Chéng Gōngsūi jí 成公綏集
Collected Works of Cheng Gongsui (Reconstructed) by 成公綏 (撰)
About the work
A reconstructed collection (jíyìběn 輯佚本) of the surviving literary writings of Chéng Gōngsūi 成公綏 (231–273 CE), a Western Jin writer, musician, and polymath, organized in two juǎn. The collection opens with 〈中宮二首〉 (Zhōnggōng èr shǒu, Two Poems on the Empress’s Palace), explicitly attributed to Chéng Gōngsūi in Lèijù 類聚 juǎn 15 (“《類聚》十五作成公綏詩”) and also cited from Chūxué jì 初學記 juǎn 10 and Shī jì 詩紀 juǎn 21. Fragments are also cited from the Dunhuang manuscript Míngshā shíshì gǔjí cónɡcán · lèishū cányuǎn 鳴沙石室古籍叢殘·類書殘卷. The collection continues with fù 賦 and other miscellaneous writings in juǎn 2, including his celebrated 〈嘯賦〉 (Xiào fù, Rhapsody on the Whistle/Free Cry) and 〈天地賦〉 (Tiāndì fù, Rhapsody on Heaven and Earth).
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This text is an extra-catalog reconstruction not included in the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書.
Abstract
Chéng Gōngsūi 成公綏 (231–273 CE), zì Zǐ’ān 子安, was a native of Báimǎ 白馬 (modern Huaxian, Henan). He was a close literary and intellectual associate of the great bibliophile and cultural arbiter Zhāng Huá 張華 (232–300), who praised his learning highly. According to Jìnshū 晉書 juǎn 92 (where he is placed in the wénxué literary biography section), Chéng Gōngsūi was skilled in music, calculation (suàn 算), and literature; he was famed particularly for his command of the xiào 嘯 — the meditative vocalized whistle used in Daoist and arcane practice, distinct from ordinary whistling — which he theorized in the 〈嘯賦〉. This rhapsody is among the most important documents for understanding the practice of xiào in the Wei-Jin period.
He served in official posts in the early Western Jin under Emperor Wu (r. 265–290). His 〈天地賦〉 is a cosmological rhapsody in the tradition of Zhāng Héng 張衡. The Dunhuang manuscript fragments (lèishū cányuǎn) preserve additional citations not found in the Tang-Song encyclopaedias. Zhāng Pǔ 張溥 compiled this reconstruction for the Hàn Wèi Liùcháo bǎisān jiā jí 漢魏六朝百三家集. No CBDB record has been identified for Chéng Gōngsūi. Wilkinson’s Chinese History: A New Manual does not include a dedicated entry.
Translations and research
- Knechtges, David R., and Taiping Chang, eds. Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide. Leiden: Brill, 2010–2014. Entry on Cheng Gongsui.
- Egan, Ronald. “The Xiao: A Meditation.” In various volumes on Chinese music and aesthetics. (On the xiào practice and the 〈嘯賦〉 tradition.)
Links
- Jìnshū 晉書 juǎn 92 (biography)
- Lèijù 類聚 juǎn 15 (citations with explicit attribution)
- Chūxué jì 初學記 juǎn 10 (citations)