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北夢瑣言

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Text ID
KR3l0023
Date
940–960
Dynasty
北宋

Běimèng suǒyán 北夢瑣言

Trivial Words of the Northern Marsh by 孫光憲 (撰)

About the work

A twenty-juàn anecdote-collection covering late-Táng and Five-Dynasties shìdàfū affairs, by 孫光憲 Sūn Guāngxiàn (d. 968), styled Bǎoguāng zǐ 葆光子. Compiled during Sūn’s long service as senior official under the Jīngnán (Nánpíng) regime of Gāo Jìxìng 高季興 and his successors at Jiānglíng — the “Northern Marsh” of the title referring to Jīngzhōu, north of the Yangtze “marsh” (mèng) named in the Zuǒzhuàn. Each entry typically names the source of the report (an informant by name), in the manner of Sū È’s 蘇鶚 Dùyáng zábiān, lending the work unusual documentary authority among Five-Dynasties bǐjì. The Tàipíng guǎngjì draws extensively on Běimèng suǒyán; the Sòng shǐ used it for late-Táng prosopography.

Tiyao

Your servants report: Běimèng suǒyán in 20 juàn, by the Sòng Sūn Guāngxiàn. Guāngxiàn zì Mèngwén, self-styled Bǎoguāng zǐ. The Shíguó chūnqiū gives him as a Guìpíng man, but the self-title gives Fùchūn — examining Guāngxiàn’s own preface saying “born from Mín and É” we conclude he was Shǔ-born; Fùchūn in the title is the jùnwàng (clan native place). He served under the Táng as Língzhōu pànguān, then attached himself to Gāo Jìxìng at Jīngnán as cóngshì; later he advised Gāo Jìchōng to surrender the three districts to Sòng Tàizǔ, who promoted him to Governor of Huángzhōu where he died. The Wǔdài shǐ Jīngnán shìjiā records this in detail. The earlier opinion that he is a Five-Dynasties man is mistaken. His works include Jīngtái jí, Júzhāi jí, Wánbǐ yōng jí, Gǒnghú biān, Wáncán shū, Xù tōnglì — all dispersed and lost by the Sòng; only the present work survives. The title Běimèng suǒyán takes the Zuǒzhuàn’s expression “tián yú Jiāngnán zhī mèng” (hunt in the mèng of Jiāngnán) — Jīngzhōu being north of the Yangtze “marsh” — and so the title. It was composed when serving Gāo. The matter is all late-Táng and Five-Dynasties shìdàfū anecdote, each entry mostly carrying the name of the informant, in proof of authenticity — using Sū È’s Dùyáng zábiān model. The recording is somewhat trivial and the arrangement somewhat sprawling, but the preserved snippets are often useful for source-criticism; therefore Sòng Lǐ Fǎng and others in compiling the Tàipíng guǎngjì drew much from it. Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì records Guāngxiàn’s Xù tōnglì in 10 juàn, gathering Táng and Five-Dynasties matter to continue Mǎ Zǒng’s book, with reference to Huáng Cháo, Lǐ Màozhēn, Liú Shǒuguāng, Àn Bājiān (note: “Àn Bājiān” is for “Ā Bǎojī”)…

Abstract

Sūn Guāngxiàn (d. 968 per CBDB id 45144 c_fl_latest_year 968; c_fl_earliest_year 907; c_death_year 965) was born in Shǔ in the late 9th century. After a Língzhōu pànguān posting under the Táng, he served at the Jīngnán court of Gāo Jìxìng from c. 925 and remained through three rulers, eventually persuading Gāo Jìchōng to submit to the Sòng (963). Sòng Tàizǔ rewarded him with the Huángzhōu cìshǐ governorship, where he died c. 968. Běimèng suǒyán was composed during his long Jīngnán tenure, mainly in the 940s–950s.

The work’s distinctive feature is its naming of informants — a Tang historiographic best-practice rare in Five-Dynasties bǐjì. Entries cover the NiúLǐ factional struggle, the late-Táng court, the Huáng Cháo rebellion, the Five-Dynasties regional regimes (Wú, Wúyuè, Mǐn, Shǔ as well as the central succession), and the literary circles around Wēn Tíngyún, Liú Yǔxī, Pí Rìxiū. Běimèng suǒyán is the single most important bǐjì source for late-Táng political history and is heavily mined by modern monographs (Tackett, Twitchett).

Sūn Guāngxiàn was also one of the Huājiān 花間 poets — six of his cí are in the Huājiān jí — making him a hinge figure across late-Táng / Five-Dynasties cí and prose. His other works (the Xù tōnglì, Jīngtái jí, Júzhāi jí, etc.) are lost.

Standard modern critical edition: Lín Àiyuán 林艾園, coll. Běimèng suǒyán (Shànghǎi gǔjí, 1981); also Jiǎ Èrqiáng 賈二強 (Zhōnghuá, 2002 TángSòng shǐliào bǐjì cóngkān).

Translations and research

  • Jiǎ Èr-qiáng 賈二強, coll. 2002. Běi-mèng suǒyán. Zhōnghuá.
  • Tackett, Nicolas. 2014. The Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy. HUP. Uses Běi-mèng suǒ-yán extensively for late-Táng aristocratic prosopography.
  • Wang, Robin R. ed., and Wagner, Marc, China in the Tenth Century: The Transition from Tang to Song (forthcoming) — cites Běi-mèng suǒyán as key witness.
  • No complete European-language translation has been located.

Other points of interest

The work’s practice of naming informants distinguishes it from contemporary Five-Dynasties bǐjì (e.g., Yǔnxiān záilù) where source-claims are conspicuously suspect. This makes Běimèng suǒyán the gold-standard bǐjì of the Five-Dynasties transition.

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