Suìshí záyǒng 歲時雜詠
Miscellaneous Poems on the Seasons and Festivals by 蒲積中
About the work
A 46-juǎn topical anthology of Chinese seasonal-festival poetry, compiled by Pú Jīzhòng 蒲積中 of Méishān in Shàoxīng dīngmǎo (1147). The collection is an expansion of an earlier 18-juǎn (or 20-juǎn) anthology of the same title by the Northern-Sòng courtier Sòng Shòu 宋綬 (988–1040, Xuānxiàn) — who originally compiled Hàn-Wèi-through-Táng festival poems while sitting in the Zhōngshū third hall. Pú took over Sòng Shòu’s editorial categories and supplemented them with the Northern-Sòng contributors: Ōuyáng Xiū, Sū Shì, Huáng Tíngjiān, Wáng Ānshí (Bànshān), Méi Yáochén (Wǎnlíng), Zhāng Lěi (Wénqián), and Chén Shīdào (Wújǐ). The new title was Gǔjīn suìshí záyǒng but it is commonly known as the Suìshí záyǒng.
Structure: juǎn 1–42 cover 28 sub-headings from Yuánrì (New Year’s Day) to Chúyè (New Year’s Eve) — the canonical Chinese annual festival cycle (Lìchūn, Yuánxiāo, Hánshí, Qīngmíng, Duānwǔ, Qīxī, Zhōngyuán, Zhōngqiū, Chóngyáng, Dōngzhì, etc.). Juǎn 43–46 are a supplementary section gathering poems whose titles invoke a month (or yuèlìng) but do not address a specific festival.
By the SKQS editors’ count, Pú’s expanded text contains 2,749 poems — 1,243 more than Sòng Shòu’s original 1,506 (as recorded in Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Jùnzhāi dúshū zhì). The 46-juǎn form is more than double Sòng Shòu’s 18-juǎn; some sub-categorisation was probably refined in the process.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Suìshí záyǒng in 46 juǎn — by Sòng’s Méishān Pú Jīzhòng. Originally Sòng Shòu had a Suìshí záyǒng in 20 juǎn, seen in Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Jùnzhāi dúshū zhì: “Xuānxiàn (Sòng Shòu) formerly in the third hall of the Zhōngshū personally compiled ancient poetry and WèiJìn through Táng seasonal poems, dividing into 18 juǎn; now expanded to 20.” This text has Pú Jīzhòng’s self-preface of Shàoxīng dīngmǎo (1147), saying: “Xuānxiàn’s collection is truly comprehensive — yet our dynasty has Ōuyáng, Sū, Huáng, and the like, Bànshān, Wǎnlíng, Wénqián, Wújǐ and others: encountering the time and feeling deeply, expressed in words, no less than the ancients. So I took up the categories of his collection and gathered today’s poems to append; named it Gǔjīn suìshí záyǒng; printed and circulated.” Pú simply expanded Sòng Shòu’s original by adding Sòng-period poems, with the same categorical headings. Only — Cháo records Sòng’s original at 1,506 pieces; this text has 2,749 — 1,243 more than Sòng — yet the juǎn count has doubled and more. Probably old juǎn divisions were also slightly re-divided.
The book: juǎn 1–42 covers from Yuánrì to Chúyè, 28 sub-headings; the remaining 4 juǎn gather poems with month titles but no festival-day, all appended. Of all suìshí (seasonal) poetry collected and classified from antiquity onward, nothing is fuller than this; also useful as a resource for selection. Reverently submitted, seventh month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date: by Pú Jīzhòng’s self-preface — exactly Shàoxīng 17 (1147), 5th month. The book is a transparent Southern-Sòng kuòchōng (expansion) of an earlier Northern-Sòng anthology, preserving Sòng Shòu’s editorial method intact while doubling the corpus.
The book is significant for two reasons:
(1) It is the single most comprehensive pre-Yuán anthology of seasonal-festival poetry, with approximately 2,749 pieces organised by 28 festival categories. For each major festival, it preserves the diachronic literary history of how the festival was poetically marked from the Hàn onward — making it the principal source for the literary history of Chinese festival culture. Studies of Hánshí, Duānwǔ, Qīxī, Zhōngqiū poetics all rely on this anthology.
(2) It is a secondary witness for Northern-Sòng poets’ festival verse, often preserving variant readings that differ from the biéjí. Pú’s Sòng-period selections are the principal source for some pieces of Wáng Ānshí, Méi Yáochén, and others that are otherwise lost or transmitted only via this anthology.
The collection’s editorial principle — gathering literary texts by festival category — is part of a Sòng fēngtǔ / suìshí documentary tradition that also produced the Suìshí guǎngjì (Chén Yuánjìng) and the Suìshí jì (Lǚ Xīzhé). The Suìshí záyǒng is the principal literary anthology in this corpus, complementary to those topical reference works.
Translations and research
- Derk Bodde, Festivals in Classical China: New Year and Other Annual Observances during the Han Dynasty (Princeton, 1975) — uses the Suì-shí zá-yǒng for Hàn festival reconstruction.
- David Hawkes, “Quarrels with Wisdom: Reading the Suishi zayong,” in Classical, Modern and Humane: Essays in Chinese Literature (Hong Kong, 1989).
- Wáng Sān-qìng 王三慶, Zhōngguó suì-shí jié-rì shī-gē yánjiū 中國歲時節日詩歌研究 (Taipei: Wén-jīn, 2008) — comprehensive treatment of the Suì-shí zá-yǒng in Chinese festival literature.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §35 (Calendrical system and festivals).
- ctext