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賈氏譚錄

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Text ID
KR3l0024
Date
970–970
Dynasty
北宋

Jiǎshì tánlù 賈氏譚錄

Record of Master Jia’s [Huangzhong’s] Talks by 張洎 (撰)

About the work

A one-juàn record of Táng-era anecdote heard from 賈黃中 Jiǎ Huángzhōng (940–996) by 張洎 Zhāng Jì (933–996) in Kāibǎo 3 / 970 — when Zhāng was still a Southern-Táng official and was serving as ambassador to the Sòng court. Jiǎ Huángzhōng was then zuǒ bǔquè in Sòng service and was hosting the Southern-Táng embassy. Zhāng Jì collected Jiǎ’s table-talk on Táng anecdote and brought the record back to the Southern-Táng court at Jīnlíng. The Sìkù compilers have reassembled 62 entries (the Sòng-era count was 30+, the Míng Shuōfú only 9, the Sòng Lèishuō 17; the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn provided the bulk of the recovery), so the present text recovers approximately 90% of the original. The work is a unique cross-court witness to late-Táng historical memory as it circulated among Sòng officials in the founding decade.

Tiyao

Your servants report: Jiǎshì tánlù in 1 juàn, by the Sòng Zhāng Jì. Jì zì Xiérén, native of Quánjiāo. He first served the Southern Táng as Zhī zhìgào and Zhōngshū shèrén; entered Sòng as Shǐguǎn xiūzhuàn and Hànlín xuéshì; in Chúnhuà he reached Cānzhī zhèngshì. The present book was composed by Jì while serving Lǐ Yù as ambassador to Sòng, recording what he heard from Jiǎ Huángzhōng — hence the title. There is a self-preface dated gēngwǔ year — i.e., Sòng Tàizǔ Kāibǎo 3 (970). The Sòng shǐ Jiǎ Huángzhōng zhuàn says Huángzhōng held zuǒ bǔquè in early Kāibǎo, which agrees with this preface; he was then hosting the embassy. The preface end-line says “for the entertainment of those interested,” but Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì claims that the Southern-Táng ambassador Zhāng Jì recorded Jiǎ’s talk on returning home and presented it to his lord — Cháo presumably failed to consult the preface. The Histories state Jiǎ Huángzhōng “knew much táigé gùshì (court precedent), and would converse so engagingly that listeners forgot their fatigue” — and the contents of the present record are all Táng-era anecdote. Cháo records 30+ entries in the original; Táo Zōngyí’s Shuōfú preserves only 9; Zēng Zào’s Lèishuō preserves 17; only the Míng Yǒnglè dàdiǎn preserves a more complete text than Zēng or Táo. We have now collected from the various rhyme-volumes of the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn, supplemented from Shuōfú and Lèishuō, 62 entries in all — approximately nine-tenths of Jì’s original. The original preface was lost in Lèishuō and Yǒnglè dàdiǎn; only Shuōfú has the full text, which we restore at the head. Although the book is modest in extent, …

Abstract

The work is exceptionally well-documented from the documentary side: the date (970), the place (the Sòng capital Biànjīng), the political occasion (Southern-Táng embassy), the informant (Jiǎ Huángzhōng), and the compiler (Zhāng Jì) are all securely known. Zhāng Jì himself was one of the senior Southern-Táng officials who passed into Sòng service after the 975 conquest, ultimately rising to Cānzhī zhèngshì (Grand Councillor) under Tàizōng. Jiǎ Huángzhōng was famous for táigé gùshì (court precedent) — what would today be called constitutional and ritual history — and the entries reflect this expertise: Táng examination culture, court ceremony, ministerial precedent, calligraphy and music. The Tàipíng guǎngjì draws on the Jiǎshì tánlù; Sīmǎ Guāng’s Tōngjiàn kǎoyì cites it.

Standard modern edition: collated by Tián Tíngzhù 田廷柱, included in Zhōnghuá’s LiúBīnkè jiāhuà lù; Yīnhuà lù; Jiǎshì tánlù combined volume (1995, TángSòng shǐliào bǐjì cóngkān).

Translations and research

  • Tián Tíng-zhù 田廷柱, coll. 1995. Liú-Bīnkè jiā-huà lù; Yīn-huà lù; Jiǎshì tánlù. Zhōnghuá.
  • Zhōu Xūn-chū 周勛初, ed. Táng-rén yì-shì huì-biān. Shànghǎi gǔjí. Cross-references Jiǎshì tánlù.
  • No European-language translation has been located.

Other points of interest

The work is a snapshot of inter-court diplomatic-literary exchange in 970, five years before the Sòng conquest of the Southern Táng. Zhāng Jì’s writing-down of Jiǎ’s gùshì talk on his return to Jīnlíng is one of the few documented cases of an embassy returning with a bǐjì as part of its harvest.

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