Qǔfù jí 曲阜集
The Qǔ-fù Collection (of Zēng Zhào) by 曾肇 (撰), 曾儼 (編)
About the work
Qǔfù jí 曲阜集 is the surviving fragment of the literary collection of Zēng Zhào 曾肇 (1047–1107, zì Zǐkāi 子開, posthumous Wénzhāo 文昭), youngest brother of Zēng Gǒng 曾鞏 曾鞏 (the bājiā prosaist) and Zēng Bù 曾布 (the New Policies premier). The Qǔfù in the title is one of Zēng Zhào’s titular references — the Qǔfù xiànkāiguózǐ enfeoffment from his late career. According to Yáng Shí 楊時’s shéndàobēi and Zēng Zhào’s own xíngzhuàng, the original literary output comprised: Qǔfù jí 40 juǎn, Wàijí 10 juǎn, Zòuyì 12 juǎn, Ěryīng jìn gùshì 1 juǎn, Yuányòu Wàizhì jí 12 juǎn, Gēngchén Wàizhì jí 3 juǎn, Nèizhì jí 5 juǎn, Shàngshū jiǎngyì 8 juǎn, Zēngshì pǔtú 1 juǎn — well over 90 juǎn total. Most was lost by mid-Míng. Only the zòuyì portion was independently re-printed in Yǒnglè 10 / 1412 by descendants (Zēng Qǐ’s preface notes “the present is only one juǎn of the Qǔfù jí; the full text should be cut”). Under Kāngxī the descendant Zēng Yǎn 曾儼 曾儼 reconstituted what survived: the existing zòuyì + scattered zhàozhì, bēibiǎo, and yìpiān (lost pieces) → 3 juǎn of shīwén + 1 juǎn of fùlù (4 juǎn total).
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Qǔfù jí in 4 juǎn by Zēng Zhào of the Sòng. Zhào, zì Zǐkāi, of Nánfēng, brother of [Zēng] Gǒng and [Zēng] Bù. Zhìpíng 4 / 1067 jìnshì; reached Zhōngshū shèrén Lóngtúgé xuéshì; under the Yuányòu dǎng repeatedly demoted to Púzhōu tuánliàn fùshǐ with Tīngzhōu internment; in Chóngníng restored as Cháosànláng; returned to Rùnzhōu and died. In early Shàoxīng posthumous shì Wénzhāo. Deeds in his Sòngshǐ běnzhuàn. Examination of Zhào’s xíngzhuàng: he wrote Qǔfù jí 40 juǎn, Wàijí 10 juǎn, Zòuyì 12 juǎn, Ěryīng jìn gùshì 1 juǎn, Yuányòu Wàizhì jí 12 juǎn, Gēngchén Wàizhì jí 3 juǎn, Nèizhì jí 5 juǎn, Shàngshū jiǎngyì 8 juǎn, Zēngshì pǔtú 1 juǎn. Yáng Shí’s shéndàobēi gives the Qǔfù jí zòuyì counts identical to the xíngzhuàng, but the Xīyè jí 12 juǎn, Nèizhì 50 juǎn, Wàizhì 30 juǎn differ slightly from the xíngzhuàng (perhaps the Wàizhì counts include the Yuányòu and Gēngchén together). Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì and Mǎ Duānlín’s Jīngjí kǎo both record the collection. In Míng Yǒnglè 10 / 1412 his descendants printed-and-circulated the zòuyì, with Zēng Qǐ’s preface saying “The present is only one juǎn of the Qǔfù jí; the full wén should be cut” — clearly in early Míng the original collection was still extant; we do not know how it later gradually fell into oblivion until the transmitted edition broke. Under Kāngxī his descendant [Zēng] Yǎn and others took the surviving zòuyì, supplemented with zhàozhì, bēibiǎo, and yìpiān — and arranged them — separately as this collection. The first 3 juǎn are shīwén; the back 1 juǎn is the fùlù. Zhào at court held to principle, belonging to the dǎnglùn fānfù (factional reversals); in turning sides, he often had jǔwú bùhé (out-of-step) moments. He further forcefully remonstrated with his elder brother [Zēng] Bù to recommend shànlèi (the good party), Bù not following. The zòuyì in the collection — such as Qǐ fù zhuǎnduì, Xuānrén huánghòu shòucè bǎiguān shàngshòu, Jiù Hán Wéi, Jiǎo Wáng Dí wàirèn and other pieces — all are recounted by the shǐ. Now all preserved in the collection — usable for kǎojiàn (corroboration). His zhìgǎo (edict-drafts) are likewise ěryǎ diǎnzé (refined-elegant, canonically rule-bound), getting the xùncí (admonitory-decree) register. Although his depth-and-substance does not reach his elder brother Gǒng’s, he does not fail the jiāfǎ (family transmission) of yuānyì wēnchún (deep-seemly, warm-pure). It is regrettable that the full shū is now lost: as for the Jìn Yuánfēng Jiǔyùzhì biǎo, in fact composed by Zhào — seen in Wáng Yīnglín’s Yùhǎi — yet not in the collection — clearly the jiāwén (good prose) lost is many. Qiánlóng 43 (1778) 9th month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Qǔfù jí is one of the more dramatic instances of late-Northern-Sòng biéjí loss — over 90 juǎn of original prose-and-poetry corpus reduced to a 4-juǎn fragment, of which 3 juǎn are reconstituted shīwén and 1 juǎn is fùlù. The surviving zòuyì preserve the Yuányòu phase of Zēng Zhào’s career: his memorial restoring the zhuǎnduì (rotational presentation) practice — a major procedural Yuányòu reversal of the Xīníng concentration of memorialization; his defense of Hán Wéi 韓維 韓維 under censure; his blocking of Wáng Dí’s outside-posting. The zhìgǎo portion preserves a sample of Zēng’s Hànlín and Sīlìyuàn drafts. The Sìkù editors’ explicit citation of the Yùhǎi-recorded Jìn Yuánfēng Jiǔyùzhì biǎo — a piece by Zēng Zhào not preserved in this collection — is a model of how biéjí lacunae are mapped against external citations. The pivotal Zēng-family triad (Gǒng / Bù / Zhào) — covering the Yuányòu coalition (Gǒng / Zhào) and the New Policies (Bù) — makes Zēng Zhào’s Qǔfù jí a key intra-family-disagreement source. Dating bracket: Zēng Zhào’s death (1107) to the Sìkù re-collation (1778).
Translations and research
- Levine, Ari Daniel. 2008. Divided by a Common Language. Hawai’i. Treats the Zēng-family triad in detail.
- Bol, Peter K. 1992. “This Culture of Ours”. Stanford UP.
- Zhū Shàng-shū 祝尚書. 1999/2020. Sòng-rén bié-jí xù-lù 宋人別集敘錄. Zhōng-huá. Detailed bibliographic notice including the Qǔ-fù jí / Wài-jí / zòu-yì family of recensions.
Other points of interest
The Yáng Shí 楊時 shéndàobēi — preserving an alternative juǎn-count for the now-lost Wàizhì and Nèizhì recensions — together with Zēng Qǐ’s Yǒnglè 10 / 1412 preface (which explicitly notes the zòuyì as one juǎn of the larger Qǔfù jí and projects a future full-edition cutting that never occurred), are the principal external attestations to the lost portions. The Zēng-family triad’s intra-political disagreement — Zhào in fact remonstrating with the elder brother Bù for not recommending shànlèi — is one of the more poignant Northern-Sòng family-political dramas, comparable to the Wáng Ānshí / Wáng Ānlǐ split.
Links
- Zeng Zhao (Wikidata)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.1 (Sòng biéjí); §44 (Yuányòu / Shàoshèng).