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昭明太子集

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Text ID
KR4b0013
Date
1500–1644
Dynasty
梁 (recompiled 明)

Zhāomíng tàizǐ jí 昭明太子集

Collected Works of Crown Prince Zhāo-míng (Xiāo Tǒng) by 蕭統 (撰)

About the work

Zhāomíng tàizǐ jí 昭明太子集 in six juǎn preserves the surviving writings of Xiāo Tǒng 蕭統 (501–531), Crown Prince Zhāomíng of Liáng — the compiler of the Wén xuǎn 文選 and editor of KR4b0008 Táo Yuānmíng jí. Of the Liáng-era twenty-juǎn original (Liáng shū, Suíshū jīngjí zhì, Tángshū yìwén zhì) only a five-juǎn form survived into the Sòngshǐ yìwén zhì, and even that disappeared by the late Sòng. The present six-juǎn recension is the Míng Jiāxīng edition cut by Yè Shàoqín 葉紹秦 — shī-and-fù (1 juǎn) plus miscellaneous prose (5 juǎn) — with most pieces visibly aggregated from lèishū and therefore badly cropped.

Tiyao

By Crown Prince Zhāomíng [Xiāo] Tǒng of the Liáng. The Liáng shū biography says Tǒng’s collection was twenty juǎn; the Suíshū jīngjí zhì and Tángshū yìwén zhì concur. The Sòngshǐ yìwén zhì gives only five juǎn — already not the original; the Wén xiàn tōng kǎo does not register it, so by the late Sòng it had vanished.

The present edition was cut by Yè Shàoqín 葉紹秦 of Jiāxīng 嘉興 in the Míng — one juǎn of shī and fù, five juǎn of miscellaneous prose. Each fù is at most a few lines, evidently aggregated from lèishū — none is a complete piece. In the shī: the second Nǐ gǔ 擬古, Línxià zuò jì 林下作伎, Zhào liú kàn luò chāi 照流看落釵, Měirén chén zhuāng 美人晨妝, and Míngshì yuè qīngchéng 名士悅傾城 are all in fact poems by the Liáng Jiǎnwéndì 簡文帝 (Xiāo Gāng 蕭綱) — collected in the Yùtái xīnyǒng 玉臺新詠, which was prepared by Xú Líng 徐陵 on Jiǎnwén’s command; it is impossible that this would be misattributed there. They have presumably been borrowed because the Yùtái xīnyǒng called Jiǎnwén “Crown Prince” 皇太子 — the Míng compiler, working from a biāopái 標牌 transmission, mistook this for Zhāomíng tàizǐ. The Jǐn dài shū 錦帶書 shíèr yuè qǐ 十二月啓 is also unlike QíLiáng prose style; the Gūxǐ sān yuè qǐ 姑洗三月啓 contains the line tí yīng chū gǔ zhēng chuán qiú yǒu zhī shēng 啼鶯出谷爭傳求友之聲 — and Lǐ Chuò 李綽’s Shàngshū gù shí records that Táng test-takers’ Yīng chū gǔ shī 鶯出谷詩 was criticized for having no precedent. If Zhāomíng’s qǐ had previously had this line, would Lǐ Chuò not have known? This is also clear evidence of forgery.

Zhāng Pǔ’s 張溥 Bǎi sān jiā jí also has Tǒng’s collection. Comparing the two, this volume’s Qī zhào 七召, Dōnggōng guānshǔ lìng 東宮官屬令, Xiè lái Nièpán jīng jiǎngshū qǐ 謝賚涅槃經講疏啓, Xiè chì lái tóng zào Shànjué sì tǎ lùpán qǐ 謝敕齎銅造善覺寺塔露盤啓, the five xiè qǐ (Wèiguó brocade, Guǎngzhōu ōu, chéngbiān jú, Hénán cài, dà sōng 啓), the Yǔ Liú Xiàoyí 與劉孝儀, Yǔ Zhāng Zuǎn 與張纘, Yǔ Jìnān Wáng lùn Zhāng Xīnān shū 與晉安王論張新安書 (three pieces), and Bó jǔ yuè yì 駁舉樂議 — none of these are in Zhāng’s edition. Zhāng’s text has Yǔ Míng Shānbīn lìng 與明山賓令, Xiáng Dōnggōng lǐ jué pángqīn yì 詳東宮禮絕傍親議, and Xiè chì zhù Cíjué sì zhōng qǐ 謝敕鑄慈覺寺鐘啓 — none of these are in this. Thus both editions are Míng aggregations.

Abstract

Xiāo Tǒng’s massive editorial achievement (the Wén xuǎn) overshadows his own writings, and the textual fortunes of the Zhāomíng tàizǐ jí reflect that imbalance: the Liáng twenty-juǎn original disappeared in the late Sòng, and Míng compilers (Yè Shàoqín of Jiāxīng for the WYG base; Zhāng Pǔ in Bǎi sān jiā jí) reconstructed only a fragmentary six- or seven-juǎn aggregate from lèishū and incomplete sources. The Sìkù tíyào identifies five poems carried in the present edition as actually by Liáng Jiǎnwéndì (Xiāo Gāng) misattributed under the homonymous title “tàizǐ 太子”; the Jǐn dài shū (Brocade-Belt Letters) for the twelve months is also identified as Táng-period forgery (the line yīng chū gǔ 鶯出谷 supplies the diagnostic anachronism).

The bracket adopted in the frontmatter (1500–1644) reflects the Míng compilation window. The signal works that do securely belong to Xiāo Tǒng are: his preface to KR4b0008 Táo Yuānmíng jí; his preface to the Wén xuǎn (Wén xuǎn xù 文選序 — separately preserved in the Wén xuǎn itself); the Liáng dōnggōng yǎyuè gē 梁東宮雅樂歌 cycles; assorted Buddhist devotional pieces (Xiāo Tǒng was a devoted lay Buddhist); various memorials. The collection’s main interest for modern scholarship lies in (a) supplying the framework for the Wén xuǎn compilation history and (b) demonstrating, via the Sìkù’s philological work, the methods by which Liáng-era literary identities were confused in transmission.

Translations and research

  • David R. Knechtges. 1986–1996. Wen xuan, or Selections of Refined Literature. 3 vols. Princeton UP. The standard English-language work; the introduction and apparatus give the most thorough English account of Xiāo Tǒng’s life and editorial career.
  • Yú Xiǎn-hào 俞紹初. 1988. Zhāo-míng tài-zǐ jí jiào zhù 昭明太子集校註. Zhōnghuá. The principal modern critical edition.
  • Cáo Dào-héng 曹道衡 and Liú Yuè-jìn 劉躍進. 2001. Nán-běi cháo wén xué biān nián shǐ 南北朝文學編年史. Rénmín wénxué — for chronological framing.
  • John Marney. 1976. Liang Chien-wen Ti. Twayne — useful background on the Liáng court literary milieu.

Other points of interest

The Sìkù compilers’ methodological note here — that Yùtái xīnyǒng’s huáng tàizǐ 皇太子 designation refers to Jiǎnwéndì (since the Yùtái was prepared at his command), not to Zhāomíng — is a small philological gem useful elsewhere in the corpus: many later editorial confusions of “the Liáng tàizǐ” pieces stem from forgetting that this title was attached to both Xiāo Tǒng and Xiāo Gāng at different moments.

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