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聞見近錄

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Text ID
KR3l0043
Date
1075–1104
Dynasty
北宋

Wénjiàn jìnlù 聞見近錄

Recent Records of Things Seen and Heard by 王鞏 (撰)

About the work

A one-juàn anecdote-collection in 104 entries by 王鞏 Wáng Gǒng 王鞏, the second of his three short bǐjì preserved in the Sòng manuscript line: Jiǎshēn zájì KR3l0042 + Wénjiàn jìnlù (this) + Suíshǒu zálù KR3l0044. The entries begin with Zhōu Shìzōng 周世宗 (the Five-Dynasties Zhōu emperor) and end with Sòng Shénzōng, with the largest number of entries on the first four Sòng reigns (Tàizǔ, Tàizōng, Zhēnzōng, Rénzōng). All three works’ compositional dates are gathered in the shared Sìkù tiyao (see KR3l0042); this one is plainly composed after the Jiǎshēn zájì but covers events earlier than Chóngníng jiǎshēn (1104), so editorially the works are in non-chronological order despite their position in the Sìkù compilation.

Tiyao

See the shared Sìkù tiyao at KR3l0042 (which covers all three Wáng Gǒng bǐjì in a single notice). Source directory missing in /home/Shared/krp/KR3l/KR3l0043; the tiyao was extracted from the Kyoto Zinbun Shikō Teiyō digital text at http://kanji.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/db-machine/ShikoTeiyo/0290902.html. The key data: 104 entries, beginning Zhōu Shìzōng down to Sòng Shénzōng, with Tàizǔ Tàizōng Zhēnzōng Rénzōng matter most numerous.

Abstract

The work’s chronological span makes it Wáng Gǒng’s longest-range bǐjì: covering more than 130 years from Zhōu Shìzōng (959 death) to Shénzōng (1085 death). For the early Sòng reigns (where Wáng Gǒng’s grandfather Wáng Dàn was an active senior official) the work draws on family tradition; for the Shénzōng period it draws on personal observation (Wáng Gǒng was Yángzhōu cuì before his demotion in the Wūtái shī àn fallout). The 104 entries include:

  • Sòng founding lore (Wáng Dàn’s relationship with Zhào Pǔ, Tàizōng’s accession);
  • Zhēnzōng-era Tānyuān covenant matter (Wáng Dàn’s role at the negotiation);
  • Rénzōng-era examination and court ritual;
  • the Qìnglì reform and its aftermath;
  • Shénzōng-era New Policies and the Wūtái shī àn.

The work is one of the principal Northern-Sòng bǐjì witnesses to the high-Northern-Sòng Wáng lineage (Wáng Dàn’s chief-ministerial period under Zhēnzōng), and the Sìkù compilers’ favourable judgment (“the recorded court-affairs are abundant, every advancing-or-retreating of the worthy or jiān and every gùshì yángé given in detail beyond the zhuàn”) rests largely on this work.

Standard modern edition: collated in QuánSòng bǐjì; also Zhū Wěnmín 朱蘊敏, coll. (Zhōnghuá, 2006 TángSòng shǐliào bǐjì cóngkān) — the three Wáng Gǒng works together.

Translations and research

  • Egan, Ronald C. Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi (HUP 1994). Uses Wénjiàn jìnlù and the Wáng Gǒng works on the Sū Shì circle.
  • Hartman, Charles. The Making of a Confucian Hero (CUP 2021). Cites Wénjiàn jìnlù on the Wáng Dàn historical reputation.
  • No European-language translation has been located.

Other points of interest

The work’s Wáng Dàn anecdotes are the primary primary-source material behind the Sòng shǐ 282 Wáng Dàn zhuàn — Wáng Dàn’s surviving grandson preserved his grandfather’s life-record through family transmission.

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