Luánchéng jí 欒城集
The Luán-chéng Collection (of Sū Zhé) — also Yǐng-bīn jí by 蘇轍 (撰)
About the work
Luánchéng jí 欒城集 (named from Sū Zhé 蘇轍 蘇轍’s ancestral Luánchéng 欒城 — Héběi, the Sū lineage’s pre-Sì-chuān seat) is the principal collection of Sū Zhé (1039–1112, zì Zǐyóu 子由, hào Yǐngbīn yílǎo 潁濱遺老, posthumous Wéndìng 文定), youngest of the SānSū. The 50-juǎn WYG recension descends through the Míng Jiājìng 20 / 1541 Sìchuān prefectural cutting (the Adapted Studio-period Shǔ wáng (Sichuan Prince) sponsored cutting) — Liú Dàmó 劉大謨’s preface preserved at the head of the SBCK reprint (V1112.1 + V1113.1 cover the WYG state). Sū Zhé’s career divides into three phases — the Yuányòu-coalition first, the Shàoshèng internment, the Yǐngchuān retirement — and the collection’s structure (poetry / biǎozhuàng / zòuyì / jìxù / zhìmíng) preserves both. The Sìkù-cataloged 50-juǎn Luánchéng jí + 12-juǎn Yìngzhào jí KR4d0083 + 24-juǎn Hòují + 12-juǎn Sānjí together correspond to the full Yǐngbīn yílǎo corpus; the present Sìkù recension preserves only the principal 50-juǎn portion.
Tiyao
The Sìkù WYG version is preserved at V1112.1 with its own tíyào. This catalog entry uses the WYG metadata; the SBCK source files for KR4d0082 contain the parallel Míng cutting with Liú Dàmó’s Jiājìng 20 / 1541 xù. The Sìkù tíyào (parallel) in summary frames Sū Zhé’s prose as wāngyáng dànbó, shēnchún wēncuì (vast and bland-substantial, deeply pure and warm) — Ōuyáng Xiū’s praise that qí shí shèng yú jǐ (his actual writing surpasses my own) is repeated as the standard early Sòng evaluation. The Sìkù editors note the SānSū corpus’s massive Míng-period circulation but with significant étuō (errors and drops) — and Liú Dàmó’s prefectural cut as one of the more careful Míng recensions; the Sìkù WYG state takes the Liú-prefectural cut as principal collation control.
Abstract
Luánchéng jí preserves the principal output of Sū Zhé’s full career: the Héběi / Sìchuān youthful prose; the Yuányòu-coalition central-court memorials (juǎn 36–43 zòuyì are particularly substantive — including the famous defenses of Sū Shì against the Wūtái shī àn 烏臺詩案 prosecutors and the Yuányòu decision-debates around bāngjī / guānzhì reform); the Shàoshèng internment-period prose (the Lǎozǐ jiě fragments preserved here, separately collected as Lǎozǐ jiě in the zǐbù); and the Yǐngchuān retirement-period (Yǐngbīn 潁濱) reflective prose, including the major Lìshǐ (history-essay) corpus that includes the famous Liùguó lùn (his counter to his father Sū Xún’s same-titled essay KR4d0072) and Sānguó lùn. The collection is the principal counterpart to the Dōngpō quánjí KR4d0076 in the SānSū corpus and is the standard source for Sū Zhé’s poetic career (his shī corpus is roughly half his elder brother’s volume but includes the substantive géshī of his Yǐngchuān retirement). Liú Dàmó’s preface (preserved in the SBCK base) frames Sū Zhé’s prose as wāngyáng dànbó, shēnchún wēncuì — closely echoing Ōuyáng Xiū’s earlier praise. Dating bracket: Sū Zhé’s death (1112) to the Sìkù re-collation (1781).
Translations and research
- Egan, Ronald C. 1994. Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi. Harvard. Treats Sū Zhé throughout in counterpoint to Sū Shì.
- Bol, Peter K. 1992. “This Culture of Ours”. Stanford UP.
- Sū Zhé wén-jí 蘇轍文集. 1990. Zhōng-huá. 4 vols. Standard modern critical edition (with Hòu-jí, Sān-jí, Yìng-zhào jí).
- Sū Zhé jí 蘇轍集. 1990. Zhōng-huá. The standard modern critical edition.
- Hé Cǎi-péng 何采萍 et al. 1986. Sū Zhé yán-jiū 蘇轍研究. Sì-chuān rén-mín. Standard Chinese biography.
- Liu, Cécile. 1990. Su Tung-p’o’s Brothers. Discusses Sū Zhé’s poetic and political career.
Other points of interest
The SūZhé / SūShì zòuyì parallels — particularly during the Yuányòu coalition’s tenure (Sū Zhé as Ménxià shìláng 1086, Sū Shì as Hànlín xuéshì — the brothers occupied near-equal positions) — make the Luánchéng jí and Dōngpō quánjí essential mutual context. Sū Zhé’s Yǐngchuān retirement essays (the Lǎozǐ jiě, the Lùnyǔ shíyí, the historical cèlùn corpus) — preserved in the back portion of the collection — are the principal Sūxué (Sū-school) doctrinal source on the SānSū synthesis of Confucian-Daoist-Buddhist thinking that Zhū Xī attacked as syncretist heresy.
Links
- Su Zhe (Wikidata)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.1 (Sòng biéjí); §47 (TángSòng bājiā); §44 (Yuányòu).