Gǔjīn shī shān 古今詩刪
Selections from Ancient and Modern Poetry by 李攀龍
About the work
A 34-juǎn late-Míng poetry anthology by Lǐ Pānlóng (李攀龍, 1514–1570) — the leader of the Later Seven Masters (hòu Qīzǐ 後七子) and the most influential late-Jiā-jìng / Wàn-lì-era poetic critic. The work’s selections run from 古逸 (pre-Hàn lost ancient) through HànWèi, South-and-North dynasties, Táng, then leaps directly to Míng — deliberately excluding Sòng and Yuán entirely. The exclusion reflects the qiánhòu Qīzǐ program: “do not read post-Táng books” (a famous slogan of Lǐ Mèngyáng 李夢陽 and the Earlier Seven Masters). Wáng Shìzhēn’s preface (Lǐ Pānlóng died c. 1570; the volume was posthumously edited by Wāng Shíyuán 汪時元 of Xīndū and prefaced by Wáng Shìzhēn at Wāng’s request) makes the anti-Sòng-Yuán principle explicit: “Lǐ Pānlóng’s selection — shān (pruning) — what is shān is what is pruned away” — emphasising the deliberate elision.
The volume was later mis-circulated under the title Lǐ Pānlóng Tángshī xuǎn, a forgery (the SKQS editors note) — late-Míng book-merchants extracted the Táng section, added evaluative commentary, and circulated it under Lǐ’s name. The Sìkù editors document this and exclude the forgery from the corpus.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Gǔjīn shī shān in 34 juǎn — the Míng Lǐ Pānlóng edited it. Lǐ Pānlóng has the Cāngmíng jí — already separately catalogued. This compilation records historical verse: each dynasty separately divided by form — beginning with gǔyì, next HànWèiNánBěi, next Táng — after Táng, jumping directly to Míng; mostly recording same-time contemporaries’ compositions, omitting Sòng and Yuán.
This is because since Lǐ Mèngyáng advocated “do not read post-Táng books”, the earlier and later Seven Masters all hold this view as standard; Lǐ Pānlóng’s selection still follows that intent.
Once Jiāng Yān 江淹 [Liang dynasty] wrote the Zánǐ poems — from the Hàn capital down to the Qí age, ancient and modern all listed, regular and modified all preserved. His preface says: “Moth-eyebrows have no same face — yet all stir the inner spirit; fragrant grasses have no shared air — yet all please the soul”. And again: “Of the various worthies of this age, each is stuck where he is fascinated — none does not ‘praise the sweet and reject the bitter, love the red and despise the white’ (preferring sweet and red, refusing bitter and white)“. Then is this what is called “all-broad-and-extensive, broad-loving and extensive” (tōngfāng guǎngshù, hàoyuǎn jiānài) at all? Literature’s pàibié (sub-school distinctions) does not depend on a single road — only gōngzhuō wéi chéng (judgement of skill or clumsiness as the criterion) — not yet “limiting by era”.
Sòng poetry leads the Huáng (Huáng Tíngjiān) and Chén (Chén Shīdào) school, mostly shēngyìng chāyá (raw, with branching twigs); Yuán poetry follows the Wēn (Wēn Tíngyún) and Lǐ (Lǐ Shāngyǐn) wave, mostly qǐmí wǎnruò (silken-tender). To discuss their flaws — many indeed exist. But the jùzhì hóngpiān (great works and grand pieces) — indeed countless — how can one delete both eras and děng zhī zìGuì wújī (deem both worth no comment)?
Wáng Shìzhēn’s 論詩絕句 (Discussing-Poetry Quatrains) says: “Tiěyái’s [Yáng Wéizhēn’s] yuèfǔ — vigorous breath; Yuānyǐng’s [Liú Yīn’s] song-style — completely strange. Ěrshí fēnfēn shuō Kāibǎo (Ear-fed mutter on about Kāibǎo era) — how few have actually seen SòngYuán poetry!” — Was this not directed at Lǐ Mèngyáng’s people?
And by the selections of this very book: late-Táng Wéi Zhuāng 韋莊 and Lǐ Jiànxūn 李建勳 — the distance to early Sòng was yuèsuì wúduō (few years) — early Míng Liú Jī 劉基 and Liáng Yín 梁寅 — both active in late Yuán — verse-pieces not few. How can a few years’ span produce ancient-and-modern utterly different? How can one body experience both fragrant herb and stinkweed? This is purely factional outlook (ménhù zhī jiàn), entering and ruling, out-and-rejecting — not from any real measure of boundary.
Later, Zhōu Liànggōng 周亮工 carved a private seal that read: Do not read WángLǐ ZhōngTán’s poetry — recorded in his Làigǔ táng pǔ — was this not provoked by gāotán shèngqì (lofty talk with raging atmosphere) into chūěr fǎněr (out-of-mouth, back-to-mouth — i.e. tit-for-tat)?
Yet the late-Míng lùnshī zhī dǎng (party of poetry-discussion) divided at the Seven Masters; the Seven Masters’ poetry-discussion intent does not exceed this compilation. Recording and preserving it shows the history of literary fashion’s transitions and the shìfēi fēngqǐ (rights-and-wrongs swarming up) origins — cannot be dropped.
What circulates today is a separate 李攀龍唐詩選 Lǐ Pānlóng Tángshī xuǎn — Lǐ Pānlóng actually has no such book — it is late-Míng book-merchant counterfeit: extracting the Tángshī section from the Shīshān, adding evaluative annotation, separately titling it. As it has long circulated, we now record only its mù (catalog-entry) and do not record its book.
Reverently submitted, ninth month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Lǐ Pānlóng died in 1570; the work was completed in his last years (probably c. 1565–1570). It was edited posthumously by Wāng Shíyuán of Xīndū and prefaced by Wáng Shìzhēn 王世貞 (1526–1590) — Lǐ’s close colleague and the other leader of the Later Seven Masters.
Significance. (1) The work is the canonical late-Míng anthology of the Qiánhòu Qīzǐ movement — the most influential late-Jiā-jìng / Wàn-lì-era literary movement, advocating QínHàn prose and pre-Sòng poetry against the TángSòng pài of Táng Shùnzhī (cf. KR4h0106). (2) The deliberate exclusion of Sòng and Yuán is the work’s most controversial editorial choice; the SKQS editors devote substantial space to denouncing it as ménhù zhī jiàn (factional outlook) — preferring Wáng Shìzhēn’s later more-balanced views. (3) The work’s organisation — 古逸 / HànWèi / Six Dynasties / Táng / Míng — establishes the Qīzǐ canonical sequence that omits SòngYuán; this sequence was a major target of late-Míng Gōngān school and Qīng-era Tóngchéng school reactions. (4) The volume is the principal anthological monument of the Qīzǐ movement as a curatorial program (as distinct from Lǐ’s own poetry in the Cāngmíng jí). (5) The forgery problem — the late-Míng “Lǐ Pānlóng Tángshī xuǎn” — is itself a documentary witness to the work’s influence and to late-Míng book-merchant commercial-counterfeiting practice.
Translations and research
- Yoshikawa Kōjirō, Five Hundred Years of Chinese Poetry, 1150–1650 (Princeton, 1989) — discusses the Qī-zǐ movement and Lǐ Pān-lóng.
- 廖可斌 Liào Kě-bīn, Fù-gǔ pài yǔ Míng-dài wén-xué sī-cháo (Taipei, 1994) — major study of the Qián-hòu Qī-zǐ archaist movement.
- 鄭利華 Zhèng Lì-huá, Wáng Shì-zhēn yán-jiū — Wáng’s place in the Qī-zǐ network.
- Daniel Bryant, The Great Recreation: Ho Ching-ming (1483–1521) and His World — discusses early-Qī-zǐ founder Hé Jǐng-míng.
Other points of interest
The work’s deliberate anti-Sòng-Yuán policy is one of the most polemical positions ever taken in Chinese poetry anthology. The Qīng Tóngchéng school (Yáo Nài 姚鼐, Jīntǐ shī chāo) and Qīng poetics generally restored SòngYuán to canonical status — so the Sìkù editors’ critique of Lǐ Pānlóng reflects the mid-Qīng reassessment of Míng literary history. The Yángshī jǔyú by Wáng Shìzhēn in the Yìyuàn zhīyán — quoted by the SKQS editors — captures the period’s most informed criticism: “ěrshí fēnfēn — those merely informed by hearsay rattle on about the Kāibǎo period; how few have actually read SòngYuán poetry!”
Links
- ctext
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §32, §38.