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太平廣記

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Text ID
KR3l0118
Date
977–978
Dynasty
北宋

Tàipíng guǎngjì 太平廣記

Extensive Records of the Tàipíng (xīngguó) Era by 李昉 (奉敕監修), 扈蒙, 李穆, 湯悅, 徐鉉, 宋白, 王克貞, 張洎, 董淳, 趙鄰幾, 陳鄂, 呂文仲, 吳淑 (同修)

About the work

A 500-juàn imperially-commissioned compendium of Hàn through Five-Dynasties anecdote, zhìguài 志怪, chuánqí 傳奇, and bǐjì 筆記 narrative, compiled at the order of Sòng Tàizōng 宋太宗 between Tàipíng xīngguó 太平興國 2 (977) and 3 (978), and printed (after a delay during which it was deemed “not urgent for posterity” and stored in the Tàiqīnglóu 太清樓) in Tàipíng xīngguó 6 (981). With its sister works Tàipíng yù lǎn 太平御覽 (KR4d0080) for canonical and historical citation, Wényuàn yīnghuá 文苑英華 for literature, and (a generation later) the Cèfǔ yuánguī 冊府元龜, it forms the great Sòng-imperial encyclopaedic quartet. The Guǎngjì alone preserves substantial fragments of roughly 345 source titles, of which about half are otherwise entirely lost, making it the single most important repository of Hàn-through-Táng fictional and quasi-fictional literature. Organised topically into 55 categories (bù 部) and over 150 sub-categories — covering Daoist arts, Buddhist karmic tales, immortals (shénxiān), divination, omens, dreams, ghosts and apparitions, monsters and grotesques, anomalous animals, plants, and minerals, foreign and strange countries, geisha and remarkable women, jokes and tricks, and the canonical Táng chuánqí — it is, with KR3l0099 Sōushén jì and KR3l0001 Xījīng zájì, one of the three foundational compendia for the study of premodern Chinese narrative.

Tiyao

Your servants report: Tàipíng guǎngjì in 500 juàn. The Sòng [scholar] Lǐ Fǎng 李昉, by imperial order jiānxiū 監修 (Director of Compilation); the co-compilers being twelve men: Hù Méng 扈蒙, Lǐ Mù 李穆, Tāng Yuè 湯悅, Xú Xuàn 徐鉉, Sòng Bái 宋白, Wáng Kèzhēn 王克貞, Zhāng Jì 張洎, Dǒng Chún 董淳, Zhào Lín(-jī) 趙隣[幾], Chén È 陳鄂, Lǚ Wénzhòng 呂文仲, and Wú Shū 吳淑. It was presented to the throne in the 8th month of Tàipíng xīngguó 3 (978) and ordered cut to wood-blocks and printed in the 1st month of [Tàipíng xīngguó] 6 (981). It is divided into fifty-five categories, drawing on three hundred and forty-five sources; ancient anecdotes (yìwén) and trivial matters (suǒshì), obscure books (pìjí) and stray scripts (yíwén) — all are present herein. Where the source-book itself was slight, often it was taken in whole. It is verily the abyss and ocean (yuānhǎi) of the xiǎoshuō-house [tradition].

Later, on the advice of one who urged that it was not what later students urgently needed, the blocks were collected and stored in the Tàiqīnglóu 太清樓; hence the Chóngwén zǒngmù 崇文總目 does not list it. Zhèng Qiáo 鄭樵 — although renowned for breadth of learning — also had not seen the book, and in his Tōngzhì Yìwén lüè 通志藝文略 went so far as to say the Tàipíng guǎngjì was a separately-extracted Guǎngjì (another Records) from within the Tàipíng yù lǎn, specially recording strange matters — an error.

Although the book speaks largely of gods and prodigies, the cited objects (míngwù) and historical-allusions (diǎngù) are abundant and intermingled, and writers of belles-lettres regularly draw upon it for material. Furthermore, the Huánglǎn 皇覽, Sānfǔ juélù 三輔決錄, Sānguó diǎnlüè 三國典略, Jìnyáng qiū 晉陽秋, Jìn zhōngxīng shū 晉中興書, Qí chūnqiū 齊春秋, Táng lì 唐歷, Yìbù qíjiù zhuàn 益部耆舊傳, Rǔnán xiānxián zhuàn 汝南先賢傳, Kuàijī xiānxián zhuàn 會稽先賢傳, Gǔwén suǒyǔ 古文瑣語, Qín qīngyīng 琴清英, Shìyǔ 世語, Fúzǐ 符子, Jīnlóu zǐ 金樓子 — books no longer transmitted in the world — fragmentary slips and broken leaves of these are still, here and there, preserved to one-in-ten; this is most precious indeed.

The present recension is that engraved by the Míng Right Censor-in-chief (右都御史) Tán Kǎi 談愷 in the Jiājìng era (16th c.); among its leaves there are lacunae which there is no source to collate against; we have left them as they are. Respectfully checked, Qiánlóng 44 (1779), 2nd month. Chief Compilers: Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. Chief Collator: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.

Abstract

The compilation history is precise and well-attested in the Sòng huìyào 宋會要 and Sòng shǐ 宋史·Yìwén zhì. Sòng Tàizōng commissioned the work in the third month of Tàipíng xīngguó 太平興國 2 (977), pairing it with the Tàipíng yù lǎn under the same editorial board (with Lǐ Fǎng 李昉, 925–996, as chief director). The board completed the Guǎngjì in 18 months, presenting it in the 8th month of 978; the Yù lǎn took longer and was presented in 983. The Guǎngjì’s wood-blocks were cut and printed in Tàipíng xīngguó 6 (981), then almost immediately recalled and shelved at the Tàiqīnglóu 太清樓 — apparently after an objection (the Sìkù tíyào names no name; later scholarship has speculated that high-court officials regarded its concentration of supernatural matter as unsuitable for the official curriculum). The shelving explains why the Chóngwén zǒngmù (1041) does not list it and why Zhèng Qiáo 鄭樵 (1104–1162), compiling the Tōngzhì in mid-12th c., had not seen it and confused it with an extracted portion of the Yù lǎn. The book re-emerged into circulation during the late Sòng / Yuán and was extensively reprinted from the late Yuán onward; the standard textus receptus is the Tán Kǎi 談愷 Jiājìng (16th c.) recension, which the Sìkù compilers used and which Zhōnghuá’s 1961 critical edition (Wāng Shàoyíng 汪紹楹, coll.) takes as its base. There is no complete Sòng edition extant; collation against quotations in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn 永樂大典 has been used to fill the Tán Kǎi lacunae.

Sources cited. The 345 source-titles range from Sōushén jì 搜神記, Yìyuàn 異苑 (KR3l0101), Yǒumíng lù 幽明錄 (KR3l0169), Zhìguài 志怪 (KR3l0149, KR3l0163), and the major Six-Dynasties zhìguài corpus, through the Táng chuánqí (Liúxiá 柳氏傳, LǐWá zhuàn 李娃傳, Yīngyīng zhuàn 鶯鶯傳, Zhěnzhōng jì 枕中記, Nánkē tàishǒu zhuàn 南柯太守傳, Chánghèn gē zhuàn 長恨歌傳 — many of which survive only because of the Guǎngjì’s preservation), to Five-Dynasties anecdote (Běimèng suǒyán 北夢瑣言, Tángyǔ lín 唐語林). Of these, roughly half — including Pre-Sòng zhìguài such as Xúnshì Língguǐ zhì 荀氏靈鬼志 (KR3l0165), Sūnshì Suíyǐ 隨意, and many minor yìwén works — are otherwise lost in toto. The 55 thematic-categories impose a léishū organising principle inherited from the Yìwén lèijù and Chūxué jì of the Táng. Wilkinson §53.3.1 cites Schafer’s classic literal translation of every section-heading in A Sung Bibliography (1978).

Editorial board. Of the twelve named co-compilers, Lǐ Fǎng (chief) and Xú Xuàn 徐鉉 (916–991) were the senior literary figures (Xú was a Southern-Táng remnant scholar absorbed into the Sòng court; see KR3l0114 Jīshén lù — his own zhìguài collection); Lǐ Mù 李穆 (928–984), Sòng Bái 宋白 (936–1012), and Zhāng Jì 張洎 (933–996) were senior Hànlín officials; Wú Shū 吳淑 (947–1002, see KR3l0115 Jiānghuái yìrén lù) and Lǚ Wénzhòng 呂文仲 were junior Hànlín dàizhào; Hù Méng 扈蒙 was concurrently the chief compiler of the Jiùwǔdài shǐ 舊五代史 (KR4a0050). The YuánSòng historiographical and xiǎoshuō enterprises were thus tightly interlocked at the level of personnel.

Reception. From the 12th c. onward the title-word guǎngjì 廣記 itself became a generic marker for compendia of broad citation; the Yúdì guǎngjì 輿地廣記, Suìshí guǎngjì 歲時廣記, and Shìlín guǎngjì 事林廣記 of the Sòng all derive their titles by analogy. The book was unknown to Zhèng Qiáo but cited in the late-Sòng Mèngliáng lù 夢粱錄, Wǔlín jiùshì 武林舊事, and YuánMíng huàběn 話本 corpus — bǎihuà novelists from Luó Guànzhōng 羅貫中 onward routinely mined the Guǎngjì for source-material. Modern fiction-historiography from Lǔ Xùn’s Zhōngguó xiǎoshuō shǐlüè 中國小說史略 (1923) onward has used the Guǎngjì as its principal corpus for pre-Sòng narrative; the Wāng Shàoyíng Zhōnghuá edition (1961, in 10 vols.) is the standard scholarly text and the Wáng Xiùméi 王秀梅 / Wáng Hóngbīng 王泓冰 Tàipíng guǎngjì suǒyǐn 太平廣記索引 (Zhōnghuá, 1982, rev. 1996) is the standard topical and source index.

Translations and research

  • Ditter, Alexei Kamran, Jessey J. C. Choo, and Sarah M. Allen, eds. Tales from Tang Dynasty China: Selections from the Taiping guangji. Hackett, 2017. The principal English-language anthology of Guǎngjì-preserved Táng chuán-qí / zhì-guài — 22 stories in scholarly translation with extensive introduction situating the source-corpus.
  • Allen, Sarah M. Shifting Stories: History, Gossip, and Lore in Narratives from Tang Dynasty China. Harvard Asia Center, 2014. Foundational study of Táng narrative based primarily on the Guǎngjì’s preserved corpus.
  • Reed, Carrie E. “Motivation and Meaning of a ‘Hodge-podge’: Duan Chengshi’s Youyang zazu,” JAOS 123.1 (2003): 121–145; and her 2001 Chinese Chronicles of the Strange (Peter Lang) — both rely heavily on Guǎngjì citations to reconstruct the Táng bǐ-jì / zhì-guài corpus.
  • Schafer, Edward H. “The Table of Contents of the T’ai p’ing kuang chi,” CLEAR 2 (1980): 258–63. Literal translation with content-glosses of every chapter-head — the principal English-language guide to the work’s structure.
  • Hammond, Charles E. “T’ang Stories in the T’ai-p’ing Kuang-chi,” PhD diss., Columbia University, 1987. Source-critical study of Táng-era citations in the Guǎngjì.
  • Nienhauser, William H., Jr. “T’ang Dynasty Tales: A Guided Reader” (vol. 1, 2010; vol. 2, 2016 — World Scientific). Many translated chuán-qí whose sole or principal witness is the Guǎngjì.
  • Zhāng Guófēng 張國風. Tàipíng guǎngjì huì-jiào 太平廣記會校. Běijīng yǔyán wénhuà dàxué, 2011. 16 vols., 8.7 million characters. The current standard critical edition, superseding Wāng Shàoyíng for collation but not for ease of use.
  • Wāng Shàoyíng 汪紹楹, coll. Tàipíng guǎngjì. 10 vols. Zhōnghuá shūjú, 1961 (with frequent reprintings). Still the working text for most secondary scholarship.
  • Wáng Xiùméi 王秀梅 and Wáng Hóngbīng 王泓冰, comp. Tàipíng guǎngjì suǒyǐn 太平廣記索引. Zhōnghuá shūjú, 1982; rev. 1996. The fullest topical and source-title index.
  • Harvard-Yenching Index Series 15 (Title Index to the Taiping guangji).

Other points of interest

The Guǎngjì’s recall to the Tàiqīnglóu and subsequent obscurity through the High Sòng (the Chóngwén zǒngmù, the Sòng shǐ Yìwén zhì, and Zhèng Qiáo’s Tōngzhì Yìwén lüè all betray the book’s status as a non-circulating imperial copy) means that — paradoxically — the Guǎngjì itself was relatively scarce in precisely the period (11th–12th c.) when its principal use, léishū-style citation in poetic composition, was most needed. Sòng poets such as Sū Shì 蘇軾 and Huáng Tíngjiān 黃庭堅 cite zhìguài topoi from sources the Guǎngjì preserves, but it is not yet possible to demonstrate that they consulted the Guǎngjì directly rather than its source-texts (still extant at that date). Direct citation of the Guǎngjì as a book — rather than of its sources — becomes ubiquitous only from the late Sòng / Yuán, after the work re-entered general circulation.

The Sìkù notes that the Míng Tán Kǎi recension has unfilled lacunae; the most important late-20th-c. textual-critical advance is the realisation, beginning with Pān Mínglíng 潘明伶 and culminating in Zhāng Guófēng’s Huìjiào, that many of those lacunae can be filled from cross-quotation in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and YuánMíng léishū.

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