Línjiǎo jí 麟角集
The Unicorn-Horn Collection by 王棨 (撰), 王蘋 (輯錄)
About the work
Examination-fù (rhapsody) collection in 1 juǎn of Wáng Qǐ 王棨 王棨 (zì Fǔzhī 輔之, of Fúqīng 福清; jìnshì of Xiántōng 3 = 862, eventually Shuǐbù lángzhōng; lost track of after the Huáng Cháo rebellion of 880). Contains 45 lǜfù (regulated rhapsodies) — Tang jìnshì examination-style fù. Plus appended shěngtí shī 21 examination poems collected by Wáng Qǐ’s 8th-generation descendant Wáng Píng 王蘋 王蘋 (Sòng-period Zhùzuòláng at the imperial library) — the appended poems were obtained from the Guǎngé (imperial library) during Wáng Píng’s tenure.
The title Línjiǎo (Unicorn Horn) plays on the Yánshì jiāxùn maxim xué rú niúmáo / chéng rú línjiǎo — “study is as common as ox-hair; success is as rare as unicorn-horn” — applied to passing the jìnshì as akin to ascending to immortality.
Tiyao
Línjiǎo jí 1 juǎn — by Wáng Qǐ of the Táng. Qǐ zì Fǔzhī, of Fúqīng; Xiántōng 3 jìnshì; rose to Shuǐbù lángzhōng; after Huáng Cháo’s rebellion, fate unknown. Tang dynasty examination categories were many, but jìnshì most-prized; the chéngshì shī fù of which the Wényuàn yīnghuá preserves many — but most do not survive in the original collections (e.g., Lǐ Shāngyǐn passed with the Ní-shang yǔyī qū shī — not in his Yùxī shēng jí; Hán Yù passed with the Míngshuǐ fù — only in the wàijí).
The unique surviving jìnshì-style collection is this one of Wáng Qǐ’s: 45 lǜfù. Plus Qǐ’s 8th-generation Sòng descendant Wáng Píng (Zhùzuòláng) obtained Qǐ’s shěngtí shī in the imperial libraries, transcribed and appended — 21 pieces. The title Línjiǎo is from the Yánshì jiāxùn maxim “study is as ox-hair / success is as unicorn-horn” — passing the jìnshì like ascending to immortality. Notable pieces are mostly already in Wényuàn yīnghuá. Although kējǔ zhī wén (examination prose) has nothing to do with zhùshù (substantial composition), the period style is glimpsed here. Recorded as preserving one form of literature.
Abstract
The Línjiǎo jí is a unique survival: the only WǎnTáng examination-lǜfù collection that comes down to us as an intact authorial corpus rather than scattered through anthologies. As such it is the principal first-hand witness to the late-Tang jìnshì examination-fù genre — the formal, regulated, allusion-rich rhapsodies on set topics that defined the test for the empire’s most prestigious literary credential. The 45 lǜfù + 21 shěngtí shī together approximate the typical examination preparation portfolio. The Sòng-period afterlife — Wáng Qǐ’s 8th-generation descendant Wáng Píng working at the imperial library and recovering the shěngtí shī from there — is itself notable, suggesting that already by the mid-Sòng the original Tang corpus had been largely scattered.
CBDB id 4204 / 35030 / 445583 (multiple Wáng Qǐ entries, none with secure dates). Standard reference works place Wáng Qǐ in the Xiántōng generation and lose his record after 880.
Translations and research
- No substantial secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The Línjiǎo title — implicitly contrasting Yánshì jiāxùn’s “niúmáo / línjiǎo” (ox-hair vs. unicorn-horn) — is the rare case of a Tang collection-title taken directly from a jiāxùn maxim. The jīnshì examination’s ferocious rarity (perhaps 25–35 per year against many thousand candidates) made the unicorn-horn comparison precise rather than figurative.