Táng Lǐ tuīguān Pīshā jí 唐李推官披沙集
The Sand-Sifting Collection of Lǐ, Examining Inspector of the Táng by 李咸用 (撰)
About the work
The Sìbù cóngkān SBCK reprint of Lǐ Xiányòng’s 李咸用 李咸用 (fl. Xiántōng 860–874 to Qiánfú 874–879; Lǒngxī by ancestral seat) verse collection in 6 juǎn. The header inscription identifies him as a tuīguān (Examining Inspector) — a regional staff position. The title Pīshā “sifting sand” alludes to the panning of valuable verse from common matter.
The Sìkù did not include this collection in WYG; the SBCK is the principal modern access. The text opens with Shuǐxiān cāo (Water-Immortal Operation) and proceeds through Jīmíng qū, Xīmén xíng, Qīngbó yuàn, and other late-Táng yuèfǔ-style and quatrain pieces.
Prefaces
The base text opens directly with juǎn 1 (no separate preface in the surviving SBCK copy). The opening verse Shuǐxiān cāo — a yuèfǔ using the Bó Yá / Zhōng Zǐqī musical legend — exemplifies Lǐ Xiányòng’s characteristic mode: unfailing yuèfǔ old-titles, austere descriptive diction, occasional excursions into Buddhist or Daoist motif.
Abstract
Lǐ Xiányòng is a representative late-Táng poet of the post-Dàzhōng generation, whose verse corpus survives in significant quantity (6 juǎn) but who has not generated substantial commentary tradition. He failed the jìnshì repeatedly and held cóngshì / tuīguān posts in regional offices. His verse, in the yuèfǔ idiom, is conservative and image-careful, with strong influence from Bào Róng (= KR4c0071) and Zhāng Wèi’s Zhǔkè tú school typology. CBDB id 92988 has no dates; standard reference works place his career Xiántōng–Qiánfú (~860s–870s).
Translations and research
- No substantial secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The Pīshā jí title — “sifting sand” for the gold of usable verse — is one of the more self-deprecating Tang collection-titles, and registers a typical late-Táng poetic stance: the poet’s work is claimed not as a dignified jí (collection) but as the lesser yield of laborious sieving.
Links
- Li Xianyong (Wikipedia) (if available)