Jīlèi jí 雞肋集
The Chicken-Ribs Collection by 晁補之 (撰), 晁謙之 (編)
About the work
Jīlèi jí 雞肋集 in 70 juǎn preserves the literary corpus of Cháo Bǔzhī 晁補之 (1053–1110), one of the Sūmén sì xuéshì 蘇門四學士 (Four Scholars of the Sū School). The title — “Chicken-Ribs” — alludes to the HòuHàn shū anecdote of Yáng Xiū 楊修 reading Cáo Cāo’s jīlèi (chicken-ribs: “no meat to eat, yet a pity to discard”) as a signal of pending withdrawal; Cháo applies it to his own collected writings — too slight to satisfy, yet too well-loved to discard. The Sìkù WYG recension descends from the Shàoxīng-period printing edited by his clan-junior Cháo Qiānzhī 晁謙之, the principal channel of transmission. Structural division (per the SBCK zǒngmù): gǔfù (1–2), cí (3), gǔshī (4–14), lǜshī (15–18), juéjù (19–22), wǎncí (23), memorials and zòushū (24), zuìyán (25), Héyì (26), zázhù (27–28), jì (29–31), míngzàn (32), tíbá + xù (33–36), cèwèn (37–39), Chūnqiū zálùn (40–41), XīHàn zálùn (42–44), Tángjiùshū zálùn (45–48), and onward.
Tiyao
Abstract
Jīlèi jí is the most comprehensive of the Sūmén sì xuéshì biéjí, exceeding the collections of Huáng Tíngjiān, Qín Guān, and Zhāng Lěi in juǎn-count. Cháo’s poetry — with substantial gǔfù, gǔshī, lǜshī, juéjù, and wǎncí sections — pursues the SūHuáng compositional standard with distinctive emphasis on classical-erudition allusion and on extended fù-form. His cí-lyrics (preserved partly here, partly in the standalone Qínqùwàipiān 琴趣外篇) are foundational cí-poet documents — Cháo is one of the earliest Sòng poets to consciously theorise the cí genre. The Chūnqiū zálùn and XīHàn zálùn sections are major biéjí-embedded historiographical-literary essays — Cháo’s commentary tradition on early-Hàn historiography is one of the few Northern-Sòng channels for that material outside dedicated treatises.
The dating bracket runs from Cháo’s jìnshì (1079) to his death (1110), with the self-preface of 1094 (Yuányòu 9) establishing one mid-career editorial moment when Cháo arranged the existing materials. Posthumous editing by Cháo Qiānzhī during Shàoxīng completes the recension. Lifedates 1053–1110 are confirmed by CBDB, his Sòngshǐ biography, and Wilkinson §28 (Sòng biéjí).
Translations and research
- Egan, Ronald. The Problem of Beauty: Aesthetic Thought and Pursuits in Northern Song Dynasty China. Harvard, 2006. Discusses Cháo Bǔ-zhī as part of the Sū circle.
- Murck, Alfreda. Poetry and Painting in Song China: The Subtle Art of Dissent. Harvard, 2000. Treats Cháo’s poetry on painting.
- Liú Nǎi-chāng 劉乃昌. Cháo Bǔ-zhī yán-jiū 晁補之研究 (Qí-lǔ shū-shè, 1985). Standard Chinese-language monograph.
- Hawes, Colin. The Social Circulation of Poetry in the Mid-Northern Song (SUNY, 2005). Cháo Bǔ-zhī as a Sū-circle poet.
Other points of interest
- Cháo Bǔzhī’s Sìshūzhāi xù (preface to a poetry-collection of his late period) and his Lǐ Sāo commentary (preserved here) are key documents for tracing the Sūmén school’s relationship to Chǔcí tradition.
- The Shàoxīng Cháo Qiānzhī printing — the jìběi 濟北 (the lineage’s jùnwàng designation) edition — is what the SBCK and Sìkù both transmit.