Xù bǔ Shìér xiǎomíng lù 續補侍兒小名錄
Continued Supplement to the Record of Serving-Maids’ Petty Names by 王銍 (撰, attributed)
About the work
A one-juàn third continuation of the Shìér xiǎomíng lù 侍兒小名錄 KR3l0170 cluster, completing the four-text sequence of Hóng Kuò’s original work, Wáng Zhì’s Bǔlù, Zhāng Bāngjī’s Shíyí KR3l0171, and the present Xùbǔ. The work’s brief opening states: “二書所載，共一百七十六條，猶未備也，乃復續補焉” (“The two books taken together record 176 items, but the topic is not yet exhausted, so I continue to supplement”), where “the two books” refers to the Bǔlù and the Shíyí, totalling 176 entries. The author then continues the project with additional female-servant biographies.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in the source file. The four-text Shìér xiǎomíng lù cluster is entered collectively in Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào 四庫全書總目提要 j. 137.
Abstract
The attribution of this Xùbǔ is genuinely contested. The Sìkù editors register it under Wáng Zhì 王銍 (王銍, fl. 1122–1144) — see his Person note for the textual confusion across the Shìér xiǎomíng lù cluster. The attribution is plausible since (a) the Shíyí preface (KR3l0171) identifies Wáng Zhì as the author of an earlier Bǔlù, and (b) the present Xùbǔ takes the Bǔlù and Shíyí as its base. Some Sòng-bibliographic traditions instead identify the author as anonymous or as Wēn Yù 溫豫. The present entry follows the Sìkù in attributing to Wáng Zhì, while flagging the uncertainty. The dating bracket adopted here (1140–1180) is the broadest defensible window: the work follows the Shíyí (c. 1148) and is in any case Sòng-period.
The work’s content continues the cluster project. The opening entry describes Wáng Mǎng’s 王莽 wife who, after Wáng Mǎng killed her son, weeps blind; their other son Wáng Lín 王臨 is appointed to care for her; he secretly sleeps with the bedside servant Yuánbì 原碧 (whom Wáng Mǎng has already taken as concubine); fearing exposure, they plot to kill Wáng Mǎng; the plot is betrayed via Wáng Lín’s wife’s astrological talent; the demerit-trail ends in Wáng Lín’s exile and worsening anxiety; the story closes with palace tragedy. Subsequent entries draw on the Hàn shū and Wáng Mǎng zhuàn 王莽傳 (for Hàn material), the Qián Hàn 前漢, the Hòu Hàn shū (王莽傳), the Shìshuō 世說, the Yōumíng lù 幽明錄, the Wényuán 文苑, the Yǐ wén lèijù 藝文類聚 (under mùmén 木門 and jǐnmén 錦門), the Běimèng suǒyán 北夢瑣言, the Dàyè shíyí 大業拾遺, the Fàyuàn zhūlín 法苑珠林, the Yùtái xīnyǒng 玉臺新詠, the Lǐ Wéngōng jí 李文公集 (Lǐ Áo), the Lǐ Hè jí 李賀集, the Yùshǐ tái jì 御史臺記, the Xīyì jì 纂異記, the Wénqí lù 聞奇錄, the Yīngyīng zhuàn 鸎鸎傳 (= 鶯鶯傳, the Cuī Yīngyīng / Yuán Zhěn romance), the Pèi Xíng Xuē Zhāo zhuàn 裴鉶薛昭傳, the Huò Xiǎoyù zhuàn 霍小玉傳, the Yú Méiniáng xùlù 余媚娘敘錄, the Jǐngjiè lù 儆戒錄, the Zǔo zhuàn Mǐn 2 左傳閔二年, the Jìn shū zǎijì 晉書載記, the Yǒng Wǔlíng wáng zuǒyòu wǔháo chuánbēi shī 詠武陵王左右五暠傳杯詩, the Hán Fēizǐ 韓非子, and the Zhāoyì jūn jìshì biéu lù 昭義軍記室別錄, terminating with a Shìshuō-derived anecdote on Wáng Dǎo 王導’s powerful concubine Léi 雷, called by Cài Mó 蔡謨 the “Léi shàngshū 雷尚書” (“Minister Léi”) for her quasi-official influence on Wáng Dǎo’s political decisions.
The reading-range — including substantial Lǐ Áo 李翺, Lǐ Hè 李賀, and Táng chuánqí material — is markedly Táng-and-Wǔ-dài weighted, indicating that the Xùbǔ’s remit was to fill in the cluster’s relatively thin coverage of the Táng concubine-and-serving-girl record.
Translations and research
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào 四庫全書總目提要 j. 137.
- No major Western-language monograph specific to the Xù-bǔ located.
Other points of interest
The Xùbǔ’s closing Léi shàngshū anecdote — on Wáng Dǎo’s concubine Léi, nicknamed “Minister Léi” by Cài Mó for her political clout — is one of the most pointed Chinese characterological satires on the qiè (concubine) as quasi-official actor, and a fragment of the Shìshuō lineage that the Xùbǔ gathers into the female-servant tradition. The juxtaposition of the Léi shàngshū and the opening Wáng Mǎng / Yuánbì narrative gives the work a noticeable thematic frame: the female-servant as political agent, both for good and for ill.
The Xùbǔ completes the four-text Shìér xiǎomíng lù cluster — one of the most-studied Northern–Southern Sòng bǐjì clusters on female biographical material — and is the most Táng-weighted in its source-base, complementing the predominantly pre-Táng coverage of the original Shìér xiǎomíng lù.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào 137.
- https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/侍兒小名錄