Huáihǎi jí 淮海集
The Huái-hǎi Collection (of Qín Guān) by 秦觀 (撰)
About the work
Huáihǎi jí 淮海集 (named from Qín Guān 秦觀 秦觀’s hào Huáihǎi jūshì 淮海居士) is the literary collection of Qín Guān (1049–1100, zì Shàoyóu 少游, also Tàixū 太虛), the most famous cí-poet of the Northern Sòng wǎnyuē-school and one of the Sūmén sìxuéshì. The KRP source is the SBCK reprint of Zhāng Yán 張綖 of Gāoyóu’s Jiājìng 18 / 1539 cutting at Èzhōu shíjìngtíng (preface preserved at the head); the Sòngshǐ lièzhuàn is preserved at the head as well. Zhāng Yán framed the collection in his preface as preserving yuánběn (root) over xùyú (residue): the xùyú being the famous cí-corpus (also named separately as Huáihǎi cí) that made Qín’s reputation; the yuánběn being the cèlùn and zòuyì, particularly his Bīngjiā shū readings, his zhuójiàn yīdài zhī lìhài (clearly seeing the era’s advantages and disadvantages), and his bracketing with Jiǎ Yì 賈誼 and Lù Zhì 陸贄 in jiànshì kuícè (advising affairs, planning policy). Qín Guān’s death-anecdote — composing his own wǎncí (mourning lyric) at Téngzhōu Huáguāngtíng, calling for water, smiling at the brought water without drinking, and dying — is preserved in the Sòngshǐ lièzhuàn head-of-collection.
Tiyao
The KRP source is the SBCK reprint, which does not include the Sìkù tíyào. The work was cataloged by the Sìkù under the WYG Huáihǎi jí in 40 juǎn; the Sìkù tíyào identifies the principal Sòng cuts and frames Qín as the central Sūmén literary figure. The Zhāng Yán preface (preserved at the head of the SBCK base) — rich in framing — is one of the more substantive Míng-period Sūmén prefaces.
Abstract
Huáihǎi jí preserves Qín Guān’s prose-and-poetry corpus across the Yuánfēng-period preparation for jìnshì (taken 1085 at age 36, comparatively late), the Yuányòu coalition’s central-court phase (Tàixué bóshì, Mìshūshěng zhèngzì; participation in the Hànlín drafting of edicts), the Shàoshèng proscription and the descending Hángzhōu / Hàngzhōu / Chǔzhōu / Héngzhōu / Léizhōu exiles, ending with the post-amnesty Téngzhōu death (1100). The corpus’s poetic and cí-portion is canonical; the cèlùn portion (preserved in juǎn 17 onward) was praised by Zhāng Yán as comparable with Jiǎ Yì’s and Lù Zhì’s; the Bīngjiā reading-essays and the famous Lùn xīXià / Lùn dàshì memorials are in this portion. The Sòngshǐ characterization — cháng yú yìlùn, wén lì ér sī shēn (excellent at discussions, prose elegant and thinking deep) — together with Sū Shì’s lament — Shàoyóu bùxìng sǐ dàolù, āizāi! shì qǐ fù yǒu sīrén hū? (Shàoyóu unfortunately died on the road; alas! does the world still have such a man?) — is the canonical Sòng evaluation. Two younger brothers, Qín Dí 秦覿 (Shàozhāng) and Qín Gòu 秦覯 (Shàoyí), also writers — their pieces are not in this collection. Dating bracket: Qín’s death (1100) to the SBCK reprint (1929).
Translations and research
- Egan, Ronald C. 1994. Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi. Harvard. Treats Qín Guān throughout in the Sū-mén circle.
- Bol, Peter K. 1992. “This Culture of Ours”. Stanford UP.
- Yoshikawa Kōjirō 吉川幸次郎. 1962. An Introduction to Sung Poetry. Tr. Burton Watson. Harvard.
- Hsü Wen-tao 徐文濤. 1993. Qín Guān nián-pǔ 秦觀年譜. Standard chronology.
- Qín Guān jí 秦觀集. Zhōng-huá. Standard modern critical edition.
- Hightower, James R. 1988. “Qin Guan’s Cí.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 48: 191–213.
Other points of interest
The Qín Guān death-anecdote at Téngzhōu Huáguāngtíng — preserved by Sū Shì in his jìwén and recounted in the Sòngshǐ lièzhuàn — is one of the most-cited Sòng literary deaths and embodies the Yuányòu coalition’s tragic end-of-life pattern (cf. Sū Shì’s parallel Chángzhōu death 1101). The cí-corpus’s tradition of separate transmission (Huáihǎi cí / Huáihǎi jūshì chángduǎnjù) outside the principal Huáihǎi jí — and the SBCK’s restoration of the joint format — reflects the late-Northern-Sòng cí / shī-corpus cataloging fluidity.
Links
- Qin Guan (Wikidata)
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §28.1 (Sòng biéjí); §47 (Sūmén sìxuéshì); §28.4 (Sòng cí).