Yùzhì Lèshàntáng quánjí dìngběn 御製樂善堂全集定本
Authorized Edition of the Imperial Collected Works from the Hall of Pleasure in Goodness by 高宗弘曆 (御製) and 蔣溥 (奉敕重編)
About the work
The Qiánlóng emperor 高宗弘曆 (1711–1799)‘s pre-accession literary output, in a definitive 30-juan recension fixed under his own order. The original Lèshàntáng manuscript was first assembled by the imperial student himself: a 14-juan wénchāo 文鈔 of works to date, prefaced in Yōngzhèng gēngxū (1730), then expanded into a fuller compilation prefaced Qiánlóng dīngsì (1737). On returning to the early imprint twenty-one years later (Qiánlóng 23, 1758), the emperor judged the volume too bulky and ordered the assistant grand secretary 蔣溥 and other inner-palace officials to collate, abridge, and reprint it as a “definitive” edition (dìngběn); the zhìyì 制義 (essay-style) juan was dropped, yielding the present 30-juan recension. The collection is exclusively Qiánlóng’s pre-accession voice — the imperial-period writings are gathered separately in KR4f0004 and KR4f0005.
Tiyao
Your servants reverently submit the following: the Yùzhì Lèshàntáng wénjí dìngběn in 30 juan was, in Qiánlóng 23 (1758), reverently re-edited at imperial order by the assistant grand secretary 蔣溥 and others. Our Imperial Sovereign’s poetry and prose are abundant and renew themselves daily. In the autumn of Yōngzhèng gēngxū (1730) he first compiled a wénchāo in 14 juan; in Qiánlóng dīngsì (1737) he took three-tenths of what was in that chāo and added to it seven-tenths of subsequent works composed up to yǐmǎo (1735), assembling them into the wénjí and promulgating it through the realm. At this time, deeming the juan-count of the first imprint excessive, he specifically commanded the inner-palace officials to collate and abridge it, removing one juan of zhìyì (examination-essay compositions), and an edict was issued for the printing. All the more does one see in this both his ever-advancing learning, without limit, and his sagely heart that does not pride itself on being sagely — both made manifest without bound. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 40 (1775), ninth month. Chief editors your servants 紀昀, 陸錫熊, 孫士毅. Chief proof-collator your servant Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The work is a uniquely well-documented example of an early Qīng emperor curating his own pre-accession persona. The genre-classes — prefaces, treatises, letters, zázhù miscellany, poetry, fù — read as the exercises of an unusually well-educated prince. Particularly notable are the Lùn (treatises) of juan 4–8, which take a Lǐxué line strongly aligned with the Cheng-Zhu school; these supply important context for the imperial line in the Sìkù quánshū project itself two decades later.
The catalog meta gives Qiánlóng’s lifedates as 1708–1761, which is mistaken; he was born 1711 and died 1799 (Wikidata Q26643, CBDB, Wikipedia all concurring). The 1708–1761 figures in data/catalogs/meta/KR4f.yaml are a data-entry error and should not be trusted. The follow-on entries KR4f0004 and KR4f0005 give the correct 1711–1799 in the same file.
The work was first preface-dated 1737 in its expanded form; the dìngběn dates from 1758. The Sìkù collation was finalized in Qiánlóng 40 (1775).
Translations and research
Mark Elliott, Emperor Qianlong: Son of Heaven, Man of the World (New York: Pearson Longman, 2009) — uses the Lèshàntáng corpus for the prince’s pre-accession formation.
Patricia Berger, Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China (Honolulu: UH Press, 2003) — touches on the early religious and aesthetic positions.
Other points of interest
Together with KR4f0004 (Yùzhì wénjí 御製文集) and KR4f0005 (Yùzhì shījí 御製詩集), this work forms the three-part imperial biéjí of the Qiánlóng emperor — the most extensively-printed single-author corpus of any pre-modern Chinese ruler.
Links
- Wikidata Q26643 (Qianlong Emperor)
- Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào