Jiānghú hòují 江湖後集
Latter Jiānghú Anthology by 陳起
About the work
A 24-juǎn late-Southern-Sòng commercial anthology of Jiānghú-school poetry, the second of the three principal Chén Qǐ 陳起 (Mùqīnfāng publisher) collections. The book includes 47 named poets not present in the parent Jiānghú xiǎojí KR4h0053 — Gǒng Fēng, Zhōu Bì, Liú Zǐchéng, Lín Féngjí (= Lín Biǎomín 林表民 zì; the SKQS editors note this double-naming), Lín Biǎomín, Zhōu Duānchén, Zhào Rǔtāng, Zhèng Qīngzhī, Zhào Rǔjì, Zhào Rǔhuí, Zhào Gēngfū, Gě Qǐwén, Zhào Chóngbō, Zhāng Jǔ, Yáo Kuān, Luó Yǐ, Lín Fǎng, Dài Zhí, Lín Xīyì, Zhāng Wěi, Wànsì Shàozhī, Chǔ Yǒng, Zhū Fùzhī, Lǐ Shíkě, Shèng Liè, Shǐ Wèiqīng, Hú Zhònggōng, Zēng Yóujī, Wáng Chén, Lǐ Zìzhōng, Dǒng Qǐ, Chén Zōngyuǎn, Huáng Mǐnqiú, Chéng Yánzǐ, Liú Zhí, Zhāng Shàowén, Zhāng Cǎi, Zhāng Càn, Shèng Shìzhōng, Chéng Yuán, Wáng Zhìdào, Xiāo Xiè, Xiāo Yuánzhī, Dèng Yǔnduān, Xú Cóngshàn, Gāo Jí, the monk Yuánwù, the monk Yǒngyí — a total of 48 (less 1 for the Féngjí / Biǎomín double name = 47 men) — plus the cí writers Wú Zhòngfāng and Zhāng Jí for cíyú (50 total). The book also includes 17 men already in the parent Xiǎojí with previously-unincluded poems: Áo Táosūn, Lǐ Gōng, Huáng Wénléi, Zhōu Wénpú, Yè Yīn, Zhāng Yùn, Yú Guì, Wǔ Yǎn, Hú Zhòngcān, Yáo Yōng, Dài Fùgǔ, Wēi Zhěn, Xú Jísūn, Zhū Jìfāng, Chén Bìfù, the monk Sīzhí, and Chén Qǐ himself.
The transmission is unusually complex. The SKQS editors note: “Chén Qǐ’s various prints were not from one period and not from one design; copies in the libraries of Huáng Yúshào, Zhū Yízūn, Cáo Dòng, Wú Zhuó, and the Huāxī Xúshì, Huāshān Mǎshì hold between 28 and 64 hands — copied across, true and false mingled — and one cannot tell which is the original.” The SKQS editors collated the various extant copies against the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn records of Jiānghú jí, Jiānghú qiánjí, Jiānghú hòují, and Zhōngxìng Jiānghú jí — separate Chén-Qǐ-press anthologies under varying titles — to reconstruct the 24-juǎn form. The book as transmitted is essentially the SKQS editors’ reconstruction from this collation work.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Jiānghú hòují in 24 juǎn — edited by Sòng’s Chén Qǐ. Qǐ is known for printing the Jiānghú anthology, but his prints were not from one period and the blocks not from one design — so the copies in the libraries [Huáng Yúshào, Zhū Yízūn, Cáo Dòng, Wú Zhuó, Huāxī Xúshì, Huāshān Mǎshì] range from 28 to 64 hands, copy after copy, true and false mingled, and one cannot tell which is the original.
Now we check the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn records: there is Jiānghú jí, Jiānghú qiánjí, Jiānghú hòují, Zhōngxìng Jiānghú jí — several names; the traces of their sequence of cutting can be approximately tracked. Cross-collating with the transmitted Jiānghú jí: the poets in the Hòují who are not in the parent qiánjí are 47 men [list above]. Note that Lín Féngjí = zì of Lín Biǎomín — front-and-back prints differ; really 47 hands. Plus 2 cíyú hands (Wú Zhòngfāng, Zhāng Jí) = 50. Plus poets already in qiánjí with new pieces [list above] = 17 hands.
Now: in the various collections of the time, all were of contemporaries; they were cut as obtained, slightly assembled into a juǎnzhì and given a separate name to sell — the assignment had no editorial principle. So one man’s poems are scattered across several collections. If we were to restore the original sequencing, we would create over-cutting and confusion, hard to navigate. Reverently submitted, we have collated the qiánjí and hòují together [explanation continues — describing the SKQS editorial reconstruction].
Abstract
Date: by inference from contents — the Jiānghú hòují must postdate the Jiānghú shī huò of Bǎoqìng 1 (1225) and reflects Chén Qǐ’s reconstruction of the Jiānghú poetic network in its aftermath. The Sìlíng-school continuation (Dài Fùgǔ, Liú Yì etc.), the Lǐzōng-era court figures (Zhèng Qīngzhī), and Lín Biǎomín’s mid-13th-century floruit together place the collection in the Shàodìng (1228–1233) and Duānpíng (1234–1236) periods. The transmitted form is the SKQS editors’ reconstruction from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn.
Significance:
(1) The most comprehensive extant document of the late-Sòng Jiānghú network. With nearly 65 poets between this book and its parent Xiǎojí KR4h0053, the two volumes together constitute the principal documentary monument of late-Southern-Sòng poetry. Zhōu Bì, Dài Fùgǔ, Liú Yì, Lín Biǎomín, Áo Táosūn, Lǐ Gōng, Jiāng Kuí, Lè Léifā, Dài Zhí, and many secondary names are preserved here in unique witness.
(2) A textually difficult Sòng commercial print. The work is one of the principal Sòng commercial-publishing artefacts whose textual transmission is genuinely complex — multiple Chén Qǐ prints, varied selections, no editorial principle, no fixed juǎn-count. The SKQS editors’ work of reconstruction is itself one of the most thorough kǎozhèng operations in the Qíng-court anthological recovery. The 24-juǎn form is the SKQS reconstruction, not Chén Qǐ’s original layout.
(3) A document of post-huò publishing strategy. After the 1225 Jiānghú shī huò, Chén Qǐ rebuilt the Jiānghú publishing programme through changing the title-name (Jiānghú jí → Jiānghú qiánjí, Jiānghú hòují, Zhōngxìng Jiānghú jí) — a strategy of publication-by-title-variation that the SKQS editors document at length. This is one of the principal case-studies in Sòng commercial-publishing self-censorship.
The book is foundational for late-Sòng poetic history and for the history of Chinese commercial publishing alike.
Translations and research
- Michael A. Fuller, Drifting Among Rivers and Lakes: Southern Song Dynasty Poetry and the Problem of Literary History (Harvard Asia Center, 2013) — the standard modern English-language treatment.
- Lucille Chia, Printing for Profit (Harvard Asia Center, 2002) — Chén Qǐ in commercial-publishing history.
- Stuart H. Sargent, The Poetry of He Zhu (1052–1125) (Brill, 2007), Appendix.
- Zhāng Hóng-shēng 張宏生, Sòng-shī rónɡ-zhái jí — late-Sòng poetics.
- Cài Zhēn-chū 蔡振楚, “Jiānghú hòu-jí kǎo” 江湖後集考, Sòng-Yuán wénxué 2007.
Other points of interest
The work is a case-study in Qīng-court reconstruction of a Sòng book from inconsistent transmissions. The SKQS editors’ work — collating 5+ household copies against the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn records — exemplifies the rigorous kǎozhèng method that the Sìkù project, at its best, exemplified.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §31.4.
- ctext