Gōngshì jí 公是集
The Gōng-shì Collection (of Liú Chǎng) by 劉敞 (撰)
About the work
Gōngshì jí 公是集 is the 54-juǎn Sìkù reconstitution from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn of the original 75-juǎn (per Wénxiàn tōngkǎo) collection of Liú Chǎng 劉敞 (1019–1068, zì Yuánfù 原父, hào Gōngshì 公是), the Northern-Sòng Chūnqiū classicist and elder brother of Liú Bān 劉攽 (the Hànshū historian). Liú Chǎng’s Chūnqiū chuán 春秋傳 KR1d0036 is the principal Sòng Chūnqiū commentary of the Qìnglì / Jiāyòu generation, contemporary with Sūn Fù’s 孫復 but stylistically much more learned and zhūzhuàn-friendly.
Tiyao
[Translation summary] The Sìkù tíyào: Gōngshì jí in 54 juǎn by Liú Chǎng of the Sòng. Has Chūnqiū chuán already in the catalog. Yè Mèngdé’s Bìshǔ lùhuà records Liú’s collection at 175 juǎn — but per his brother Liú Bān’s jí xù, Gōngshì zǒng jí 75 juǎn in 5 categories: gǔ shī 20 juǎn, lǜ shī 15 juǎn, nèi jí 20 juǎn, wài jí 15 juǎn, xiǎo jí 5 juǎn — so Yè was wrong. Original lapsed. The Xīnyú prefectural cut of Sān Liú wén jí has only 4 juǎn of Liú Chǎng’s, mostly drawn from the Sòng wén jiàn, with errors (Liú Jì’s Zhào shì jīnshí lù xù and Tàishān Qínzhuàn pǔ xù mistakenly inserted; the Gōngshì jí xù by Liú Bān taken from Wénxiàn tōngkǎo and noted as “name lost”); editorial mess. Wú Yǔnjiā’s separately compiled Gōngshì jí in 6 juǎn also too brief. The Yǒnglè dàdiǎn preserves substantial material; we have arranged it as 54 juǎn. The original was probably preserved richly because the bureau editors valued the xiōngdì zhī wén (brothers’ writing) and took it all in. Liú’s classical commentary, though loving to differ from former Confucians, is widely-read and substantively his own — quite different from the unfounded Southern-Sòng yóután. So his prose is steeped in classical learning and has a textual basis. His brother’s preface praises him as combining beauties for his own use, transcending peers, with a unique grandeur — “freely flowing, fàngsì zìruò”; calls him able to “examine all bǎizǐ and the liùjīng, weighing and adjudicating; reach the supreme governance of dìwáng; today by following his teaching one can become a shèngrén and reach the Way.” — perhaps brotherly yú yú zhī qíng over-praising; but Zēng Zhào’s Qūfǔ jí has Liú’s Tèjìn zhì (special-promotion edict) calling him “in jīngshù and wénzhāng approaching the ancient masters”; Zhū Xī’s Huìān jí has Mòzhuāng jì saying “the xuéshì shèrén xiōngdì both gloriously famous in their age and after”; the yǔlù says “Yuánfù’s wéncái boundless, will-flow naturally; in writing he often fǎgǔ jué xiāngsì (closely models antiquity); some of his pieces study the Lǐjì and Chūnqiū, others the Gōngyáng and Gǔliáng”; says further “Liú shìdú qìpíng wénhuǎn” 劉侍讀氣平文緩 — Liú the Shìdú’s air is even, his prose easy. Qiánlóng (year), respectfully collated.
Abstract
Liú Chǎng’s career: jìnshì of Qìnglì 6 / 1046 in second place (bǎngyǎn); held Yánguān and Hànlín offices; envoy to the Liáo in 1063 (his careful diplomatic memoranda are preserved in this collection); Pǎoshū jiān / Director of the Imperial Library. Chūnqiū was his principal scholarly commitment, but his preserved oeuvre is much more eclectic — fù, gǔtǐ shī, lǜtǐ shī, zhìgào, biǎozòu, bēimíngzhì, xùjì, and a substantial body of jīngshù writings drawing on the Lǐjì, Yílǐ, and the three Chūnqiū commentaries. Died Xīníng 1 / 1068 age 50. The dating bracket marks Liú’s death (1068) to the Sìkù reconstitution (1781).
Translations and research
- Bol, Peter K. 1992. “This Culture of Ours”. Stanford UP. Treats Liú Chǎng among the Qìng-lì generation classicists.
- Henderson, John B. 1991. Scripture, Canon, and Commentary: A Comparison of Confucian and Western Exegesis. Princeton UP. Discusses Liú’s Chūn-qiū commentary.
- Cài Fāng-lù 蔡方鹿. 2010. Sòng dài Chūn-qiū xué 宋代春秋學. Bā-Shǔ shū-shè. Standard Chinese treatment of the Chūn-qiū school in which Liú is central.
Other points of interest
The Liú Chǎng / Liú Bān (and Liú Pī 劉羆 — their nephew, sometimes added) “Sān Liú” 三劉 grouping of Xīnyú (Jiāngxī) classicists is the canonical Sòng cluster of Chūnqiū / Hànshū learning, with all three collections originally combined as the Sān Liú wén jí in Xīnyú family editorial tradition (the Sìkù compilers explicitly recovered the present recension against this defective Sān Liú family edition). Liú Chǎng’s Chūnqiū chuán KR1d0036 and Gōngshì dìzǐ jì KR3a0034 (despite its title actually his yǔlù) are catalogued separately.
Links
- Liu Chang (Wikidata)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §3 (Sòng Chūnqiū exegesis); §28.1 (Sòng biéjí).