Péngchéng jí 彭城集
The Péng-chéng Collection (of Liú Bān) by 劉攽 (撰)
About the work
Péngchéng jí 彭城集 is the 40-juǎn Sìkù reconstitution from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn of the original 50-juǎn (per Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì) collection of Liú Bān 劉攽 (1023–1089, zì Gòngfù 貢父, hào Gōngfēi 公非), the eminent Northern-Sòng Hànshū historian, younger brother of Liú Chǎng 劉敞, and one of Sīmǎ Guāng’s principal collaborators on the Zīzhì tōngjiàn — Liú Bān was responsible for the entire Hàn and Sānguó portion of the Tōngjiàn’s composition. The title commemorates Liú’s family registry at Pēngchéng 彭城 (Xúzhōu).
Tiyao
[Translation summary] The Sìkù tíyào: Péngchéng jí in 40 juǎn by Liú Bān of the Sòng. Bān, zì Gòngfù, hào Gōngfēi, took the jìnshì with his elder brother Chǎng in Qìnglì 6 / 1046; rose to Zhōngshū shèrén. Deeds in Sòngshǐ. Said to have mastered the Five Classics before age 20 and read all schools. Shěn Zuòzhé’s Yùjiǎn says “the early Sòng’s six-classics learning was advanced by Jiǎ Wényuán [Chángcháo]; the Liú brothers reached its highest”; Sīmǎ Guāng on the Tōngjiàn reached for the empire’s choicest, and assigned the Shǐjì and the front-and-rear Hànshū to Bān. As prefect of Yǎn and Bó he refused to enforce the New Policies and was demoted to Héngzhōu yáncāng monitor; under Zhézōng raised to zhī Xiāngzhōu; entered as Mìshū shǎojiān. Qián Xié 錢勰’s draft of the appointment greatly praises his prose. Later as Zhí Lóngtú gé sent out as zhī Càizhōu; Sūn Jué, Hú Zōngyù, Sū Shì, Fàn Bǎilù all recommended him saying “Bān is widely-read and skilled in writing, his administration matches the xúnlì of antiquity, his body bears several talents, holds firm to the Way and does not yield”; thus called as Zhōngshū shèrén. Sū Shì’s draft zhì says “able to read the diǎnfén qiūsuǒ and xí HànWèiJìnTáng old matters.” On his death Zēng Gǒng’s jì wén says: “qiáng xué bó mǐn, chāo jué yī shì; from the records of Confucius and the hundred schools, the Tàishǐ records, vulgar hearsay and frontier reports, yīnyáng guǐshén, fine and gross myriads — all loaded on his body; down to the laws and statutes, gùshì, that even old officials could not be sure of, when they pile up in question to him, returning as if from a master, going through and bursting through, like a stream-decision and arrow-flight; in our literary forest’s many talents, you alone matched the zhǔhuī of the ten thousand.” — Even Zhū Xī, who cared little for the Yuányòu people apart from the Luò school, in yǔlù says “Gòngfù’s writing is skillful at modeling, his study of the Gōngyáng and Yílǐ also commendable” — so Liú’s broad-and-deep xuéwèn, his refined elegant cízhāng, was undeniable. The Sòngshǐ records his works: literary collection 50 juǎn; Wǔdài chūnqiū 15 juǎn; Nèizhuàn Guóyǔ 20 juǎn; Jīngshǐ xīnyì 7 juǎn; DōngHàn kānwù 4 juǎn; Shīhuà 2 juǎn; Hànguānyí 3 juǎn; Sháoyào pǔ 3 juǎn. Now what survives, apart from the Shīhuà, only the DōngHàn kānwù in dispersed appendix in the Běijiānběn Hòu Hànshū — no separate independent edition; Sháoyào pǔ barely surviving. The literary collection was 50 juǎn per Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì and Wénxiàn tōngkǎo; long lost; Yǒnglè dàdiǎn preserves much; we have gathered into 40 juǎn. Qiánlóng (year), respectfully collated.
Abstract
Liú Bān’s career: jìnshì of Qìnglì 6 / 1046 with his elder brother Chǎng. The principal Hànshū / Sānguó historian of his generation; assigned by Sīmǎ Guāng 司馬光 to draft the entire Hàn and Sānguó portion of the Zīzhì tōngjiàn during the 1067–1085 compilation. Refused to enforce the Xīníng New Policies and was demoted to monitor of the Héngzhōu salt warehouses (1078); restored under Zhézōng as Zhī Xiāngzhōu and recalled as Mìshū shǎojiān; finally Zhōngshū shèrén. Author also of the Hànguānyí (revised offices of the Han bureaucracy), DōngHàn kānwù (errata for the Hòu Hànshū), Wǔdài chūnqiū, and the influential Zhōngshān shīhuà 中山詩話. Died Yuányòu 4 / 1089 age 67. The collection’s SòngYuán transmission lapsed; the Sìkù recovery is from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn. The dating bracket marks Liú’s death (1089) to the Sìkù reconstitution (1781).
Translations and research
- Bol, Peter K. 1992. “This Culture of Ours”. Stanford UP. Discusses the Liú brothers in Northern-Sòng classical scholarship.
- Pulleyblank, E. G. 1961. “Chinese Historical Criticism: Liu Chih-chi and Ssu-ma Kuang.” In Historians of China and Japan. Treats Liú Bān’s Hàn-shū / Tōng-jiàn work.
- de Crespigny, Rafe. 1996. To Establish Peace: Being the Chronicle of the Later Han for the Years 189 to 220 AD. ANU. Translation of Tōng-jiàn sections drawing on Liú Bān’s compilation.
- Cài Fāng-lù 蔡方鹿. 2010. Sòng dài Chūn-qiū xué 宋代春秋學. Treats both Liú brothers.
Other points of interest
The Liú Bān / Sīmǎ Guāng working relationship on the Zīzhì tōngjiàn — Liú as the Hàn / Sānguó specialist drafter — is one of the principal documented intellectual collaborations of the Northern Sòng. Liú’s witty Zhōngshān shīhuà 中山詩話 — separately catalogued at KR4j0021 — is one of the most widely cited Sòng shīhuà and provides important contextualization for many Northern-Sòng poems.
Links
- Liu Ban (Wikidata)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §3 (Sòng historiography); §28.1 (Sòng biéjí).