Zēngzhù Tángcè 增注唐策
Annotated Tang Memorials, Augmented by 闕名
About the work
A 10-juǎn late-Southern-Sòng anthology of Táng-period administrative prose — principally cè (policy-essays), lùn (discursive essays), shū (private letters), zhuàng (memorials), biǎo, zòu — though the title says “cè” only. Compiler not stated by the SKQS editors. The work was printed in the Sòng (evidence: avoidance of Sòng character-taboos identical to those of KR4h0058 Gǔwén jíchéng) and then reprinted in the Míng Zhèngdé 12 (1517) with a preface by Wāng Càn 汪燦 of Xīnān 新安, who states that an old print of the Tángcè had been circulating but its compiler was unknown — confirming the Sòng anonymous descent. The body of the anthology carries interlinear glosses signed in five names — Chóng yuē, Zhāng yuē, Lǐ yuē, Dòu yuē, Dǒng yuē. One Chóng yuē gloss writes “Wáng Chóng” 王崇 in full; the other four are surname-only. The SKQS editors are unable to identify these glossators and conjecture that the Sòng book-shop trade brought together five separate annotators’ marginal notes when reprinting. Despite this commercial-pedagogical character, the editors praise the selection: “all pieces are famous Táng compositions, the choice is reasonably careful, and not to be classed with the loose Míng-period workshop anthologies.” Wāng Càn’s preface attributes the original gift to his friend Huáng Juéshān xiānshēng 黄蕨山先生 (“Master Fern-Mountain”, Wāng’s instructor in Xīnān).
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Zēngzhù Tángcè in 10 juǎn. The compiler’s name is not given. Before, Wāng Càn 汪燦 of Xīnān’s preface of Míng Zhèngdé 12 (dīngchǒu, 1517) says only: “The old print of the Tángcè — I do not know who collected it.” Examining the book, the Sòng character-taboos avoided are identical with those in Gǔwén jíchéng — so this also was edited by a Sòng man.
Among the pieces preserved are Táng-period cè, lùn, shū, zhuàng, biǎo, zòu. That the book is named “Tángcè” only is because the work was put together for cèduì (memorial-essay) preparation in the examination, with primary weight on the cè. Among the glosses (zhù) are Chóng yuē, Zhāng yuē, Lǐ yuē, Dòu yuē, Dǒng yuē categories. One Chóng yuē place writes “Wáng Chóng” (i.e. surname Wáng given-name Chóng); the rest title only the surname — all not investigable as to their source, nor knowable who these various men were. Probably at the time the book was popular and various men commented on it, and the shūjiǎ (book-trade) brought them together at print. The annotations are simple but the selections are all famous Táng compositions, and the standard of selection is reasonably careful — not to be classed with the fángxuǎn (workshop-anthologies) of the Míng, which are rǒnglàn wúxù (florid-loose-disorderly). Because the old recension is preserved, we keep it to provide a selection-base.
Reverently submitted, third month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Late Southern Sòng, before 1279. The Sòng taboo-character avoidance places it after the establishment of the dynasty; the parallel to KR4h0058 Gǔwén jíchéng of c. 1224–1264 suggests the same Sòng commercial-pedagogical context. The Míng Zhèngdé 12 (1517) reprint by Wāng Càn of Xīnān is the principal Míng witness; it is from this recension that the SKQS edition derives.
Significance. (1) Táng administrative-prose pedagogy. The anthology is the single largest extant Sòng compilation of Táng cèlùn and related governmental genres. Cèwén — the policy-essay form — was the central genre of Sòng examination, and the Tángcè established the Táng-period model for Sòng candidates to imitate.
(2) Commercial annotation tradition. The presence of five distinct annotators’ marginal glosses — assembled by a Sòng publisher into a single composite text — is unusually well-documented evidence of how the Sòng book trade aggregated pedagogical apparatus across teachers. The format prefigures the late-Míng huìzhù (collected-commentary) anthologies.
(3) Textual witness. A number of Táng administrative pieces preserved here are also preserved in the Tang men’s individual collections (Hán Yù, Liǔ Zōngyuán, Lù Zhì 陸贄 zòuyì) but a small remainder appears only here — supplying useful collation evidence for Táng prose.
Translations and research
- David McMullen, State and Scholars in T’ang China (Cambridge, 1988) — Táng prose-and-policy context.
- Anthony DeBlasi, Reform in the Balance: The Defense of Literary Culture in Mid-Tang China (Albany, 2002).
- 卞孝萱 Biàn Xiào-xuān, Táng-rén xiǎo-shuō yǔ Sòng-rén zǐ-shū — for Sòng-period transmission of Táng prose.
Other points of interest
The mysterious Wáng Chóng / Chóng yuē glossator — the only annotator whose given name is preserved — has been the subject of conjecture in modern bibliography; no firm identification has been proposed. The pattern of single-surname glosses (Zhāng yuē, Lǐ yuē, etc.) is characteristic of Sòng pedagogical commentary and stands in contrast to the personal-style glosses (e.g. Lǚ Bógōng yuē) of high-cultural commentary.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §31.4.
- ctext