Qiánshì sīzhì 錢氏私志
Private Records of the Qian Family by 錢愐 (撰)
About the work
A one-juàn family record by 錢愐 Qián Mǐn 錢愐, third son of Péngchéng wáng Qián Jǐngzhēn 錢景臻 (great-grandson of Wúyuè king Qián Chù 錢俶) and maternal nephew of Zhāolíng (Sòng Yīngzōng, Zhào Shù), composed in the early Southern-Sòng — by internal references to Jiànyán enfeoffment of Qián Jǐngzhēn (1128) — and recording the lives and witticisms of his Qián clan, intermarried Sòng imperial relatives. The catalog’s attribution to 錢世昭 Qián Shìzhāo (the Sìkù edition follows this) is mistaken; Qián Mǐn (per Qián Zēng’s 錢曾 Dúshū mǐnqiú jì) is the actual author, with Qián Shìzhāo as the editorial gatherer and prefacer. CBDB has no firm record under Qián Shìzhāo; the Sìkù compilers preserved the title-line attribution rather than resolve the question.
Tiyao
Your servants report: Qiánshì sīzhì in 1 juàn; the old title sometimes gives Qián Yànyuǎn, sometimes Qián Mǐn, sometimes Qián Shìzhāo. Qián Zēng’s Dúshū mǐnqiú jì fixes it as Qián Mǐn. His argument: Mǐn was the third son of Péngchéng wáng [Qián Jǐngzhēn] and nephew of Zhāolíng [Yīngzōng], hence records the Xīníng shàngzhǔ (marriage of princess in Xīníng) and Yùxiān qiúsì (Jade-Transcendent seeking-heir) matters in detail. The “Dàfù Bǎogé zhī Táizhōu huí” entry refers to Jì guógōng huì Xuān — zì Zàiyáng 載陽 — who through paternal yīn (privilege) became Jiàbù lángzhōng zhī Fǔzhōu, was moved to Táizhōu, and rose to Shǎofǔjiān quán yántiě fùshǐ — that was the time. Péngchéng wáng (Qián) Jǐngzhēn zì Dàosuī was Jìguógōng’s ninth son; in Jiànyán 2 (1128) he was posthumously enfeoffed, hence called xiān wáng. The vulgar opinion that the work is by Qián Yànyuǎn (a qǐjū shèrén) is wrong; for Yànyuǎn was grandson of the loyalist Zhōngxùn and son of the Hànlín scholar Yì, and would be uncle-once-removed to Péngchéng wáng by lineage — making “xiān wáng” impossible from Yànyuǎn’s pen. Examining Qián-clan lineage: [Qián] Chù and [Qián] Zōng were both grandsons of Wǔsù wáng Liú 鏐; Jǐngzhēn was Chù’s great-grandson; Yànyuǎn was Zōng’s grandson; if Yànyuǎn had written this work, Jǐngzhēn would be a yóuzǐ (nephew once-removed), not xiān wáng. Qián Zēng’s argument is correct. However, the present text has a Qián Shìzhāo preface saying “shūfù Tàiwèi (uncle Grand Marshal), nephew of Zhāolíng — whatever passed before eye and ear, matters of one moment and words flowing through a thousand years — I have widely recorded and fully said it. Shìzhāo respectfully sought to know his story, getting ten thousand words; arranged and gathered them; named it Qiánshì sīzhì.” Per this, the work…
Abstract
The work is one of the most documentarily-rich Sòng-imperial in-law family records: Qián Mǐn (and Qián Shìzhāo as editorial collector) was uniquely positioned, through the Qián-clan / Sòng-imperial intermarriage and through proximity to Zhāolíng (Yīngzōng), to record otherwise-inaccessible court ceremonial, family genealogy, and imperial in-law affairs. The work covers the Xīníng — Yuánfēng — Yuányòu — Shàoshèng periods (with one or two earlier Wúyuè / Five-Dynasties throwbacks), with emphasis on princely weddings (shàngzhǔ), fútián (rituals for heir-seeking), Sòng-imperial daughter-marriage practices, and family witticism.
The 1128 reference (the posthumous enfeoffment of Qián Jǐngzhēn as Péngchéng wáng) sets the terminus post quem. The author is writing under the early Southern Sòng, looking back at the high-Northern-Sòng court culture in which his family was embedded.
Standard modern edition: collated in QuánSòng bǐjì (Dàxiàng); also reproduced from the Sìkù recension in Sòng shǐliào cóngshū.
Translations and research
- Chaffee, John W. Branches of Heaven: A History of the Imperial Clan of Sung China (HUP 1999) — uses Qiánshì sīzhì for imperial-in-law data.
- Bossler, Beverly J. Powerful Relations (HUP 1998) — uses the work for marriage-practice data.
- Egan, Ronald C. The Problem of Beauty (HUP 2006) — uses the work on fēng-yǎ (literary refinement) of the imperial clan.
- No European-language translation has been located.
Other points of interest
The Yùxiān qiúsì (Jade-Transcendent Heir-Seeking) entry — the Sòng-imperial ritual of praying for a male heir at the Daoist Yùxiān guān — is one of the few primary witness-records to the actual practice of Sòng-imperial-house Daoist heir-prayer.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §63.
- https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&res=86593