談苑

Tányuàn 談苑

Garden of Conversation by 孔平仲 (撰)

About the work

A four-juàn compilation traditionally attributed to the Yuányòu literatus 孔平仲 Kǒng Píngzhòng 孔平仲 (1044–1111; CBDB id 901 has c_fl 1065–1102). The Sìkù compilers raise doubts about the attribution: many entries overlap word-for-word with earlier or contemporary bǐjì (Dùnzhāi xiánlǎn, Qiánshì sīzhì, Wáng Wénzhèng bǐlù, Chūnmíng tuìcháo lù, Guólǎo tánwēn), suggesting either substantial editorial copying by Kǒng or, more likely, a Sòng compiler’s retrospective collection under Kǒng’s name. The work is preserved nonetheless as an “old Sòng text suitable for cross-reference.” Several entries (notably the Wáng Páng characterisation as “not bright” — when Wáng Páng was in fact a key drafter of the Xīníng New Policies and clearly highly intelligent; and the Zhāng Shìxùn going to hell entry) are noted as factually unsound.

Tiyao

Your servants report: Tányuàn in 4 juàn; the old title gives the Sòng Kǒng Píngzhòng. Píngzhòng’s Hénghuáng xīnlùn is already catalogued. This book records much contemporary trivial matter and suffers from miscellaneous disorder. Zhào Yǔshí’s Bīntuì lù once objected to the entry on Lǚ Yíjiǎn and Zhāng Shìxùn — that the chief minister could not according to Sòng court protocol yàmá (sign the imperial-edict draft) and the entry was inconsistent with the institutional reality, suggesting it was the work of someone unfamiliar with diǎngù and could not be Kǒng’s genuine text. Examining the entries: many overlap with other books. The “Liáng Hào at 82 as zhuàngyuán” entry is also in Dùnzhāi xiánlǎn; the “Qián Chù presenting the jewelled belt” entry, the “Wáng Yǔyù on Shàngyuán duty-poem” entry — both in Qiánshì sīzhì; the “chief minister early-morning audience entering the hall” entry — in Wáng Wénzhèng bǐlù; the “Shàngyuán lantern-lighting” entry, the “zhàochì using yellow paper” entry — both in Chūnmíng tuìcháo lù; the “Kòu Láigōng [Zhǔn] guarding the northern gate” entry — in Guólǎo tánwēn. The five borrowings are either earlier than Píngzhòng or contemporary — proof that this work was assembled by collation. As for the Wáng Páng’s “talent-debate, arrogance-and-meanness, vigour in the New Policies” — Wáng Páng was in fact a major drafter of the New Policies and energetic; the work characterizes him as “not bright,” far from fact. As for the matter of Zhāng Shìxùn going to hell — patently fantastic and not to be made xùn (teaching). The Zhào Yǔshí evaluation is not without grounds. We preserve the work as an old Sòng text suitable for cross-reference. Respectfully presented in the 10th month of Qiánlóng 46.

Abstract

Kǒng Píngzhòng (CBDB id 901; c_fl 1065–1102) was the youngest of the three Kǒng brothers (with Kǒng Wénzhòng 孔文仲 and Kǒng Wǔzhòng 孔武仲) who were prominent Yuányòu officials; the three brothers were associates of Sū Shì’s circle and Yuányòu loyalists. Kǒng Píngzhòng’s surviving works include the KR1c0033 Cháoshì Chūnqiū xué (or its descendant text), the now-classical Hénghuáng xīnlùn 珩璜新論, and several literary collections; the Tányuàn is least securely his. The work has the appearance of being a posthumous gathering of zhájì notes plus extracts from related bǐjì, possibly assembled by a follower or family member after Kǒng’s death (1111 in standard reference works).

Despite the questions of authenticity, the entries — even the borrowed ones — are useful as Sòng-edition witnesses to the earlier bǐjì in question, since many of the source-texts are now extant only in late-Sòng or Míng recensions.

Standard modern edition: collated in QuánSòng bǐjì; also Lǐ Wéiguó 李偉國, ed. Tányuàn; Liáoshì jìshì (Zhōnghuá 1981, TángSòng shǐliào bǐjì cóngkān).

Translations and research

• Lǐ Wéi-guó 李偉國, ed. 1981. Tán-yuàn. Zhōnghuá.
• Levine, Ari Daniel. Divided by a Common Language. UHP 2008. Uses entries from Tán-yuàn with caution.
• No European-language translation has been located.

Other points of interest

The work is a primary case study for the problem of cóngshū attribution in late Northern Sòng bǐjì: an extensive overlap with other contemporary bǐjì makes single-author attribution problematic, yet the work as transmitted carries no editorial apparatus distinguishing original-versus-extracted matter.

Links

• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §63.
• https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&res=86694