Sūmén liù jūnzǐ wén cuì 蘇門六君子文粹
Cream of Prose from the Six Gentlemen of the Sū School by 張耒
About the work
A 70-juǎn Sòng anthology of prose by the six principal disciples of the Sūmén — Qín Guān 秦觀, Cháo Bǔzhī 晁補之, Zhāng Lěi (張耒), Huáng Tíngjiān 黃庭堅, Chén Shīdào 陳師道, Lǐ Zhì 李廌. The compiler is not stated; the fánlì records that some attribute it to Chén Liàng 陳亮 of Lóngchuān (1143–1194), citing his Ōuyáng wéncuì xù in the Lóngchuān jí, but the fánlì of the present book is not in Chén Liàng’s collected works — so the attribution is uncertain. The conventional Sūmén sìxuéshì (Four Disciples — Huáng, Zhāng, Cháo, Qín) is here expanded by adding Chén Shīdào (whom Sū Shì recommended into office) and Lǐ Zhì (whom Sū Shì recognised in prose) — hence “six gentlemen”. Selections drawn from the Huáihǎi jí (Qín Guān, 14 juǎn), Wǎnqiū jí (Cháo Bǔzhī, 22 juǎn), Jìběi jí (Zhāng Lěi, 21 juǎn), Jìnán jí (Lǐ Zhì, 5 juǎn), Yùzhāng jí (Huáng Tíngjiān, 4 juǎn), Hòushān jí (Chén Shīdào, 4 juǎn) — total 70. Many pieces are excerpted: head and tail elided to retain the central argument — a clear sign of fángsì (workshop) commercial-pedagogical publication for examination preparation. The selection is dominated by discursive prose (yìlùn).
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Sūmén liùjūnzǐ wéncuì in 70 juǎn. The compiler’s name is not given. The fánlì at the head of the book claims it was edited by Chén Liàng, but Chén Liàng’s Ōuyáng wéncuì xù is preserved in his Lóngchuān jí; the preface to this book is nowhere to be found — so it does not necessarily come from Chén Liàng. The Sòngshǐ calls Huáng Tíngjiān, Zhāng Lěi, Cháo Bǔzhī, Qín Guān the Sūmén sìxuéshì; here we add Chén Shīdào and Lǐ Zhì and call them the Sūmén liùjūnzǐ. Chén and Lǐ had only late friendship with Sū Shì, but Chén Shīdào by Sū Shì’s recommendation gained office, and Lǐ Zhì was known to Sū Shì for his writing — hence both were classed by kind.
The pieces are all extracted from various men’s collections: Huáihǎi jí 14 juǎn, Wǎnqiū jí 22, Jìběi jí 21, Jìnán jí 5, Yùzhāng jí 4, Hòushān jí 4. Many pieces have head and tail trimmed to retain only the essential. Looking at the selection, mostly yìlùn (discursive) prose, made by fángsì (printing-shops) for examination-preparation purposes.
Lù Yóu’s Lǎoxuéān bǐjì says: “From the Jiànyán era onward, prose of the Sū house was valued; learners flocked to it, and Shǔ scholars were the most numerous. There was a saying: ‘Sū wén shú, chī yángròu; Sū wén shēng, chī càigēng’ (Master Sū’s prose ripe, eat mutton; raw, eat vegetable broth)” — so the trend has caught up the school’s disciples to be imitated by the age. Yet its selection is strict, characteristic of a well-trained anthologist. Furthermore, Lǐ Zhì’s collection has no transmitted edition; only now have we reassembled it from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn, so this book is substantially useful in supplementing him. Likewise Zhāng Lěi’s collection survives only in a manuscript with many corrupted characters; Chén Shīdào’s collection’s poetry is detailed-collated but its prose is only sketchy — so this book is also useful for collation.
Reverently submitted, sixth month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date and compilation. The anthology is firmly Southern Sòng. The Lù Yóu reference and the absence of any northern-Sòng catalogue listing point to a date after the Jiànyán period (1127) and likely in the mid-to-late 12th c.. The attribution to Chén Liàng 陳亮 (1143–1194) is plausible chronologically but not securely documented. The SKQS editors retain the anonymity and note that the work is a commercial-pedagogical anthology of the Southern-Sòng book-shop trade aimed at examination candidates studying gǔwén prose composition.
Significance. (1) Textual reservoir. The Sūmén liùjūnzǐ wéncuì is the principal pre-Míng textual witness to Lǐ Zhì 李廌, whose own collection was lost in the SòngYuán transition and reconstructed only later from the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn. It is also a major collation source for Zhāng Lěi (張耒) and Chén Shīdào 陳師道’s prose, both of whom suffered text-critical degradation in the surviving manuscript / print traditions. The SKQS editors specifically flag these three preservation functions.
(2) Canonisation of the Sūmén circle. By collecting six rather than the conventional four, the anthology codifies the expanded Sūmén as a defined literary-historical cohort, with Chén Shīdào and Lǐ Zhì admitted on the strength of their personal-and-prose relationships with Sū Shì. The “Six Gentlemen” formulation passes into YuánMíng literary historiography as a result.
(3) Sòng commercial-pedagogical publication. The fánlì’s explicit pedagogical orientation, the systematic head-and-tail elision of selected pieces, and the dominant yìlùn (discursive) emphasis make this work an exceptional documentary witness to the Sòng fángkè book trade aimed at the jǔyè (examination) market.
Translations and research
- 王水照 Wáng Shuǐ-zhào, Sòng-dài wén-xué tōng-lùn — on Sū-school anthologisation.
- 朱剛 Zhū Gāng, Sū Shì xué-shù wén-jí yán-jiū — Sū-school transmission.
- Peter Bol, “This Culture of Ours” (Stanford, 1992).
- 莫礪鋒 Mò Lì-fēng, on Huáng Tíng-jiān and Sū-school reception.
Other points of interest
The work’s textual-witness function for Lǐ Zhì has become its main scholarly use in modern Chinese textual criticism: Lǐ Zhì’s Jìnán jí (or Pī-pa-shān gǎo) reconstruction depends materially on the 5 juǎn preserved here.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §31.4.
- ctext