Xù shì shǐ 續事始
Continuation of Origins of Things
by 馮鑑 (Féng Jiàn, 五代, 撰)
About the work
A 5-juan continuation of Shì shǐ 事始 (KR3k0074), extending the enumeration of cultural origins to include further institutions, royal titles, bureaucratic terms, and customary names not covered in the earlier work. The format follows its predecessor: each entry gives a term or object, followed by verbatim citations from classical or historical sources establishing the supposed historical first occurrence, introduced by “《X》曰：…“. The work begins with the title “皇帝” and continues through terms such as 太上皇, 天子稱朕, 帝皇五運, 呼君上曰陛下, and into administrative and ritual terminology.
Internal evidence points to the author as 馮鑑 (Féng Jiàn): the text repeatedly uses the first-person annotation formula “鑑按” (literally, “Jiàn [i.e., I] considers / examines”), citing the personal name jiàn 鑑 as the annotator. The nickname 炙轂子 (Zhìgǔ zǐ), associated with a Five Dynasties–period literatus whose bǐ jì 筆記 under that title survives partially, has been linked to this authorship tradition, though the precise identification of 馮鑑 with 炙轂子 in the secondary literature remains debated.
Prefaces
No preface is preserved in this Kanripo text file.
Abstract
Xù shì shǐ is associated with 馮鑑 (Féng Jiàn), a Five Dynasties–period figure. Multiple individuals named 馮鑑 appear in CBDB (ids 253871, 288906, 299367, 509782, 677764), none with confident dates, reflecting the difficulty of identifying late-Táng and Five Dynasties minor literati. The work supplements Shì shǐ attributed to 劉孝孫 (KR3k0074), and the two texts were evidently transmitted as a pair. Some sources attribute a Xù shì shǐ to 馬鑑 (Mǎ Jiàn) of the Former Shǔ kingdom (d. ca. 960), but the internal “鑑按” formula in the Kanripo text consistently gives the first character of the name as the author’s identifier; whether 馮鑑 and 馬鑑 are confused variants of the same name in the tradition, or two distinct works share the title, requires further investigation. The Sìkù quánshū does not include this work.
This text is not in the Sìkù quánshū (WYG) and is not listed in the standard catalog meta for this corpus division.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- Preceding text: KR3k0074 Shì shǐ 事始.