Qīngjiāng sān Kǒng jí 清江三孔集
Joint Collection of the Three Kǒng of Qīng-jiāng by 孔文仲 (etc., with two brothers)
About the work
A 30-juǎn joint collection of the prose and verse of the Three Kǒng of Xīnyú 新喻 (Línjiāngfǔ) — Kǒng Wénzhòng 孔文仲 (1038–1088, zì Jīngfù; Jiāyòu 6 jìnshì, Zhōngshū shěrén), Kǒng Wǔzhòng 孔武仲 (1041–1097, zì Chángfù; Jiāyòu 8 jìnshì, Lǐbù shìláng), and Kǒng Píngzhòng 孔平仲 (1044–1111, zì Yìfù; Zhìpíng 2 jìnshì, Jīnbù lángzhōng) — descendants of the 47th–48th generation of Confucius, sons of Kǒng Yánzhī 孔延之. The brothers were prominent Yuányòu-period literary figures associated with the Sū Shì circle and proscribed under the Yuányòu dǎngjí (1102). After the Southern Sòng Nándù (1127) their works were dispersed; in Qìngyuán 4 (1198) the Línjiāng prefect Wáng Lú 王𤫉 recovered the remaining material and printed it as the joint Sān Kǒng jí. Zhōu Bìdà 周必大 wrote the preface in Qìngyuán 5 (1199, the source above).
Internal structure (per Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí): Wénzhòng 2 juǎn; Wǔzhòng 7 juǎn; Píngzhòng 21 juǎn. Píngzhòng’s section contains a notable separate sub-anthology of three juǎn called Shī xì 詩戱 — “Verse Sport” — containing acrostic poems by personal names, by medicinal names, palindromes, and jíjù (cento) verse, modelled on the Sōnglíng jí KR4h0014’s zátǐ practice. Of Kǒng Wénzhòng’s poetry only 7 pieces survive in the present text; Lǚ Zǔqiān’s Sòng wénjiàn KR4h0040 of 1177 quotes an additional zǎoxíng (early-departure) gǔshī by Wénzhòng that is not in this collection — Wáng Lú’s compilation predates Sòng wénjiàn by twenty-one years, raising the question of whether Wáng intentionally excluded it.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Qīngjiāng sān Kǒng jí in thirty juǎn — the verse and prose of Kǒng Wénzhòng of Xīnyú and his brothers Wǔzhòng and Píngzhòng — was edited by Wáng Lú, prefect of Línjiāng, during Qìngyuán. Wénzhòng, zì Jīngfù, was Jiāyòu 6 (1061) jìnshì, reached Zhōngshū shěrén; Wǔzhòng, zì Chángfù, was Jiāyòu 8 (1063) jìnshì, reached Lǐbù shìláng; Píngzhòng, zì Yìfù, was Zhìpíng 2 (1065) jìnshì, reached Jīnbù lángzhōng. Their careers are fully in the Sòngshǐ biographies. Wénzhòng and his brothers were contemporary with Sū Shì and Sū Zhé, and like them famed for their literature; thus Huáng Tíngjiān’s remark: Èr Sū liánbì, Sān Kǒng fēndǐng (“Two Sūs as a pair of jades; Three Kǒngs share the tripod”). After the Nándù their remains had been scattered; Wáng Lú then sought and printed them. Before is Zhōu Bìdà’s Qìngyuán 5 (1199) preface. Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí gives Wénzhòng 2 juǎn, Wǔzhòng 7, Píngzhòng 21 — matching this text. Wénzhòng’s poetry is only 7 pieces — yet Lǚ Zǔqiān’s Sòng wénjiàn preserves his Zǎoxíng gǔshī, which is absent here; Sòng wénjiàn was compiled in Chúnxī 4 (1177), and the Shěrén jí in Qìngyuán 4 (1198) — twenty-one years later, the editor should have known it; perhaps Wáng Lú made deliberate exclusions? Wǔzhòng’s Shìláng jí labels the qīngcí and zhāiwén as zhì, which is awkward in form; not the original ordering. Píngzhòng’s Lángzhōng jí — beyond gǔlǜ shī — has a separately set “Shī xì” 詩戱 of 3 juǎn, containing personal-name verse, medicinal-name verse, palindromes, jíjù: modelled on the Sōnglíng jí KR4h0014’s zátǐ separately-classified practice. Wáng Shìzhēn’s Jūyì lù records Sòng Luò’s SānKǒng wénjí — only 5 juǎn, regretting that it was no longer the Qìngyuán original; both Wáng and Sòng are book-rich households, yet what they saw was already incomplete. The present text alone is intact — a deeply prized possession. Reverently submitted, eleventh month of Qiánlóng 44 (1779). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date: the Qìngyuán 4–5 (1198–1199) Línjiāng print, with Zhōu Bìdà’s Qìngyuán 5 (Apr. 1199) preface, is anchored exactly. This makes the Qīngjiāng sān Kǒng jí one of the last great Sòng-period family anthologies before the Jiāding (1208–1224) and Bǎoyòu (1253–1258) era.
Three principal scholarly contributions:
(1) The Sān Kǒng are otherwise documented mainly through scattered mentions in Sū Shì’s and Huáng Tíngjiān’s letters and the Yuányòu dǎng listings; this anthology is the sole substantial primary corpus for their literary work. Wénzhòng in particular is almost lost outside it.
(2) The collection includes Wǔzhòng’s qīngcí 青詞 (blue-prayers, Daoist liturgical petitions) and zhāiwén 齋文 (fasting-text vows), grouped together with the zhìgào — the SKQS editors note this is not the original arrangement, but the text-historical importance of preserving the qīngcí is independent of the editorial point. Qīngcí are normally lost from biéjí; the survival of Wǔzhòng’s set is notable.
(3) Píngzhòng’s Shī xì of three juǎn is the principal Northern-Sòng exemplar of the zátǐ / acrostic / cento verse tradition that links the Sōnglíng jí (Pí Rìxiū and Lù Guīméng) to the Southern-Sòng Huíwén lèijù KR4h0042 of Sāng Shìchāng. The Shī xì is consequently a documentary node in the history of Chinese literary games.
The book’s transmission history is itself interesting: Wáng Shìzhēn’s Jūyì lù records the Sòng Luò partial SānKǒng wénjí in 5 juǎn as a Qīng-period acquisition that was already incomplete; the Sìkù editors emphasise the rarity of the full 30-juǎn state preserved in the WYG copy.
Translations and research
- Ronald Egan, Word, Image, and Deed in the Life of Su Shi (Harvard Asia Center, 1994) — discusses the Three Kǒng in Sū Shì’s circle.
- Peter Bol, “This Culture of Ours” (Stanford, 1992) — Yuán-yòu faction politics and the Three Kǒng.
- Wáng Shuǐ-zhào 王水照, Sòng-dài wénxué tōng-lùn 宋代文學通論 — chapter on the Three Kǒng.
- Mò Lì-fēng 莫礪鋒, Jiāng-xī shī-pài yánjiū 江西詩派研究 — Píng-zhòng’s role as an antecedent of the Jiāng-xī school.
Other points of interest
The principle of family-joint anthology (Three Kǒng, Three Sūs, Three Liú, Three Yuán) is a Sòng innovation that the SKQS jíbù preserves systematically; the Qīngjiāng sān Kǒng jí is the cleanest and most fully edited example of the type. It directly precedes, and probably influenced, the editorial form of the Wǔ Dòu Liánzhū jí KR4h0018 (which is structurally similar but earlier in subject).
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §31.4.
- ctext