Jī Zhōngsǎn jí 嵇中散集
Collected Works of Ji Zhongsan (Ji Kang, Reconstructed) by 嵇康 (撰)
About the work
A reconstructed collection (jíyìběn 輯佚本) of the literary writings of Jī Kāng 嵇康 (223–262 CE), one of the Zhúlín qīxián 竹林七賢 (Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove). Organized in ten juǎn, the collection opens with 〈兄秀才公穆入軍贈詩十九首〉 (Nineteen Poems Presented to My Elder Brother, the Distinguished Graduate Gōngmù, on His Entering Military Service), with Gōngmù 公穆 being the zì of Jī Xǐ 嵇喜, Ji Kang’s elder brother. Further works include 〈幽憤詩〉 (Poem of Hidden Resentment, composed in prison), 〈答二郭〉 (Reply to the Two Guo Brothers), and 〈與阮德如一首〉 (A Poem to Ruan Deru, i.e., Ruǎn Jí 阮籍’s relation). These are all definitive and internally attributable Ji Kang compositions. Compiled by Zhāng Pǔ 張溥 for his Hàn Wèi Liùcháo bǎisān jiā jí 漢魏六朝百三家集. This jíyìběn is distinct from the received Jī Zhōngsǎn jí 嵇中散集 (10 juǎn in the standard transmission), which preserves a fuller body of text; the present reconstruction recovers fragments from ancillary sources.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This text is an extra-catalog reconstruction not included in the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書.
Abstract
Jī Kāng 嵇康 (223–262 CE; zì Shūyè 叔夜; CBDB id 439186) held the post of Zhōngsǎn dàifū 中散大夫 (Grand Master of the Palace), from which he takes his conventional sobriquet Jī Zhōngsǎn 嵇中散. He was a native of Qiáo 譙 (modern Anhui) and married into the imperial Cáo family. His biography is in Jìn shū 晉書 (juǎn 49, alongside Ruǎn Jí). He was executed by Sīmǎ Zhāo 司馬昭 in 262 CE, ostensibly on charges brought by Zhōng Huì 鍾會, after his refusal to enter Sīmǎ service and his famous 〈與山巨源絕交書〉 (Letter Breaking Off Relations with Shan Tao). According to tradition, he played the qín 琴 lute (his composition 〈廣陵散〉, the Melody of Guangling, is one of the most celebrated pieces in the guqin repertory) and declared that the melody would be lost with his death. See 嵇康 for full biography.
Ji Kang was equally remarkable as a thinker, poet, musician, and polemicist. His philosophical essays include 〈聲無哀樂論〉 (Music Has No Inherent Sadness or Joy) and 〈養生論〉 (On Nurturing Life), works that engage with Neo-Daoist thought from an anti-Confucian perspective. The 〈與山巨源絕交書〉, with its celebrated list of seven reasons why Ji Kang is temperamentally unsuited for official service, is a landmark of Chinese epistolary prose and a key document of Wèi-Jìn counter-cultural thought. His 19-poem suite to his brother, opening the present reconstruction, is notable for its sustained imagery of birds in captivity and flight, encoding anxieties about service and freedom. Ji Han 嵇含, mentioned in Wilkinson as the grand-nephew of Ji Kang (Chinese History: A New Manual, §49.0: Nánfāng cǎomù zhuàng), carried on the family scholarly tradition. The Suíshū Jīngjí zhì records a collected works of fifteen juǎn. The standard reconstruction of his poetry is in Lù Qīnlì 逯欽立’s Xiān-Qín Hàn Wèi Jìn Nánběicháo shī 先秦漢魏晉南北朝詩 (Zhōnghuá, 1983).
Translations and research
- Henricks, Robert G. Philosophy and Argumentation in Third-Century China: The Essays of Hsi K’ang. Princeton University Press, 1983. Translation of Ji Kang’s philosophical essays.
- Knechtges, David R., and Taiping Chang, eds. Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide. Leiden: Brill, 2010–2014. Entry on Ji Kang.
- Lù Qīnlì 逯欽立, ed. Xiān-Qín Hàn Wèi Jìn Nánběicháo shī 先秦漢魏晉南北朝詩. 3 vols. Zhōnghuá, 1983.
Links
- Wikipedia: Ji Kang