáng (Fújiàn) during the early decades of Yuán control over the south (after the 1276 conquest and before mid-14th-c. Yuán dispersal). The 22-juan layout organizes Chinese surnames by Guǎngyùn rhyme-class with comprehensive jùnwàng-by-jùnwàng breakdowns.

The work’s modern value is twofold. First, it preserves a substantial body of Sòng-period prosopographical gùshí, particularly for women (the Nǚdé hūnyīn sections), making it an important source for SòngYuán social history. Second, it is the principal documentary witness to the commercial fāngběn surname-reference genre of the late-Sòng / Yuán transition. The Sìkù editors record the work with mixed evaluation — flagging errors (the wrong attribution of Zhào Míngchéng to Zhào Biàn; the corruption of Lǐ Shāngyǐn from Lǐ Shàngyǐn) but acknowledging its evidential utility.

Translations and research

• Lucille Chia, Printing for Profit (Harvard, 2002), §III, on Jiàn-yáng fāng-běn surname works.
• Hú Dào-jìng 胡道靜, Zhōngguó gǔdài de lèishū (Zhōng-huá, 1982), §Yuán.
• Cén Zhòng-miǎn 岑仲勉, Yuán-hé xìng-zuǎn fù sì-jiào jì (Zhōng-huá, 1994), notes textual variants.

No European-language translation.

Links

• Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Lèishū lèi, Shìzú dàquán entry.
• Wikidata: Q11074571.