Línchuān wénjí 臨川文集
Collected Works of [Wáng] Lín-chuān [Ān-shí] — also Lín-chuān xiān-shēng wén-jí by 王安石 (撰)
About the work
Línchuān wénjí 臨川文集 (also Línchuān xiānshēng wénjí 臨川先生文集 / Wáng Jīnggōng wénjí 王荊公文集 / Wáng Wéngōng wénjí 王文公文集) is the principal collection of Wáng Ānshí 王安石 (1021–1086, zì Jièfǔ 介甫, hào Bànshān 半山, Línchuān xiānshēng 臨川先生, Jīngguógōng enfeoffment, posthumous Wén 文 — rescinded under Yuányòu and re-given under Huīzōng), the architect of the Xīníng New Policies and one of the TángSòng bājiā. The collection’s transmission is bibliographically among the more intricate Sòng biéjí: the original Sòng cuts (Wáng’s family-house edition, the Lóngshūjùnzhāi edition of Lóngshūjùnzhāi) circulated as 100-juǎn recensions; in Shàoxīng 10 / 1140 Línchuānjùn prefect Zhān Dàhé 詹大和 cut the recension on which the SBCK reprint is based, with collation note by Huáng Cìshān 黃次山 of Yùzhāng (his xù preserved in the SBCK head). The Sìkù WYG version (100 juǎn) descends through the same Sòng-recension family. The collection’s structure: poetry occupies juǎn 1–37 (古詩 + 律詩); cí (lyrics) juǎn 38–39; piāoyáo gēcí / záshī, biǎozhuàng, jiàofù, zhìyǒu, biǎo, zhuàng, zházǐ, jiàocǎo (his Zhōngshū drafts of zhìgào and Hànlín drafts), qǐ, shū, jiǎngyì, jì, xù, lùnyì (including the famous Wànyán shū 萬言書 to Rénzōng), zázhù, jìwén, bēi, xíngzhuàng, mùzhì, lùnyǔ jiě fragments — total 100 juǎn. The Míng Jiājìng 39 / 1560 Wáng Zōngmù 王宗沐 Fǔzhōu prefectural cutting (xù preserved at the head of the SBCK) is one of the more substantial Míng cuttings.
About the SBCK source
The SBCK reprint of KR4d0073 is the Línchuān xiānshēng wénjí in 100 juǎn with two prefaces preserved at the head: Wáng Zōngmù 王宗沐’s Jiājìng 39 / 1560 Línchuān wénjí xù (a substantial jiǎngxué-influenced critical reading of Wáng Ānshí — defending him against the Jìngkāngzhīhuò attribution while diagnosing his political tragedy as a failure of yǎdùyíqì) and Huáng Cìshān’s Shàoxīng 10 / 1140 collation note (with its famous Zhān Dàhé / kè exchange on the propriety of cutting an imperfect recension).
Tiyao
The KRP source for KR4d0073 is the SBCK reprint, which does not include the Sìkù tíyào. The parallel Sìkù WYG recension (V1105.1) carries its own tíyào (datable to Qiánlóng 46 / 1781), which substantially echoes the Wáng Zōngmù preface in its diagnostic framing.
Abstract
Línchuān wénjí is the principal source for one of the most thoroughly-studied Northern-Sòng biéjí. The poetry corpus alone is the central source for the Jīnggōngtǐ (the Wáng Ānshí poetic style, the “Línchuān-mode” of compressed late-style absolute regulated verse, particularly the post-1076 Bànshān retirement poems at Jiāngníng). Annotated in detail by Lǐ Bì 李壁 李壁 in the Wáng Jīnggōng shīzhù KR4d0074. The prose corpus contains: the Wànyán shū (1058) — the foundational manifesto of the New Policies programme; the Shàng Rénzōng huángdì yán shìshū (in juǎn 39 yánshì shū); the Zhìzhìgào drafts — the operational record of the Hànlín phase; and the Zhōuguānxīnyì fragments (the foundational document of the Xīníng exegetical reform, the integral Zhōuguānxīnyì preserved in Yǒnglè dàdiǎn and recategorized as KR1d0004). The Wáng Zōngmù xù — perhaps the most articulate Míng-period defense of Wáng Ānshí — frames his political failure not as a defect of doctrine but as a personality-defect, his guīwéi gūtè zhī xíng (lone-and-unique conduct) and his zhuānjué dūlì zhī yòng (sole-decisive, severe-strict use). Modern Línchuān jí scholarship descends through Cài Shàngxiàng 蔡上翔 (Wáng Jīnggōng niánpǔ kǎoluè, 1804) and Liáng Qǐchāo 梁啟超 (Wáng Jīnggōng zhuàn, 1908) to the modern apologetic-rehabilitation tradition. Dating bracket: Wáng’s death (1086) to the Sìkù re-collation (1781).
Translations and research
- Williamson, H. R. 1935–1937. Wang An Shih: A Chinese Statesman and Educationalist of the Sung Dynasty. 2 vols. Probsthain. The substantial English-language biography.
- Liu, James T. C. 1959. Reform in Sung China: Wang An-shih (1021–1086) and his New Policies. Harvard UP. The standard modern English-language treatment.
- Smith, Paul J. 2009. “Shen-tsung’s Reign and the New Policies of Wang An-shih, 1067–1085.” In Cambridge History of China, Vol. 5.1.
- Bol, Peter K. 1992. “This Culture of Ours”. Stanford UP. Treats Wáng Ān-shí extensively.
- Lǐ Huá-ruì 李華瑞. 2001. Wáng Ān-shí biàn-fǎ yán-jiū-shǐ 王安石變法研究史. Rén-mín. Standard reception-history.
- Liáng Qǐ-chāo 梁啟超. 1908. Wáng Jīng-gōng zhuàn 王荊公傳.
- Cài Shàng-xiàng 蔡上翔. 1804. Wáng Jīng-gōng nián-pǔ kǎo-luè 王荊公年譜考略.
- Egan, Ronald C. 1994. Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi. Harvard. Treats the Bàn-shān retirement poetry context.
Other points of interest
The Wáng Zōngmù Jiājìng preface preserved at the head of the SBCK is one of the most articulate Míng xīnxué (Yáng-míng-school) defenses of Wáng Ānshí, framing his failure in the language of xìnglǐ (psychological-philosophical) self-cultivation rather than doctrinal error. The Bànshān late-style poetry — Wáng’s jiāngníng retirement output — is one of the most influential late-style Sòng poetic corpora; together with the Bànshān shī-influenced Jiāngxī pài (Huáng Tíngjiān 黃庭堅 explicitly drew on Wáng) it forms the principal connection between the Xīníng reform-era and Southern-Sòng poetic schools.
Links
- Wang Anshi (Wikidata)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.1 (Sòng biéjí); §44 (Xīníng New Policies); §47 (TángSòng bājiā).