Xīn’ān wénxiàn zhì 新安文獻志
Documentary Treatise of Xīn’ān by 程敏政
About the work
A 100-juǎn regional documentary anthology of Xīnān 新安 (Huīzhōu 徽州, modern southern Anhuī), compiled by Chéng Mǐnzhèng (程敏政, 1445–1499) — Chéng’s other major anthological work and the regional-anthology companion to his dynastic KR4h0102 Míng wénhéng. The work is divided into:
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甲集 (Jiǎjí): juǎn 1–60 — the verse and prose of Xīnān regional masters of all periods, sub-classified by literary form following Zhēn Déxiù’s Wénzhāng zhèngzōng (KR4h0064) model.
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Juǎn 61–100: xiāndá xíngshí (records of conduct) — biographical and commemorative pieces about Xīnān worthies — these need not be by Xīnān authors, but must be about Xīnān subjects. Sub-classified into 15 thematic divisions: 神蹟 shénjì (divine traces), 道原 dàoyuán (Way’s origin), 忠孝 zhōngxiào (loyal-filial), 儒碩 rúshuò (Confucian-master), 勳賢 xūnxián (meritorious-worthy), 風節 fēngjié (manner-and-integrity), 才望 cáiwàng (talent-reputation), 吏治 lìzhì (official-administration), 遺逸 yíyì (recluses), 世德 shìdé (familial-virtue), 寓公 yùgōng (sojourning officials), 文苑 wényuàn (literary-figures), 材武 cáiwǔ (martial-talent), 列女 liènǚ (heroic women), 方技 fāngjì (technical arts).
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Xīnān wénxiàn zhì in 100 juǎn — the Míng Chéng Mǐnzhèng composed it. Mǐnzhèng zì Kèqín, Xiūníng man. From youth, by his prodigy-quality, summoned and tested; by decree he was to read in the Hanlin Academy. Jìnshì of Chénghuà bǐngxū (1466), appointed biānxiū; rose through positions to Lǐbù yòu shìláng, posthumously Lǐbù shàngshū. His career details are in the Míng shǐ Rúlín zhuàn.
This book gathers post-South-North-dynasties literature and historical facts relating to Xīnān. Juǎn 1–60 is the jiǎjí — all are the verse and prose of xiāndá (former worthies) of the original prefecture, sub-classified roughly following Zhēn Déxiù’s Wénzhāng zhèngzōng example.
Juǎn 61 onward consists of the xiāndá xíngshí (life-records of former worthies) — they need not all be composed by Xīnān men. Sub-divided into 15 categories: shénjì, dàoyuán, zhōngxiào, rúshuò, xūnxián, fēngjié, cáiwàng, lìzhì, yíyì, shìdé, yùgōng, wényuàn, cáiwǔ, liènǚ, fāngjì. Where textual examination is needed, Mǐnzhèng has occasionally inserted his own evaluation as a fùzhù (appended note).
Citations are fánbó (extensive and broad), the structure yānguàn (thoroughly threaded-through). For the diǎngù (canonical references) of one Huīzhōu prefecture, the compilation is exceptionally exhaustive. Yíwén (lost prose) and yìshì (anecdotal incidents) can all be glimpsed through it. Since the Míng, this has been recognised as a jùzhì (great work).
Among its small chuǎnbó (irregularities): the fánlì says “Zhūzǐ 朱熹 verse and prose related to Xīnān is recorded” — but the Tàizhōu tōngpàn Jiāngjūn mùmíng (tomb-inscription for Jiāng Sōng — Tàizhōu vice-prefect) is in fact omitted; further, although Zhūzǐ’s xíngzhuàng for his father 朱松 and [Zhū] Sōng’s xíngzhuàng for [his father] Sēn 朱森 are both included, the Zhū Sōng’s Wéizhāi jí’s Lù zēngzǔfù shī hòuxù (postscript to verse of the great-grandfather) is not — these are inevitable omissions. Yet Sīmǎ Guāng’s Zīzhì tōngjiàn even concedes dǐwǔ bùnéng zìbǎo (mutual contradictions cannot be self-protected); the present work’s heavy volume cannot have its compilation-merit denied just because of small omissions.
Reverently submitted, sixth month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Same as KR4h0102: c. 1490–1499 (Chéng Mǐnzhèng’s death year).
Significance. (1) The work is the canonical Míng regional documentary anthology of Huīzhōu (Xīnān), the wealthy southern-Anhuī prefecture that produced the Sòng masters 朱熹 Zhū Xī (whose family hailed from Wùyuán 婺源, then part of Xīnān), the ChéngZhū philosophical lineage’s geographical home. (2) The work’s structure — 60 juǎn of literature + 40 juǎn of biographical/commemorative documents — represents an unusual hybrid of zǒngjí (anthology) and zhì (gazetteer-history). It is the methodological forerunner of the later MíngQīng jùnzhì (prefectural gazetteers) and yìwén zhì (literary-and-biographical treatises). (3) The work’s coverage from the Six Dynasties (i.e. Liùcháo) through to mid-Míng — across nearly a thousand years — gives it unusual depth among regional anthologies; only the comparable KR4h0103 for Huīzhōu, KR4h0079 for Sòng-end loyalism, and a few others (e.g. KR4h0078 for Xiāngshān) approach its temporal range. (4) The work is a major prosopographic source for the SòngYuánMíng Huīzhōu mercantile-and-scholarly elite — the family lines that produced Zhū Xī, the Chéng family, and the great Huīzhōu merchant-houses.
Translations and research
- 周紹泉 Zhōu Shào-quán, Huī-zhōu xué shǐ-lùn-cóng — Huī-zhōu studies (history, society, economy).
- Joseph McDermott, The Making of a New Rural Order in South China (Cambridge, 2013) — Huī-zhōu rural society from Sòng to Míng.
- Harriet Zurndorfer, Change and Continuity in Chinese Local History: The Development of Hui-chou Prefecture 800 to 1800 (Leiden, 1989) — major Western Huī-zhōu monograph; cites Xīn-ān wén-xiàn zhì extensively.
- 王振忠 Wáng Zhèn-zhōng, Huī-zhōu shè-huì wén-huà shǐ tàn-wēi (Shanghai, 2002).
Other points of interest
The work’s coverage of Zhū Xī’s lineage — Zhū Xī’s ancestors held jurisdiction in Wùyuán (Huīzhōu’s Wùyuán sub-prefecture) — makes it the most comprehensive Míng-era source for ZhūXī ancestral biography. Several documents preserved in this anthology (esp. for Zhū Xī’s grandfather Zhū Sēn, his father Zhū Sōng, etc.) are not preserved elsewhere. The work is thus a principal source for the social and intellectual prehistory of Sòng Neo-Confucianism.
Links
- ctext
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §32, §49.