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丞相魏公譚訓

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Text ID
KR3l0027
Date
1110–1130
Dynasty
北宋

Chéngxiàng Wèigōng tánxùn 丞相魏公譚訓

Conversation-Teachings of the Chief Minister Duke of Wei by 蘇象先 (撰; grandson-compiler) and 張元濟 (撰校勘記; Republican-era collator)

About the work

A ten-juàn compilation of the table-talk and instructional sayings of the Northern-Sòng polymath chief minister 蘇頌 Sū Sòng 蘇頌 (1020–1101; fēng Duke of Wèi 魏公), assembled and arranged by his grandson 蘇象先 Sū Xiàngxiān 蘇象先 (in the titulary “Chángsūn zuǒcháoqǐng dàfū” = “[Long-]grandson, Court Audience Grand Master”). The work survives in the Sòng-collection lineage Sìbù cóngkān (SBCK), where Zhāng Yuánjǐ 張元濟 (1867–1959) of Hànfēn lóu 涵芬樓 added his Republican-era critical jiàokānjì 校勘記. The work is one of the most extensive Northern-Sòng jiāxùn / yǔlù compilations devoted to a single chief minister.

Structural Division

The 10 juàn are organised into 21 thematic sections, in this order:

  • juàn 1: Guólùn 國論 (State Discussion), Guózhèng 國政 (State Government)
  • juàn 2: Jiāshì 家世 (Family Background)
  • juàn 3: Jiāxué 家學 (Family Learning), Jiāxùn 家訓 (Family Instruction), Xíngjǐ 行己 (Self-Conduct)
  • juàn 4: Wénxué 文學 (Letters), Shīshí 詩什 (Poems)
  • juàn 5: Qiányán 前言 (Earlier Speech), Zhèngshì 政事 (Government Affairs)
  • juàn 6: Qīnzú 親族 (Kin), Wàiyīn 外姻 (In-laws), Shīyǒu 師友 (Teachers and Friends), Zhīrén 知人 (Recognising Persons)
  • juàn 7: Shànyán 善言 (Good Words), Jiàncái 鍳裁 (Discriminating Judgement), Yóucóng 游從 (Companionship), Jiànjǔ 荐舉 (Recommendation)
  • juàn 8: Tiándàn 恬淡 (Quiet Detachment), Qìwán 器玩 (Objects of Connoisseurship), Yǐnshàn 飲膳 (Food and Drink)
  • juàn 9: Dàoshì 道釋 (Daoism and Buddhism), Shéncí 神祠 (Shrines), Jíyī 疾醫 (Illness and Medicine), Bǔxiàng 卜相 (Divination and Physiognomy)
  • juàn 10: Záshì 雜事 (Miscellaneous Matters)

Tiyao

No tiyao in the present source file (SBCK edition; this is not a WYG text and the Sìkù compilers did not retain it in their compilation). The Zhāng Yuánjǐ jiàokānjì preserved in the SBCK edition gives the editorial history. The SBCK transcription is from Sòng-original holdings of the Hànfēn lóu library.

Abstract

蘇頌 Sū Sòng 蘇頌 (1020–1101) — chief minister under Zhézōng, Yuányòu faction Confucian, polymath responsible for the astronomical water-clock Shuǐyùn yíxiàng tái 水運儀象臺 of 1090 and for the major pharmacopoeia KR3e0010 Tújīng běncǎo 圖經本草 (1062) — was one of the most consequential figures of late-Northern-Sòng intellectual life. His grandson Sū Xiàngxiān (active during Xuānhé — early Shàoxīng, c. 1110–1130) compiled this record of his grandfather’s table-talk on the model of the yǔlù literature increasingly popular in the Sòng dàoxué tradition; the resulting work covers Sū Sòng’s views on government, on family teaching, on poetry, on connoisseurship, on religion, and his accumulated observations on persons. CBDB id 11621 records Sū Xiàngxiān without lifedates; he was Zuǒ cháoqǐng dàfū — the senior fourth-rank A prestige title — by the time of compilation. The work is the most substantial surviving primary source for Sū Sòng’s gèrén shēnghuó (personal life), his family network, and his teaching practice.

The work is also a critical source for the Yuányòu faction politics: Sū Xiàngxiān’s record of his grandfather’s views on Wáng Ānshí’s New Policies, on Sīmǎ Guāng, on Lǚ Gōngzhù and Wèn Yánbó, provides the conservative-faction internal perspective. The Jiāshì (Family Background) section in juàn 2 is an important source for the Sū-clan of Quánzhōu 泉州.

Modern critical edition: the SBCK photolithographic reprint remains the standard; Wáng Tóngcè 王同策, coll. Sū Wèigōng wénjí; Chéngxiàng Wèigōng tánxùn (Zhōnghuá, 1988) — collated and indexed.

Translations and research

  • Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 4 — uses Chéngxiàng Wèi-gōng tánxùn for Sū Sòng’s astronomical work.
  • Bossler, Beverly J. Powerful Relations: Kinship, Status, and the State in Sung China (HUP 1998) — cites the work for kinship-and-marriage practice.
  • Chaffee, John W. Branches of Heaven: A History of the Imperial Clan of Sung China (HUP 1999) — uses the work for ancestor-veneration practice.
  • No European-language translation has been located.

Other points of interest

The Bǔxiàng (Divination and Physiognomy) section in juàn 9 is a rare primary source for physiognomy practice among the late-Northern-Sòng elite: Sū Sòng was clearly familiar with the technique and used it in person-evaluation, and his grandson’s record preserves anecdotes that are otherwise unattested.

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