萬首唐人絕句

Wànshǒu Tángrén juéjù 萬首唐人絕句

Ten Thousand Quatrains by Tang Poets by 洪邁

About the work

A 100-juǎn Southern-Sòng anthology of Táng-period juéjù (quatrains) — five- and seven-syllable four-line poems — compiled by Hóng Mài 洪邁 (1123–1202) over a long compilation period (1180–1192). The project began in Chúnxī gēngzǐ (1180), when Hóng was 58 and had just retired as prefect of Jiàn’ān; he assembled 5,400 juéjù from individual Tang collections for his young son’s recitation. The book grew through several stages: an initial 5,400-piece manuscript in six volumes; presentation to Xiàozōng (Shòuhuáng) when Hóng returned to court; the imperial decree to deposit the original at the Fùgǔdiàn shūyuàn; a four-year supplement at Kuàijī; and final completion at 10,000 pieces in 100 juǎn presented in Shàoxī 3 (1192). Imperial response was favourable: Guāngzōng’s reception edict praised the work for “very careful selection, with the breadth of broad learning made manifest.”

Imperially-targeted, but criticised on first reception: Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí and Liú Kèzhuāng’s Hòucūn shīhuà both noted that Hóng’s intent to reach 10,000 had led him to include non-Tang material — Liáng poet Hé Xùn 何遜, and Sòng-period figures like Lǐ Jiǔlíng 李九齡, Guō Zhèn 郭震, Téng Bái 滕白, Wáng Yán 王嵒, Wáng Chū 王初 — and to draw on anonymous and miscellaneous sources without critical evaluation. Liú Kèzhuāng’s verdict was that the compiler “took the biéjí and miscellaneous tales of Tang poets and copied them indiscriminately, not really making editorial choices, only meeting the round 10,000 number; that he could not be exact was inevitable.”

Tiyao

Your servants respectfully submit: the Wànshǒu Tángrén juéjù in 100 juǎn — edited by Sòng’s Hóng Mài. Mài’s Róngzhāi suíbǐ is separately catalogued. In Chúnxī he had selected Táng five- and seven-syllable juéjù, 5,400 pieces, presented to the throne. Later he supplemented to reach 10,000 in 100 juǎn and presented it in Shàoxī 3 (1192). The imperial decree of commendation noted “very careful selection — the breadth of broad learning is manifest.” Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí says many Sòng-period poems are included — Lǐ Jiǔlíng, Guō Zhèn, Téng Bái, Wáng Yán, Wáng Chū — and among the most under-examined is the Liáng poet Hé Xùn 何遜. Liú Kèzhuāng’s Hòucūn shīhuà also says Hóng simply took Táng poets’ collections and miscellaneous tales and copied them — not really making selections; for trivial gleaning to make up the Wànshǒu number, lack of precision was inevitable; no wonder later men have criticised him. Chéng Bì’s Míngshuǐ jí charges that Mài should not have presented this book to the throne — but this is like Zhāng Shì’s charge that Lǚ Zǔqiān should not have edited the Sòng wénjiàn KR4h0040: the same kind of one-sided view, even if the principle is right, the application is overdone.

The original is 100 juǎn; each juǎn aimed at 100 pieces. Now we find some juǎn with more than 100 pieces, some with less. Also the seven-syllable section is missing the original juǎn 18, 19, 20, 21, 22; and the five-syllable section is missing juǎn 17, 23, 24, 25 — 9 juǎn in all are lacunose with no source for repair, and we retain them in the present incomplete state. Reverently submitted, tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.

Hóng’s own preface (translated, summary): “In Chúnxī gēngzǐ autumn (1180) I gave up the Jiàn’ān prefecture seal and went home, then 58, entering old age, with eye and mind weary, no longer reading. I taught only the young son to recite Táng quatrains, taking the works of various poets and arranging them: 5,400 pieces of five- and seven-syllable verse, hand-copied in 6 volumes; took them with me to Wùzhōu, served there a year, then returned to court and was admitted to Shòuhuáng’s leisure; talk turned to writing on palace fans, and his Majesty said: ‘Recently I have had men gather Táng poems, several hundred pieces.’ I submitted what I had collected and the imperial favour was struck by its quantity, and ordered the original to be brought in: this was lodged at the Fùgǔdiàn shūyuàn. Four more years later I served at Kuàijī and during off-duty hours discussed and supplemented what was incomplete. The Táng is now 400 years past; the yìwénzhì records nearly 500 collections, of which we now have less than half, and even they have errors of attribution — like Wáng Yái’s, Lìnghú Chǔ’s, Zhāng Zhòngsù’s palace poems wrongly entered in Wáng Wéi’s collection; the Jīnhuá reprint of Dù Mù’s supplementary collection is all Xǔ Hún poems; Lǐ Yì’s ‘Fǎnzhào rù lǘxiàng, chóu lái yǔ shéi yǔ’ was also given as Gěng Wèi; ‘Báishǒu chéng hé shì, wú huān kě tì chóu’ was also given as Zhāng Pín…”

Abstract

Date: the book reached its final form in Shàoxī 3 (1192), but the underlying compilation began in Chúnxī 7 (1180). Hóng Mài was active on the project for over a decade. The 100-juǎn form is incomplete in the WYG copy — 9 juǎn of original 100 are lost — making the WYG count slightly less than the headline 10,000.

Significance:

(1) Largest Sòng-period anthology of Táng juéjù. The Wànshǒu Tángrén juéjù is the principal Southern-Sòng documentary witness to the Táng quatrain corpus and a foundational source for the modern Quán Táng shī — its readings often preserve textual ancestors not in the individual collections.

(2) A document of Sòng critical recovery of Táng poetry. Hóng Mài’s own preface (selectively translated above) is the principal pre-Yuán critical statement on the textual problems of attribution and corruption in transmitted Táng poetry. Hóng identifies specific misattributions — Wáng Yái’s palace poems wrongly entered in Wáng Wéi; Jīnhuá printings of Dù Mù as Xǔ Hún; Lǐ Yì / Gěng Wèi / Zhāng Pín attribution confusions — that anticipate the later kǎozhèng tradition.

(3) A polemical instance. The book’s critical reception in the Southern Sòng (Chén Zhènsūn, Liú Kèzhuāng, Chéng Bì) and the SKQS editors’ moderation of that reception illustrates the unstable status of large topical anthologies in Sòng critical practice. The Wànshǒu was praised at court for its scale and criticised by independent scholars for its laxity — a tension that the SKQS editors note is “the same kind of one-sided view” as Zhāng Shì’s earlier objection to Lǚ Zǔqiān’s Sòng wénjiàn.

Translations and research

• Stephen Owen, The Late Tang (Harvard Asia Center, 2006) — uses the Wàn-shǒu for variant readings.
• Anna Shields, One Who Knows Me (Harvard Asia Center, 2015) — Tang quatrain culture and Sòng reception.
• Wáng Zhòng-mín 王重民, Dūnhuáng gǔ-jí xù-lù — discussion of the Wàn-shǒu’s textual ancestors.
• Fù Xuán-cóng 傅璇琮 et al., Quán Táng shī biàn-wěi 全唐詩辨偽 — extensive use of the Wàn-shǒu as a comparative source.

Other points of interest

The work is part of Hóng Mài’s exceptionally productive Southern-Sòng compiler career, which also includes the celebrated Yíjiān zhì 夷堅志 (the largest Sòng anomalous-tales collection, in 420 juǎn) and the Róngzhāi suíbǐ KR3l0012 (the foundational Sòng bǐjì). The Wànshǒu Tángrén juéjù is the third of these three monuments of Hóng Mài’s later years.

Links

• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §30.3.1, §31.4.
• ctext
• Wikipedia, “Hong Mai”