Yù dìng Zǐ shǐ jīnghuá 御定子史精華
Imperially Established Essence of the Masters and Histories
by 吳士玉 (Wú Shìyù, Qīng, 奉敕撰; zǒngcái), 吳襄 (Wú Xiāng, Qīng, 奉敕撰; zuǎnxiū), and the 世宗胤禛 Yōngzhèng emperor (定); with jiānxiū by 允祿 Yǔnlù (Zhuāng qīnwáng) and Yǔnlǐ 允禮 (Guǒ qīnwáng), and 張廷玉 Zhāng Tíngyù among the Nánshūfáng jiàoduì.
About the work
A topical anthology in 160 juǎn of extracts from the Zǐ (Masters / philosophers) and Shǐ (Histories) branches of the Sìkù classification — the last of the great Kāngxī-and-Yōngzhèng court compilations of pre-Qīng literature, ordered by the Kāngxī emperor in his final years and brought to completion under the Yōngzhèng emperor (preface dated Yōngzhèng 5, 1727). The Yōngzhèng emperor’s preface gives the work as bequest-and-fulfilment, completing his father’s posthumous project. The work is divided into 30 bù (categories) with 279 zǐmù. Categories cover heaven, earth, emperors, imperial relatives, seasons, ritual, officialdom, governance, scholarship, military, frontier, kinship, virtue, social rank, status, conduct, music, religion, the supernatural, technical arts, body, language, women, animals, plants, ceremonial regalia, dress, residence, occupation, food, treasures, vessels.
Tiyao
We submit the following: the Yù dìng Zǐ shǐ jīnghuá in 160 juǎn was commanded by the Shèngzǔ Rénhuángdì (Kāngxī) in his last years and brought to yùdìng (imperial confirmation) and dissemination by the Shìzōng Xiànhuángdì (Yōngzhèng) in Yōngzhèng 5 (1727). Within the Sìkù, the Zǐ and Shǐ branches are the most extensive and the most miscellaneous — beyond the jìzhuàn (annals-and-biographies) and biānnián (chronicles) of the dynastic histories, all bàiguān yějì (unofficial gazettes and private accounts) attach themselves to the Shǐ branch; beyond the rújiā (Confucian school) all yìxué fāngjì (heterodox doctrines and technical arts) lodge themselves under the Zǐ branch. Scholars complain of the rǒnglàn (verbose and lax); but for evidential-research and broad scholarship the material is necessary and cannot be discarded. The collection therefore swells year by year. Some poor scholars cannot afford to purchase the entirety, or in remote places cannot find access; others, omnivorous and undisciplined, cannot separate flaw from gem, or chase the strange and the novel and miss the wheat for the chaff. Hence the rise of the shānzuǎn (excerpting and compilation) discipline. But existing zhāilù (excerpt-anthologies) — Yú Zhòngróng’s Zǐ chāo (note: Zǐ chāo survives only as scattered material in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn), Mǎ Zǒng’s Yì lín, Qián Duānlǐ’s Zhū shǐ tíyào, Yáng Kǎn’s Liǎng Hàn bówén, Lín Yuè’s Hàn jùn, Hóng Mài’s Jīng zǐ fǎ yǔ and Zhū shǐ jīng yǔ, Lǚ Zǔqiān’s Shíqī shǐ xiáng jié — are all incomplete or simplistic; and Míng-period compilations are still worse, scarcely worth comment.
The Shèngzǔ Rénhuángdì graciously gathered the yìlín (forest of letters) and specially commanded the compilation of this work, to provide a guide to jīndài (the proper crossings). It is divided into 30 lèi and 289 zǐmù; the choice phrases and outstanding turns of expression are gathered without omission, the main body presented in large characters as the principal locus, with sub-commentary explaining its head and tail. Yuányuán běnběn (proceeding from the actual sources), the arrangement is orderly; the cuts are well-judged; the abundance is restrained without being skeletal. Holding this single volume one is rich enough to rival a hundred cities in books; for the two branches Zǐ and Shǐ, truly pī shā ér jiǎn jīn jí yè ér wéi qiú (sifting sand for gold, gathering small skins to make a robe).
Respectfully revised and submitted, fifth month of the forty-first year of Qiánlóng [1776].
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 Zǐ shǐ jīnghuá is the last of the Kāngxī-court grand compilations of pre-Qīng literature — commissioned by the Kāngxī emperor in his final years (after 1719), drafted under his oversight, and finalized by the Yōngzhèng emperor with a preface dated Yōngzhèng 5 / fourth month (1727). It is the Zǐ and Shǐ counterpart to the Pèiwén yùnfǔ (KR3k0059) and the Quán Táng shī — the three together constituting the Kāngxī court’s systematic zhāilù survey of the Classics-Histories-Masters-Collections corpus, with the Pèiwén yùnfǔ anthologizing phrases across all four branches and the Zǐ shǐ jīnghuá focused specifically on the Zǐ and Shǐ branches.
The Yōngzhèng emperor’s preface gives the genealogy explicitly: “The Zǐ shǐ jīnghuá was the last of the works compiled [under my late father’s direction]; at the beginning of my reign it was not yet finished. Respectfully assuming the imperial will, I caused the work to be brought to completion.” The work’s principal zǒngcái (general director) was 吳士玉 Wú Shìyù (1669–1733), who also directed the Pián zì lèibiān (KR3k0056); 吳襄 Wú Xiāng (1661–1735; CBDB 58942) — distinct from the official of similar name and a Kāngxī-period Nèigé xuéshì — was among the principal zuǎnxiū compilers; 沈宗敬 Shěn Zōngjìng was a fēnzuǎn; 張廷玉 Zhāng Tíngyù served as senior Nánshūfáng jiàoduì. The jiānxiū — Yǔnlù 允祿 (Zhuāng qīnwáng) and Yǔnlǐ 允禮 (Guǒ qīnwáng) — are the same princely supervisors who directed the Pián zì lèibiān (KR3k0056) and other late-Kāngxī / early-Yōngzhèng imperial projects.
The 30 bù are: 天 (Heaven), 地 (Earth), 帝王 (Emperors), 皇親 (Imperial Kin), 嵗時 (Seasons), 禮儀 (Ritual), 設官 (Establishment of Offices), 政術 (Governance), 文學 (Scholarship), 武功 (Military), 邊塞 (Frontier), 倫常 (Kinship), 品行 (Conduct), 人事 (Human Affairs), 樂 (Music), 釋道 (Buddhism and Taoism), 靈異 (Supernatural), 方術 (Technical Arts), 巧藝 (Craftsmanship), 形色 (Form and Colour), 言語 (Speech), 婦女 (Women), 動植 (Animals and Plants), 儀飾 (Ceremonial Regalia), 服飾 (Dress), 居處 (Residences), 産業 (Occupations), 食饌 (Food), 珍寶 (Treasures), 器物 (Vessels).
The work’s distinguishing methodological feature, recorded in the Sìkù tíyào, is the presentation form: the principal extract is given in dàshū (large characters) as the main locus, with smaller-character fēnzhù sub-commentary giving the source and surrounding context. This yuányuán běnběn presentation — closer to jíshì (collected commentaries) form than to the bare lèichāo excerpt-anthology — makes the Zǐ shǐ jīnghuá unusually traceable to its sources, distinguishing it from the Pèiwén yùnfǔ and earlier Míng zhāilù works.
Translations and research
- Endymion Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual (Harvard, 2018), ch. 72.
- Hú Dào-jìng 胡道靜, Zhōngguó gǔdài de lèishū (Zhōng-huá, 1982), §Qīng.
- Liú Yè-qiū 劉葉秋, Lèi-shū jiǎn shuō (Zhōng-huá, 1980).
No European-language complete translation.
Other points of interest
The Zǐ shǐ jīnghuá is the canonical case of an imperially-commissioned compendium that the Yōngzhèng emperor brought to completion from his father’s unfinished projects — alongside the Pián zì lèibiān (KR3k0056) and the Gǔjīn túshū jíchéng. The Yōngzhèng preface is a programmatic statement of zhěngshù xiānzhì (gathering the unfinished works of one’s predecessor) as filial-imperial obligation.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Lèishū lèi, Yù dìng Zǐ shǐ jīnghuá entry.