Sōngguìtáng quánjí 松桂堂全集
Complete Collection from the Hall of Pine and Cassia by 彭孫遹 (撰)
About the work
The unified collected works of 彭孫遹 Péng Sūnyù (1631–1700, zì Jùnsūn 駿孫, hào Xiànmén 羨門 and Jīnsùshānrén 金粟山人), in 37 juan plus 3 juan Yánlù cí 延露詞 and 3 juan Nányùn jí 南陗集. Péng was top of his Bóxué hóngcí cohort (Kāngxī 18, 1679 — the most prestigious early-Qīng special examination), rose to Lìbù shìláng concurrently Hànlín xuéshì, and was widely esteemed as one of the leading literary voices of high Kāngxī. The compilation history is documented in 錢陳群 Qián Chénqún’s preface: Péng’s son Péng Jǐngzēng 彭景曾 finally brought the work to printing in guǐhài (Qiánlóng 8, 1743), fifty years after the author’s death — Qián Chénqún noting that Péng’s Bóxué hóngcí co-passers (陳維崧 Chén Wéisōng, 潘耒 Pān Lěi, 毛奇齡 Máo Qílíng, 汪琬 Wāng Wǎn, 朱彝尊 Zhū Yízūn, 尤侗 Yóu Tóng, 龎塏 Páng Kǎi, 王頊齡 Wáng Xūlíng, 湯斌 Tāng Bīn) all had their individual collections printed in their lifetimes, and that only Péng’s Sōngguìtáng manuscript, prepared by his own hand, had waited so long for its imprint.
Tiyao
Your servants reverently submit the following: the Sōngguìtáng quánjí in 37 juan, with the Yánlù cí in 3 juan and the Nányùn jí in 3 juan, is by Péng Sūnyù of our dynasty. Sūnyù, zì Jùnsūn, of Hǎiyán; jìnshì of jǐhài of Shùnzhì (1659); served as nèigé zhōngshū. In jǐwèi of Kāngxī (1679) summoned to the Bóxué hóngcí special examination, placed first; transferred to biānxiū, rose to Lìbù shìláng concurrently Hànlín xuéshì. His Nányùn jí, Xiānglián chànghé jí, Jīnsù cí, and Yánlù cí all had earlier separate imprints. The present recension is the one printed by his son Péng Jǐngzēng in guǐhài of Qiánlóng (1743). At its head is the preface by 錢陳群 Qián Chénqún, which says: those who passed the special examination alongside Sūnyù — Chén Wéisōng, Pān Lěi, Máo Qílíng, Wāng Wǎn, Zhū Yízūn, Yóu Tóng, Páng Kǎi, Wáng Xūlíng, Tāng Bīn — all had their separate collections circulating in the world; only Sūnyù’s own hand-fixed Sōngguìtáng jí waited fifty years and was at last printed by Jǐngzēng. He further praises the various guǎngé forms (palace-and-pavilion court genres) as the most guīwěi (lofty and pinnacular) and juétè (outstanding) of his kind. Indeed, Sūnyù as a man of bóyǎ talent, meeting the guójiā wénzhì dǐngxīn (the state’s literary order being newly founded), joining the harmonious voice to acclaim the great-age peace — he is also no disgrace to the cíkē. His Yánlù cí and Nányùn jí once had separate imprints; in the present text Jǐngzēng has also collected them and appended them at the end as the complete collection. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 45 (1780), sixth month. Chief editors your servants 紀昀, 陸錫熊, 孫士毅. Chief proof-collator your servant Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
Péng was one of the two leading early-Qīng cí-lyricists alongside Chén Wéisōng; the Jīnsù cí and Yánlù cí are among the foundational collections of the early-Qīng cíxué fùxìng 詞學復興 (lyric-poetry revival). The 1679 Bóxué hóngcí in which Péng placed first was the Kāngxī emperor’s principal early-reign cooptation of the yímín (Míng-loyalist) literati into Qīng official literary service — Péng’s primacy is therefore a defining cultural-political moment. His verse and prose collections circulated as four distinct items during his lifetime; the unified 1743 quánjí recension is the canonical text.
The 50-year gap between Péng’s death and the first imprint of the unified quánjí reflects the cooler reception of his late-Kāngxī orientation in the early Yōngzhèng era and the gradual re-validation under Qiánlóng of high-Kāngxī court-poetic mainstream identity. The preface by 錢陳群 (the leading mid-Qiánlóng senior official, 1686–1774) is itself an important indicator of the late-Kāngxī literary canon’s institutional consolidation by mid-Qianlong.
Composition window: 1659 (Péng’s jìnshì year) through 1700 (his death).
Translations and research
Daniel Bryant, “The Rise of Cí Poetry,” in The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, vol. 2 (Cambridge, 2010) — situates Péng with Chén Wéi-sōng and Zhū Yízūn as the Jiā-jǔ triad of early-Qīng cí-lyric.
Yán Dí-chāng 嚴迪昌, Qīng cí shǐ 清詞史 (Jiāngsū gǔjí, 1999) — substantial chapter on Péng.
Xie Boyang 謝伯陽, Quán Qīng cí 全清詞 — Péng cí corpus.
Other points of interest
The Hǎiyán Péng lineage of which Péng Sūnyù was a senior figure became one of the most distinguished Qīng scholarly clans; later members include 彭紹升 Péng Shàoshēng (1740–1796) of Chángzhōu Wújùn, the Qiánlóng-era lay-Buddhist scholar (preface of KR4f0007); the two are not first-cousins but represent two branches of the same broader Péng clan that traced descent to a common Sòng-period ancestor.
Links
- Wikidata Q15918833 (Peng Sunyu)
- ECCP 615–616 (Tu Lien-che)
- Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào