Fúxī wéncuì 浮溪文粹
The Floating-Stream Essence (Selected Best of Wāng Zǎo) by 汪藻 (撰), 胡堯臣 (刊)
About the work
Fúxī wéncuì 浮溪文粹 in 15 juǎn is a Míng-period zhāicí (extract / essence) compilation of Wāng Zǎo 汪藻’s writings, drawn from secondary anthological sources after the original Fúxī jí (60 juǎn) had been lost. The compiler is unknown; Hú Yáochén 胡堯臣 胡堯臣 is the printer who shòuzǐ (cut-the-blocks) for circulation. The work parallels the precedent of Ōuyáng wéncuì (Ōuyáng Xiū) and the Shāngǔ jīnghuálù (Huáng Tíngjiān) — zhāicí compilations that preserve only the most-celebrated portions of a master’s work.
Tiyao
The Sìkù tíyào: Fúxī wéncuì in 15 juǎn, the Míng’s Hú Yáo-chén-cut Sòng Wāng Zǎo’s surviving prose. Zǎo’s learning broad-and-rich, penetrating-the-hundred-schools; what he composed is ěryǎ jīngchún (refined-elegant essence-pure), reaching-back to YānXǔ (Yān Tàigōng [Wújiǔlíng] and Xǔ Jìngzōng [Sūn] — Táng court drafters); his zhìcí is wēnhòu kǎiqiè (warm-thick, generous-and-pressing) — able to make people wén fēng gǎn dòng (feel the wind, be moved). Discussers compared him to Lù Zhì — saying Gāozōng’s southern-crossing establishment, the címìng (court-drafting) also was a contribution. Outstanding as the yīdài wényuàn zhī guān (one-dynasty’s literary-court chief).
What he composed Fúxī jí originally 60 juǎn. Through long years scattered-and-lost — the world without transmitting copy for several-hundred years. Today already from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn gathered and published — jiāhuì hǎinèi (gracing-the-realm). This běn unknown by whom compiled — and Yáochén shòuzǐ for circulation. Probably at that time the original-collection had already been lost; only from various-books’ citations gathered into. Hence its mù (catalogue) only 85 piān — not yet able to fully-glimpse the quánbào (whole-leopard).
Yet such as Hóng Mài’s quoting the Yuányòu tàihòu shǒushū in which “Hànjiā zhī è shíshì, yí Guāngwǔ zhī zhōngxīng; Xiàngōng zhī zǐ jiǔrén, wéi Chóngěr zhī shàng zài” several lines; further the Sòng Qíyú zécí “Yì zhòng yú shēng, suī pǐfū bùkě duó zhì; Shì shī qí shǒu, huò yī yán jī yú sàng bāng” several lines; further the Zhāng Bāngchāng zécí “Suī tiān duó qí míng, zuò yú zhì cǐ; rán jūn yì yú qì, dài kuì kě hū” several lines — all what at the time were called sìliù míngduì kuàizhì rénkǒu (four-six famous-pairs gracing the people’s mouths) — today all in here. So the jīnghuá (essence-flower) is also broadly-completed.
Zǎo’s whole collection from YuánMíng onward long submerged-and-lost. Fortunately encountering the dà shèngrén (great-sage; the Qiánlóng emperor) extolling-the-surviving canon, only-then could re-see its complete. Yáochén etc. qūqū sōují (bit-by-bit gathered) from the sànwáng (scattered-and-lost) residue — only one-third or four — yet the diligence of wǎngluó (encompassing-and-retrieving) requires-not entirely-erased. Further his prose mostly-extracted from various scholar-selections — hence what’s recorded mostly jīngyú (essence-and-marrow) — still enough to zī fěngsòng (assist recitation).
Formerly Ōuyáng Xiū had Wénzhōng quánjí and also had Ōuyáng wéncuì; Huáng Tíngjiān had Shāngǔ quánjí and also had Jīnghuálù. Tányìjiā (essay-discussion specialists) all both-preserved and not-discarded. Today also using its precedent — both-recording — for examination-and-judgement. Qiánlóng 45 (1780), 1st month, respectfully collated.
Abstract
Fúxī wéncuì is the Míng-period zhāicí (extracts) compilation of Wāng Zǎo’s writings, with Hú Yáochén as printer. As the Sìkù editors note, the original Fúxī jí (60 juǎn) had been lost from the late Míng onward; the zhāicí preserves 85 of the most-celebrated pieces drawn from secondary sources (anthologies, historical citations). The cardinal selections include the three foundational political documents — Yuányòu tàihòu shǒushū, Sòng Qíyú zécí, Zhāng Bāngchāng zécí — preserved with their canonical four-six couplets that became proverbial in Sòng literary memory.
The Sìkù editors’ methodological defense of preserving both the recovered Fúxī jí KR4d0145 (60 reduced to 32 juǎn via Yǒnglè dàdiǎn recovery) and this Míng-period zhāicí — citing the precedent of Ōuyáng wéncuì / Ōuyáng quánjí and Shāngǔ jīnghuálù / Shāngǔ quánjí doublings — gives a clear articulation of the Sìkù editorial principle that zhāicí and quánjí serve different scholarly purposes and may both be retained.
The zhāicí genre — preserving an author’s jīnghuá (essence-flower) in compact form — is itself a Sòng literary-cultural innovation. Wāng’s Fúxī wéncuì is one of the more-celebrated examples for the címìng tradition. Lifedates 1079–1154.
Translations and research
- See Fú-xī jí KR4d0145 entry — secondary literature treats both works together.
- Hóng Mài, Róng-zhāi suí-bǐ — preserves and quotes Wāng’s cí-mìng prose.
- Sòng-shǐ j. 445 — Wāng Zǎo biography.
Other points of interest
- The Sìkù compilation’s principled retention of both zhāicí and quánjí — articulated explicitly here — is a methodological position relevant to the larger compilation.