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 Yuán Bái 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 Yuán Bái 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
Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome
- 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.