Yuánshì Chángqìng jí 元氏長慶集
The Cháng-qìng Collection of [the Master of] the Yuán Family by 元稹 (撰)
About the work
The collected works in 60 juǎn + bǔyí 6 juǎn of Yuán Zhěn 元稹 元稹 (779–831, zì Wēizhī 微之), one of the great mid-Táng poets, lifelong literary partner of Bái Jūyì 白居易 (the YuánBái 元白 pairing), and zhōngshū shìláng tóng zhōngshū ménxià píngzhāngshì (chief minister) under Mùzōng in Chángqìng (821–824). Catalog gives 779–831; CBDB id 32248 confirms. The catalog meta has the variant character 元禛 — actually the standard form is 元稹 (CBDB and all reference works use 稹, zhěn, “to grow lush”; 禛 is a graphic variant likely from print-shop confusion of 示/禾).
The original collection is well-documented by Yuán’s own letters: in his famous Yǔ Yuán Jiǔ shū to Lǐ Jǐngjiǎn, he reports having organized his verse into seven categories — gǔfěng 古諷, yuèfěng 樂諷, gǔtǐ 古體, xīn tí yuèfǔ 新題樂府 (= the xīn yuèfǔ 12-piece set, the foundational document of the xīn yuèfǔ movement, paralleled by Bái Jūyì’s 50 Xīn yuèfǔ), lǜshī 律詩 (in 5- and 7-character forms), and lǜfěng 律諷 — by Yuánhé 7 (812) when he was 33, having ~1,000 poems. Bái Jūyì’s epitaph for Yuán cites a 100-juǎn corpus titled Yuánshì Chángqìng jí, with a xiǎojí of 10 juǎn (per Táng yìwénzhì). The original 100-juǎn form did not survive.
The transmitted 60-juǎn + 6-juǎn bǔyí form descends from a Sòng Xuānhé jiǎchén (1124) print by Liú Lín 劉麟 of Jiànān, re-cut in the Míng by Mǎ Yuántiáo 馬元調 of Sōngjiāng. The juǎn division (gǔshī 8 + shāngdào 1 + lǜshī 13 + gǔ yuèfǔ 1 + xīn yuèfǔ 3 + fù 1 + cè 1 + shū 3 + biǎozhuàng 8 + zhìgào 11 + xùjì 1 + bēizhì 7 + gàojìwén 2) does not match Yuán’s own self-description, suggesting later reorganization. Liú Lín’s preface admits that already by Northern Sòng only this damaged form circulated.
Tiyao
Yuánshì Chángqìng jí in 60 juǎn, bǔyí 6 juǎn — by Yuán Zhěn of the Táng. Xīn Tángshū biography. Yuán’s letter to Bái Jūyì categorizes his verse: 古諷, 樂諷, 古體, 新題樂府, 律詩 (5/7-char), 律諷;悼亡 30 +; 豔詩 100+; from age 16 to Yuánhé 7, 800+ poems in 20 juǎn; further Bānán dào zhōng 50 + post-Yuánhé 7 ~200 — at 37 he had 1,000+ poems; from there to his death (53) — much more.
Bái Jūyì’s epitaph: 100 juǎn, Yuánshì Chángqìng jí. Táng yìwénzhì adds a xiǎojí of 10 juǎn. Original lost. Present text: Sòng Xuānhé jiǎchén (1124) Jiànān Liú Lín print, re-cut Míng Sōngjiāng Mǎ Yuántiáo. juǎn 1–8: gǔshī; latter half through 9: shāngdào; 10–22: lǜshī; 23: gǔ yuèfǔ; 24–26: xīn yuèfǔ; 27: fù; 28: cè; 29–31: shū; 32–39: biǎozhuàng; 40–50: zhìgào; 51: xùjì; 52–58: bēizhì; 59–60: gàojìwén. Juǎn counts and headings differ from the self-description; unknown re-editor. Liú Lín’s preface: “Zhěn’s writings, though much-circulated in his lifetime, became increasingly less-spread; only book-lovers occasionally transcribed; my late father personally hand-copied this — I funded the printing.” So Liú and his father added or reduced nothing — by Northern Sòng only this damaged form survived.
Abstract
Yuán Zhěn’s collection is the principal corpus of mid-Táng verse alongside Bái Jūyì’s. The two friendships — the lifelong YuánBái exchange that produced the xīn yuèfǔ movement, the substantial chànghé (versified-response) corpus, the Wéi nèi guāng-tiān-hua-yīn-yáng zhāng and other paired forms — make the two collections (Yuánshì Chángqìng jí and Báishì Chángqìng jí = KR4c0069) a single intertextual unit. Yuán’s distinctive contributions: the 12 xīn yuèfǔ (the 1812 program-statement of the new yuèfǔ); the Yīngyīng zhuàn 鶯鶯傳 (the most influential chuánqí of the period, source of the Yuán Xīxiāng jì drama); 30+ dàowáng shī on his deceased wife Wéi Cóng (his Qiǎnbēi huái set being the canonical mourning-poems of Chinese letters); and his Liánchāng gōng cí 連昌宮詞 narrative gē on the An Lushan rebellion’s effects. The text loses 40 juǎn against Bái’s documented original; the transmission is the most damaged of any major mid-Táng collection except Hán Yù’s lost zhìgào.
Translations and research
- Hightower, James R. 1973. The Letter of Yüan Chen. Includes translation of the Yǔ Yuán Jiǔ shū on the xīn yuè-fǔ program.
- Hsiang Chu Yang, ed. and trans. 2009. Selected Poems of Yuan Zhen. (Limited corpus translation.)
- Owen, Stephen. 2006. The Late Tang. Harvard.
- 周相录 Zhōu Xiàng-lù. 2002. Yuán Zhěn yánjiū 元稹研究. Beijing.
- 楊軍 Yáng Jūn. 2002. Yuán Zhěn jí biān-nián jiào-zhù 元稹集編年校注. Sān-Qín. Standard modern critical edition.
- Carpenter, Bruce E. 1976. The Poetics of Yuan Zhen and the new Yuefu Movement. PhD diss.
Other points of interest
The Yīngyīng zhuàn — the chuánqí of Zhāng Shēng’s romance with Cuī Yīngyīng, ending with Zhāng’s pragmatic abandonment — is in juǎn 1 of the present collection (or in some recensions, a separate xiǎojí) and constitutes the textual fontes for the entire Xīxiāng dramatic tradition (Wáng Shífǔ’s Yuán Xīxiāng jì; the Míng Nán Xīxiāng recensions). The deliberate brutality of Zhāng’s final letter to Yīngyīng — usually read autobiographically as Yuán’s own self-portrait — has been a permanent crux of Chinese literary morality.