Lùnxué shéngchǐ 論學繩尺
Rule and Compass of Examination-Essay Studies by 魏天應, annotated by 林子長
About the work
A 10-juǎn late-Southern-Sòng manual of examination-essay model practice — the lùn 論 (discursive essay) format used in the second / third examination round of the Sòng kējǔ system. Compiled by Wèi Tiānyīng 魏天應 (hào Méishù, of Fújiàn) with detailed annotation by Lín Zǐcháng 林子長 (hào Bǐfēng, jīngxué jiàoyù). The book is the principal surviving Sòng document of the lùn-essay form and the proto-textbook of the eight-legged essay (bāgǔ wén 八股文) tradition that became dominant in MíngQīng examination practice.
Structure:
- Opening section: Lùn jué 論訣 (the secrets of lùn-essay practice), one juǎn — a meta-pedagogical introduction citing Lǚ Zǔqiān, Zhū Xī, and other Sòng critical authorities on essay-writing technique.
- 10 juǎn of model essays in 78 formal categories (gé 格), each illustrating two model essays organised by structural type.
- 156 essays in all (jiǎ-set 12; yǐ through guǐ sets 16 each).
- Each essay is preceded by chūchù (source/topic), lìshuō (statement of position) and píngyǔ (critical evaluation); below the essay are interspersed gloss notes on the diǎngù (classical allusions).
Structural rhetorical categories include: pòtí 破題 (topic-breaking), jiētí 接題 (topic-continuation), xiǎojiǎng 小講 (small-elaboration), dàjiǎng 大講 (large-elaboration), rùtí 入題 (topic-entry), yuántí 原題 (topic-origin), shuāngguān sānshàn 雙關三扇 (double-passes-and-three-leaves). The SKQS editors observe: “These are in fact the prototypes of the later bābǐ (eight-legged form), and one can see here the source-stream of the zhìjǔ wén (examination prose).”
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Lùnxué shéngchǐ in 10 juǎn — edited by Sòng’s Wèi Tiānyīng with gloss by Lín Zǐcháng. Tiānyīng’s hào is Méishù; self-styled “xiānggòng jìnshì”; Zǐcháng’s hào is Bǐfēng; held jīngxué jiàoyù office. Both are Mǐn (Fújiàn) men.
The collection gathers contemporary examination-hall lùn essays, prefaced by the Lùnjué in 1 juǎn. Recorded essays are in 10 juǎn: jiǎ set 12 pieces; yǐ to guǐ sets all 16 pieces. Every two pieces are paired as one gé (formal category) — 78 gé in all. Each tí (topic) gets first its source-and-place; then the statement of position; then the píngyǔ (evaluative comment); and gloss of diǎngù (allusions) interspersed under the main text.
The text is a Jiànyáng book-shop print, with age-damage and missing sections. The Míng Fújiàn tíxué qiānshì Yóu Míng 游明 obtained an old copy and re-collated, supplementing the missing parts; he also identified errors in the original gloss and corrected and added gloss, sent it to the book-shop for re-printing. Hé Qiáoxīn’s Jiāoqiū jí has a preface to the book; the present text omits it.
By the Sòng Lǐbù gòngjǔ tiáoshì: under the Yuányòu law, three rounds tested the candidates; round 2 used one lùn. In Shàoxīng 9 (1139) it was set to four rounds; round 3 used one lùn, limit 500+ characters; the jīngyì and shīfù sub-tracks were the same. Further, the Shàoxīng 9 zhāzǐ by Guózǐ sīyè Gāo Kàng says: “The Tàixué’s old law — every ten days a course; once a month the cycle round; every month an examination, once a quarter the cycle round; all based on jīngyì, also practicing lùn and cè (policy questions).” So every test had a lùn — more frequent than other genres — hence the existence of a specifically-organised practice-anthology. Tiānyīng’s collection is one that has chanced to survive.
In the early days the lùn did not strictly conform to a set form: as in Sū Shì’s Xíngshǎng zhōnghòu zhī zhì lùn, the structure springs from his own jīzhù (loom) and shows no fixation on tóuxiàng xīnfù yāowěi (head-neck-heart-belly-waist-tail) format. After the Nándù (1127), discussion gradually grew tighter, formats grew stricter; examination officials held to fixed gé and every candidate had to make their work fit. Then the shuāngguān sānshàn doctrine arose, and the examination-hall production took on a separate body of rules; even genius could not transcend it. This book’s name Shéngchǐ (Rule-and-Compass) probably refers to this.
The Shàoxīng revised Gòngjǔ shì in the zhōngshì juàn fàndiǎnmǒ tiáo (rules on test-paper marking) had a prohibition: “The lùn, cè, and jīngyì together must not use ten consecutive lines from a Sòng-period scholar’s collection” — clear evidence that the rigidity of form led to plagiarism, against which this rule was issued. But of the shěngshì zhòngxuǎn (provincial-examination passing essays) the great majority are seen here; preserving the book enables study of the one-dynasty examination system. Further, its pòtí, jiētí, xiǎojiǎng, dàjiǎng, rùtí, yuántí — these various forms — are in fact the lànshāng (origin-spring) of the later bābǐ (eight-legged form); also enough to see the source of zhìjǔ wén (examination prose). Reverently submitted, tenth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date: by Wèi Tiānyīng’s xiānggòng jìnshì signature, his floruit is the late Southern Sòng — probably the Bǎoyòu (1253–1258) or Xiánchún (1265–1274) period. The Míng Yóu Míng recollation is the proximate textual ancestor of the WYG copy.
Significance:
(1) Foundational documentary witness to the Sòng lùn-essay tradition. The Lùnxué shéngchǐ is the principal surviving anthology of Sòng kējǔ essay practice, with 156 model essays organised by formal rhetorical category. It is the foundational source for modern scholarship on Sòng examination culture.
(2) Proto-history of the bāgǔ wén 八股文. The SKQS editors’ observation — that the rhetorical categories pòtí, jiētí, xiǎojiǎng, dàjiǎng, rùtí, yuántí are the prototypes of the later MíngQīng eight-legged essay — is the principal Qīng-court formulation of the proto-history of the eight-legged essay. The book is consequently the central document for the Sòng origin of the bāgǔ wén tradition.
(3) A document of Sòng pedagogical culture. The opening Lùnjué preserves Sòng-period statements on essay-writing technique by Lǚ Zǔqiān and others — the principal Sòng theoretical statement on the lùn form. The book is the single most important pre-modern Chinese treatise on the lùn genre.
The book is also a documentary source for the history of Sòng commercial publishing in Jiànyáng (Fújiàn) — Wèi and Lín are Fújiàn men, and the original print is a Jiànyáng book-shop production, illustrating the centrality of Jiànyáng to Sòng examination-publishing.
Translations and research
- Benjamin Elman, A Cultural History of Civil Examinations in Late Imperial China (Univ. of California Press, 2000) — extensive use of the Lùn-xué shéng-chǐ for bā-gǔ prehistory.
- John W. Chaffee, The Thorny Gates of Learning in Sung China (Cambridge UP, 1985; rev. 1995) — Sòng examination institutions.
- Hilde De Weerdt, Competition over Content: Negotiating Standards for the Civil Service Examinations in Imperial China (1127–1279) (Harvard Asia Center, 2007) — extensive use of the Shéng-chǐ.
- Lucille Chia, Printing for Profit (Harvard Asia Center, 2002) — Jiàn-yáng commercial publishing context.
- Sòng Xīn-chuān 宋新川, Sòng-dài kē-jǔ wén-xué yánjiū 宋代科舉文學研究 (Beijing: Rénmín, 2009).
Other points of interest
The book is almost uniquely preserved among Sòng examination-practice anthologies — most such books were ephemeral commercial productions and did not survive into YuánMíng transmission. The SKQS preservation of the Lùnxué shéngchǐ is a major documentary recovery for the history of Chinese examination culture.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §28 (Examinations).
- ctext