Shuōlüè 說畧
Summary of Discourses
by 顧起元 (Gù Qǐyuán, Míng, 撰).
About the work
A 30-juan late-Míng working-notebook compendium gathering material from the shuōbù 說部 (informal-prose literature) of the Hàn through Míng. Compiled by Gù Qǐyuán 顧起元 (1565–1628), zì Tàichū 太初, of Jiāngníng 江寧 (Nánjīng) — Wànlì wùxū (1598) jìnshì who rose to Lìbù yòu shìláng and was posthumously titled Wénzhuāng 文莊. The work was begun in Wànlì jiǎwǔ / yǐwèi (1594–1595) during a leisure period; the original 20-juan form was lost in a boating accident on the Nányáng jué hé (broken-river) in yǐsì (1605) but recovered from a friend’s copy; the present 30-juan form was completed in Wànlì guǐchǒu (1613) and printed shortly after.
The work’s 30 mén are: Xiàngwěi (astronomy), Fāngyú (geography, 2 juan), Shíxù (time), Rénjì (human history), Guānyí (offices), Shǐbié (histories, 3 juan), Lǐzuì (rituals), Lǜzhī (laws), Diǎnshù (institutional precedents, 3 juan), Zìxué (philology), Shūhuà (calligraphy and painting), Lǐfǎ (lǐ family / classics), Míngqì (the netherworld, 2 juan), Jūshì (dwellings), Fúshì (garments), Gōngkǎo (craftsmanship, 2 juan), Xiézhì (humorous notes), Shíxiàn (foods), Zhēngé (treasures), Huìjiān (botany, 2 juan), Chóngzhù (insects, 2 juan).
The Sìkù editors note the work bridges the shuōbù (bǐjì / informal-prose) and the lèishū (categorized compendium) traditions; the Míng shǐ · Yìwén zhì mistakenly places the work in the xiǎoshuō class because of its draws on shuōbù sources, but the work’s structural plan is that of a lèishū. The Shǐbié and Diǎnshù categories are particularly noted for evidential-research value.
Tiyao (abridged)
The Shuōlüè in 30 juan by Gù Qǐyuán of the Míng. Qǐyuán, zì Tàichū, native of Jiāngníng, Wànlì wùxū (1598) jìnshì; rose to Lìbù yòu shìláng; posthumous title Wénzhuāng. The Míng shǐ · Yìwén zhì records the Shuōlüè in 60 juan; but Qǐyuán’s self-preface gives 30 juan — the Zhì must have erred.
The book miscellaneously gathers from shuōbù (informal-prose) writings, arranged by category and listed in entries — close to Zēng Zào’s Lèishuō and Táo Zōngyí’s Shuōfú — so the Míng shǐ placed it under xiǎoshuō jiā. But examining the tǐlì carefully: the mén arrangement and entry-organization match the lèishū pattern. Only lèishū arrange events; this arranges sayings.
Although the contents include èrshì (Daoism and Buddhism) and incorporate strange and trivial matters — not free of mixed material — but Míng commercial lèishū are mostly plagiaristic and useless, while Qǐyuán’s learning was broader than the typical jiā — so the work still has tǐcái (form and substance). The Shǐbié and Diǎnshù categories are particularly useful for evidential research; the gathering and assembling labour is not to be wholly effaced.
Respectfully revised and submitted, fifth 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 Shuōlüè is one of the better-organized late-Míng bǐjì / lèishū hybrids and a major source for understanding the late-Míng intellectual milieu of Jiāngníng (Nánjīng). Gù Qǐyuán was one of the most distinguished late-Míng kǎojù scholars, with a substantial output including the Kèzuò zhuìyǔ 客座贅語 (a bǐjì on late-Míng Nánjīng intellectual and social life), the Jīnlíng gǔjīn túkǎo 金陵古今圖考 (a historical-geographical study of Nánjīng), and the present Shuōlüè.
Composition is well-documented: begun 1594; first draft (20 juan) lost 1605 and recovered; final 30-juan form completed 1613 with the Jiǎpíng (12th month, late 1613 / early 1614) self-preface. The work was published shortly after, with funding from Zhūjūn 朱君君器. The preserved Gù self-preface is one of the more candid Míng-period statements of lèishū compilation methodology — Gù admits the work is incomplete, sometimes redundant, sometimes thin, but argues for its usefulness as a shǔzhì (subject-classified) consultation tool.
For modern study, the Shǐbié and Diǎnshù categories (occupying 6 of the 30 juan) are the most valuable — preserving citations from Sòng and Yuán bǐjì literature that did not survive in their original form. The standard modern edition is the Shànghǎi gǔjí 1995 reprint of the Sìkù recension.
Translations and research
- Hú Dào-jìng 胡道靜, Zhōngguó gǔdài de lèishū (Zhōng-huá, 1982), §Míng.
- Frederic Brandauer and Chun-chieh Huang, eds., Imperial Rulership and Cultural Change in Traditional China (Washington UP, 1994), §III references Gù Qǐ-yuán among late-Míng intellectuals.
No European-language complete translation.
Other points of interest
The Gù self-preface’s narrative of the work’s manuscript loss in a boating accident in 1605 and its recovery from a friend’s copy is a useful documentation of late-Míng scholarly book-circulation practices — friends commonly held copies of working manuscripts in case of disasters of this kind.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Lèishū lèi, Shuōlüè entry.
- Wikidata: Q11074736.