Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ 瀛奎律髓
Marrow of Regulated Verse from Yíng and Kuí by 方回
About the work
A 49-juǎn anthology of Táng and Sòng regulated-verse poetry (wǔ- and qīyán lǜshī) with critical commentary, compiled by Fāng Huí (方回, 1227–1307), the late-Sòng / early-Yuán polymath of Shèxiàn 歙縣 (Huīzhōu). The work is the single most-influential late-imperial Chinese poetics document — codifying the genealogy of regulated-verse practice and inaugurating the doctrine of the One Patriarch and Three Patriarchs (yīzǔ sānzōng 一祖三宗): Dù Fǔ as the Patriarch, Huáng Tíngjiān 黃庭堅, Chén Shīdào 陳師道, and Chén Yǔyì 陳與義 as the three Patriarchs of the Jiāngxī school. The title combines:
- Yíng 瀛 — from the Táng phrase Shíbā xuéshì dēng Yíngzhōu (Tàizōng’s Eighteen Scholars climbed Yíngzhōu to immortality), implying Táng poetic eminence.
- Kuí 奎 — from Wǔxīng jù Kuí (the Five Stars conjoined at Kuí, an astrological omen for cultural flowering), implying Sòng poetic eminence.
Organisation is topical, not chronological — 49 categories of subject matter (e.g. dēnglǎn climbing/viewing, biéxíng farewell, huáigǔ historical-meditation, yǒngwù objects, yúnxià weather, etc.). Within each category Táng and Sòng poems are interleaved with Fāng’s interlinear and headnote commentary. The work’s distinctive critical principles, summarised by the SKQS editors:
- Rejection of the Xīkūn school (Yáng Yì, Liú Yún) as superficially florid.
- Championing of the Jiāngxī school as the carrier of Dù Fǔ’s regulated-verse legacy.
- Aesthetics that prize 生硬 (raw-hardness) as jiànbǐ (firm brushwork), 粗豪 (rough-vigour) as lǎojìng (mature-state), and 煉字 (character-tempering) as jùyǎn (sentence-eye).
The SKQS editors are critical: they find Fāng’s selection-and-rejection often incomprehensible (e.g. of Dù Fǔ’s Qiūxìng eight only the fourth is included); the aesthetic prizes “shēngyìng” as a virtue against the zhōngshēng (centred-tone) of orthodox poetics. However, the editors concede, “many Sòng collections not fully transmitted today are largely preserved through this book; and the period anecdotes and old affairs are often visible in his notes” — for which reason Lì È 厲鶚 (Qīng) drew most heavily on the Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ for his Sòngshī jìshì 宋詩紀事. Two recensions: the Shímén Wú Zhīzhèn 石門吳之振 (Qīng) print preserving Lóng Zūn’s 龍遵 preface with detailed transmission history (the “fuller” recension), and the Sūzhōu Chén Shìtài 蘇州陳士泰 print which excises much of Fāng’s original annotation including Lóng’s preface (the “slighter” recension).
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ in 49 juǎn. The Yuán Fāng Huí compiled it. Huí’s Xù gǔjīnkǎo is already on record (see KR2n0033). This book covers both Táng and Sòng dynasties’ poetry, divided into 49 categories. What is recorded is all wǔ- and qīyán regulated-verse, hence the name “lǜsuǐ”. His self-preface explains the meaning by Shíbā xuéshì dēng Yíngzhōu and Wǔxīng jù Kuí, hence “Yíngkuí”. The main thrust rejects the Xīkūn and praises the Jiāngxī, raising the doctrine of “One Patriarch, Three Patriarchs”. The One Patriarch is Dù Fǔ; the Three Patriarchs are Huáng Tíngjiān, Chén Shīdào, Chén Yǔyì.
His principle: takes raw-hardness as firm brushwork; takes rough-vigour as mature-state; takes character-tempering as sentence-eye — decidedly not in tune with centred-tone. His selection-and-rejection — as in Dù Fǔ’s Qiūxìng (Autumn Inspirations) keeping only the fourth piece — also has much that is unintelligible. Yet Sòng-period collections not entirely transmitted today rely on this for their preservation to a considerable degree, and the period’s yíwén jiùshì (transmitted-stories and old-affairs) are often visible in his notes — hence Lì È in writing the Sòngshī jìshì drew most material from this. His critical judgements also have many things worth picking up. Hence we also cannot completely abolish it.
This book in the world has two recensions: one is Shímén Wú Zhīzhèn’s print — the front carrying Lóng Zūn’s preface, narrating transmission-source in detail; one is Sūzhōu Chén Shìtài’s print, which has much of the original annotation shaved off, and Lóng Zūn’s original preface also removed altogether — its proofreading is shūbó (strained-disagreeing), unbearable. Wú strongly criticised it; this is not necessarily an excess.
Reverently submitted, third month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Yuán dynasty, c. 1283–1307 — within Fāng Huí’s post-Sòng retirement period. Fāng surrendered Yánzhōu to the Yuán in 1276 (a much-criticised act); served briefly under the Yuán, retired soon after, and produced the Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ in his retirement. The earliest extant prefatory paratext, by Lóng Zūn, is from the early-Míng Tiānshùnjiǎshēn (1464).
Significance. (1) Founding document of the yīzǔ sānzōng doctrine. The Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ canonised the Sòng Jiāngxī school (HuángChénChén) as the legitimate transmission of Dù Fǔ’s regulated-verse style. This doctrine became the dominant YuánMíngQīng critical orthodoxy on Sòng poetry — to be contested vigorously by Míng qiánhòu qīzǐ champions of the Tang-only doctrine (Lǐ Pánlóng et al.) and even more vigorously by Qīng Héyáng poets.
(2) Topical organisation as critical principle. Fāng’s choice of 49 topical categories — rather than chronological or by-author — implies a critical thesis: that regulated verse is essentially a topical genre in which the poet’s task is to handle conventional themes within strict formal constraints. This organisational principle deeply influenced MíngQīng poetic-handbook publication.
(3) Textual preservation. Like the Zhōngzhōu jí for the Jīn, the Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ is a principal textual witness for many Sòng poets whose own collections were lost in the SòngYuán transition. Lì È’s Sòngshī jìshì depended on it. Modern Sòng-poetry textual criticism continues to draw on Fāng’s quotations.
Critical reception. Jì Yún in the Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ kānwù 瀛奎律髓刊誤 systematically corrected Fāng’s selection and commentary. Qián Zhōngshū 錢鍾書, Tányì lù 談藝錄, is a major modern reading. Modern Chinese scholarship has produced multiple critical editions; the Lǐ Qìngjiǎ 李慶甲 Yíngkuí lǜsuǐ huìpíng 瀛奎律髓彙評 (Shanghai, 1986) is now standard.
Translations and research
- Yoshikawa Kōjirō, An Introduction to Sung Poetry (trans. Burton Watson, Harvard, 1967) — for Fāng’s poetics within the broader Sòng context.
- Stuart Sargent, The Poetry of He Zhu (1052–1125) (Brill, 2007) — for the yī-zǔ sān-zōng doctrine’s reception of late-northern-Sòng poetics.
- Charles Hartman, “Poetry and Politics in 1079: The Crow Terrace Poetry Case of Su Shih” CLEAR 12 (1990) — for the Northern Sòng background.
- 李慶甲 Lǐ Qìng-jiǎ (ed.), Yíng-kuí lǜ-suǐ huì-píng (Shanghai, 1986) — definitive critical edition with assembled Jì Yún and other Qīng correctives.
- 錢鍾書 Qián Zhōng-shū, Tán-yì lù (Beijing, 1948 and later editions).
- 張健 Zhāng Jiàn, “Yíng-kuí lǜ-suǐ” yán-jiū (Beijing, 2002).
Other points of interest
The One Patriarch, Three Patriarchs doctrine is the single most-cited critical phrase in late-imperial Chinese poetics, comparable in cultural weight to the Wénzhāng zhèngzōng in prose. Its **inclusion of Chén Yǔyì (a Jiāng-xī-affiliated but not strictly Jiāngxī poet) as a Patriarch was a deliberate broadening intended to incorporate the Jiǎshén (post-1126) refugee poets into the Jiāngxī line — fitting Fāng’s own loyalist sympathies after his controversial 1276 surrender.