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秋澗集

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Text ID
KR4d0464
Date
1250–1304
Dynasty
元

Qiūjiàn jí 秋澗集

The Qiū-jiàn (Autumn-Ravine) Collection (SBCK title: 秋澗先生大全文集 Qiūjiàn xiānshēng dàquán wénjí — Master Qiūjiàn’s Complete Collected Prose Works) by 王惲 (撰)

About the work

The hundred-juàn literary monument of Wáng Yùn 王惲 (CBDB 28617, 1227–1304), zì Zhòngmóu 仲謀, hào Qiūjiàn 秋澗 (“Autumn-Ravine”), native of Jízhōu 汲州 (modern Hénán Wèihuī 衛輝). The single largest Yuán-period biéjí after the 100-juàn deficient Wú Wénzhèng jí KR4d0446; a comprehensive record of one of the foundational Hàn-Confucian civil servants of the Khubilai-Qubilai era. Wáng Yùn was a disciple of Yuán Hǎowèn 元好問 and a close associate of Hǎo Jīng 郝經 (1223–1275); served under Khubilai through a long career rising to Hànlín xuéshì chéngzhǐ 翰林學士承旨 — the senior Hànlín literary office; concurrent Tàizhōng dàfū 太中大夫. The Yuánshǐ j. 167 gives a substantial biography.

The collection comprises:

  • sòng (eulogies): the Zhōngtǒng shénwǔ sòng 中統神武頌 in juàn 1 — a foundational praise-piece for Khubilai’s Zhōngtǒng (1260–1264) reign-period inauguration
  • fù (rhapsodies) in juàn 1 — including the Éméi yàn fù (Crescent-Brow Inkstone Rhapsody), Wèiyāng wǎyàn fù (Wèi-yāng-tile Inkstone Rhapsody — on a tile of the Hàn Wèiyāng Palace re-cut as inkstone), Sānfēng qíngxuě fù (Three-Peak Clear-Snow Rhapsody), Xīchūn yuàn fù (Xīchūn Garden Rhapsody), Diào Lián jiāngjūn mù fù (Mourning General Lián [Pō]‘s Grave), Dēng Chángshān gùchéng fù (Climbing Chángshān’s Old City), Hèméi fù (Crane-Decoy Rhapsody), Xuányuán fù (Black-Ape Rhapsody), Pán Tàishān fù (Curling-around-Mt. Tài Rhapsody)
  • Multi-juàn poetry: 5-character gǔshī (juàn 2–4), 7-character gǔshī, lǜshī, juéjù — including the major sacrificial-pilgrimage poems Bàidiàn Lǔ Wénxiànwáng miào (Worshipping the Sòng-Confucian-King Shrine), Bàidiàn Xuānshènglín mù (Worshipping Confucius’s Tomb), Péi Zǒngguǎn Chéngōng zhào sì Shāng Shǎoshī Bǐgān miào (Accompanying Director Chén in commemoration-sacrifice at the Shāng Shǎoshī Bǐgān shrine), and the imitating-Hán-yú Nǐ Hánzǐ qiū huái shíèr shǒu, Jiǔrì hé Yuānmíng shī yùn — HánTáo imitation that defines Yuán-era classical-modeling poetic practice
  • Substantial prose corpus: xù, jì, bēimíng, zhìmíng, zhì, zàn, míng, tíbá, shū, cí, yuèfǔ, and zòuyì (memorial-discussions) preserving substantial Khubilai-era state-papers

The SBCK base derives from the Yuán cut (Dàdé era) re-transmitted through MíngQīng. The Sìkù catalog meta lists juàn-count as 100 — confirming SBCK preservation of the complete extent.

Abstract

The literary monument of one of the foundational Khubilai-era Hàn-Confucian civil servants. Wáng Yùn’s career spanned the Yuán-founding (Zhōngtǒng 1260, when he was 33) through the consolidation under Khubilai and the early reign of Chéngzōng — almost the entire institutional founding of the Yuán state. His significance is fivefold:

  1. Literary-and-poetic lineage. Disciple of Yuán Hǎowèn 元好問 (the JīnYuán transition master); inheritor of the Yíshān poetic tradition of HánWèiTáng modeling. The Nǐ Hánzǐ qiū huái and Jiǔrì hé Yuānmíng cycles are major Yuán-era classical-imitation poems.

  2. Imperial documentary function. As long-serving Hànlín xuéshì, Wáng composed substantial portions of the imperial zhìzhào (edicts) of the Khubilai era. The Zhōngtǒng shénwǔ sòng of juàn 1 is one of the foundational Khubilai-imperial praise-pieces, marking the official Sinitic-imperial inauguration of the Yuán dynasty in 1260.

  3. Memorial-archive. The zòuyì sections preserve foundational Khubilai-era state-papers — a primary documentary supplement to the Yuánshǐ’s often-thin record of the founding decades.

  4. Antiquarian and topographical. The fù corpus (Wèiyāng wǎyàn, Sānfēng qíngxuě, Dēng Chángshān gùchéng, Diào Lián jiāngjūn mù, Pán Tàishān) preserves substantial first-person observation of Tang-Song-era sites at the moment of Yuán consolidation. The Bàidiàn Lǔ Wénxiànwáng miào and Bàidiàn Xuānshènglín mù are major Yuán-Confucian pilgrimage-documents.

  5. Network record. Substantial exchange poetry preserves the early-Yuán Hàn-Confucian network: Yuán Hǎowèn, Hǎo Jīng, the Northern Confucian-civil-servant generation that staffed Khubilai’s bureaucracy.

CBDB 28617 (1227–1304); the SBCK base preserves the complete Yuán-era extent.

Translations and research

  • Yuán-shǐ j. 167 (Wáng Yùn biography).
  • Igor de Rachewiltz et al. (eds.), In the Service of the Khan — Wáng Yùn discussed in entries on early Khubilai-era Hàn-Confucians.
  • Hok-lam Chan, “The Compilation and Sources of the Chin-shih” — context on Yuán-era historiographical-literary culture.

Other points of interest

The size of the Qiūjiàn jí — 100 juàn — combined with its early-Yuán date (composition completed before 1304) makes it the single most-substantial Khubilai-era first-person documentary source after the imperial archives themselves. The collection’s preservation of substantial state-papers, exchange correspondence, and pilgrimage records makes Wáng Yùn the closest Yuán-period analog to Sòng-period figures like Sū Zhé 蘇轍 or Sīmǎ Guāng — i.e., a senior civil servant whose entire intellectual-administrative life is documented in a single mega-collection.

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