Lǐ chéngxiàng shījí 李丞相詩集
The Poetry Collection of Chancellor Lǐ by 李建勳 (撰), 張元濟 (撰校勘記)
About the work
The two-juǎn SBCK reprint of the poetry of Lǐ Jiànxūn 李建勳 (873?–952), of Lǒngxī 隴西 (the title’s “Lǒngxī” is the jùnwàng / ancestral-county designation; Lǐ’s actual residence was Jīnlíng / Nánjīng), the Southern-Táng 南唐 chancellor, cí-poet, and one of the foundational lyrical voices of the early Southern-Táng court. Cataloged here as a biéjí (collected works) under the Southern Táng (specifically the early Southern-Táng / late-Wú period from ca. 920 onwards into the Bǎodà reign of Lǐ Jǐng).
The two-juǎn SBCK preserves the Sòng Línānfǔ Hóngqiáo Chénzhái shūjí pù 臨安府洪橋陳宅書籍鋪 cutting. Juǎn 1 contains 44 poems; juǎn 2 contains 41. The total, 85 poems, is the surviving fragment of what was once a much larger corpus — the Sòngshǐ yìwénzhì records Lǐ Jiànxūn jí in 30 juǎn. Zhāng Yuánjì 張元濟 supplied the Republican-era textual-collation notes for the SBCK reprint.
The collection’s title — Lǐ chéngxiàng (Chancellor Lǐ) — refers to Lǐ’s terminal office under Southern-Táng founder Lǐ Biàn 李昪 (Lièzǔ, r. 937–943) and his son Lǐ Jǐng 李璟 (Yuánzōng, r. 943–961). Lǐ Jiànxūn served Lǐ Biàn from the Wú state period and rose to Tóng zhōngshū ménxià píngzhāngshì (chancellor) in the early Shēngyuán reign (937–943); he was retired with the rank of Húbù shàngshū and lived out his final years at Jīnlíng in poetic retirement, dying in 952 at the start of the Lǐ Jǐng reign.
The poetry is conventionally classified as late-Táng/Five-Dynasties seven-character regulated verse of the leisured-aristocratic register: bùjiǔ (taking wine), xīhuā (cherishing flowers), chūnrì (spring days), chíshàng (by the pond), xiánchū (idling out), huáqí (admiring crabapple), zèng (gifts to colleagues), sòngrén (sending off guests). The opening poem of juǎn 1 is Zhōngjiǔ jì Liú xíngjūn 中酒寄劉行軍 (“Half-Drunk: Sent to Commander Liú”). The dominant tone is reflective, leisured, with a recurring late-life consciousness of declining health (zhōngjiǔ, zìjiā, zìyí) and the consolations of poetry, garden, and distant friends. The famous Tībái 鑷白 (Plucking-White-Hairs) and Cuīzhuāng themes — old-age makeup, white-hair-plucking — appear throughout.
Prefaces
The base text has no Sòng or Míng preface in the SBCK reprint; the poetry begins directly with the title-line Lǐ chéngxiàng shījí juǎn shàng and the author-style Lǒngxī Lǐ Jiànxūn. The Sòng-cutting’s principal frontmatter is the printer’s colophon at the end of juǎn 1: “Línānfǔ Hóngqiáo zǐnán Héxī àn Chénzhái shūjí pù yìn” — confirming the late-Sòng Línān cutting. A complete table of contents follows the body text.
Abstract
Lǐ Jiànxūn (CBDB id 92981, 873?–952) is one of the foundational poets of the Southern-Táng literary tradition. Lǒngxī is the ancestral-clan designation, but Lǐ’s actual life centered on the JiāngHuái / Jīnlíng region. He served the Wú state in its later phase, transitioned smoothly to the Southern-Táng under Lǐ Biàn (937), and rose to chancellor in the Shēngyuán reign; he was retired with senior-honor titles in the early-940s and lived in Jīnlíng into the Bǎodà reign of Lǐ Jǐng. Friend and elder colleague of Sūn Fāng 孫魴 and Pī Bīn 沈彬 (both addressed in the collection); contemporary of the Southern-Táng cí-poet Féng Yánsì 馮延巳 (a generation younger).
The poetry collection survives in fragmentary form. From the lost original 30-juǎn corpus (per Sòngshǐ yìwénzhì) only the present 85-poem two-juǎn core is extant in the Línān Chénzhái tradition (preserved in the SBCK reprint). The Quán Tángshī gathers a slightly expanded set including supplementary fragments from anthologies, but the principal text remains this two-juǎn.
The collection’s bibliographic significance: (a) it preserves the principal poetic register of the early-Southern-Táng court — leisured, reflective, with the late-Tang lǜshī technique applied to the new Jīnlíng aristocratic-court setting; (b) the addressees document the early-Southern-Táng poetic community (Sūn Fāng, Pī Bīn, the zhèngshì xuéshì and other officials); (c) Lǐ Jiànxūn’s individual register — calmer and more meditative than Wéi Zhuāng’s exile-mode and less imagistically dramatic than the Five-Dynasties monk-poets — defines a transitional voice between late-Táng and full-Sòng shī.
CBDB id 92981 confirms 873?–952 (per the Tángrénwù zhī-shi bēisù dataset). The catalog meta gives no specific dates; the notBefore / notAfter are set to 920 (Wú-period) and 952 (death year).
Translations and research
- 王秀林 Wáng Xiù-lín. Articles in Wén-xué yí-chǎn on Southern-Táng poetic communities and Lǐ Jiàn-xūn’s place in them.
- 唐圭璋 Táng Guī-zhāng. Quán Táng-Wǔ-dài cí 全唐五代詞 collations include the small body of cí attributed to Lǐ Jiàn-xūn.
- No substantial Western-language scholarship located.
Other points of interest
The single most-cited Lǐ Jiànxūn poem in later anthology tradition is Yǒng yàn 歸燕詞 (closing piece of juǎn 1), a long pentasyllabic gǔfēng on returning swallows that became canonical in the Sòng yǒngwù (object-praising) sub-genre. The poem’s pivotal couplet — “Yǔyì shì suī wēi, yúnxiāo yì kě qī” (“though my feathered strength is small, the cloud-heaven is still my hope”) — became a stock allusion for ambitious-but-modest self-presentation in later poetry.