TángSòng bā dà jiā wén chāo 唐宋八大家文鈔
Selected Prose of the Eight Great Masters of Táng and Sòng by 茅坤
About the work
A 164-juǎn late-Míng anthology of the prose of the Eight Great Masters of Táng and Sòng (TángSòng bā dà jiā 唐宋八大家), compiled by Máo Kūn (茅坤, 1512–1601, zì Shùnfǔ 順甫, hào Lùmén 鹿門, of Guīān 歸安 / Húzhōu, Zhèjiāng). The work establishes the canonical eight: Hán Yù 韓愈 (Chānglí), Liǔ Zōngyuán 柳宗元 (Liǔzhōu), Ōuyáng Xiū 歐陽修 (Lúlíng), Sū Xún 蘇洵 (Lǎoquán), Sū Shì 蘇軾 (Dōngpō), Sū Zhé 蘇轍 (Yǐngbīn), Wáng Ānshí 王安石 (Línchuān), Zēng Gǒng 曾鞏 (Nánfēng). The grouping of these eight as a unit was canonised by this anthology — the term TángSòng bā dà jiā derives from Máo Kūn’s title and became universally adopted in Chinese literary history.
Each master receives multiple sub-juǎn (Hán Yù alone gets 16 juǎn in juǎn 1–16; Liǔ Zōngyuán gets 12 in juǎn 17–28; Ōuyáng Xiū opens at juǎn 29; etc.), organised by literary form within each author’s section (表狀, 書, 序, 記傳, 原論議, 辯解説頌雜著, 碑, 墓誌銘, 哀辭祭文行狀). Máo’s distinctive contribution is rhetorical-evaluative annotation (píngdiǎn) marking up paragraph structure and rhetorical effect — making the anthology a systematic prose-pedagogy manual.
Tiyao
No SKQS tiyao found in the present source file’s juǎn 0 (目録). The standard SKQS bibliographic tiyao (in the Sìbù zǒngmù) describes the work as Máo Kūn’s Wànlì jǐmǎo (1579) compilation; notes Máo’s affiliation with the TángSòng gǔwén school (alongside 唐順之 Táng Shùnzhī of KR4h0106, Guī Yǒuguāng 歸有光, and Wáng Shènzhōng 王慎中); and praises the systematic structural annotation that established the work as the MíngQīng gǔwén curriculum standard.
Abstract
Date. Máo Kūn’s preface is dated Wànlì jǐmǎo (1579), when Máo was 67 suì. He died in 1601.
The compiler. Máo Kūn (1512–1601) was a major mid-to-late-Míng prose theorist, a key figure of the TángSòng gǔwén school that opposed the Qiánhòu Qīzǐ archaist movement of Lǐ Pānlóng et al. (cf. KR4h0110). Máo’s jìnshì was Jiājìng 17 (1538); he served as Guǎngxī ànchá fùshǐ and as military commander against the Wōkòu pirates in mid-Jiā-jìng (1550s). His political career was complicated by friction with Yán Sōng 嚴嵩’s faction; he retired and devoted his last decades to prose theory and anthology editing.
Significance. (1) The work is the canonical anthology of TángSòng gǔwén and the source of the term TángSòng bā dà jiā (Eight Great Masters of Táng and Sòng). The grouping — three Táng (Hán, Liǔ + the much earlier Lǐ Áo and others are not included) and five Sòng (Ōuyáng + the three Sū + Wáng + Zēng) — is Máo’s selection, and it became universally adopted in Chinese literary historiography. (2) The work was the dominant gǔwén curriculum for MíngQīng examination preparation and remains the standard introductory anthology of pre-Yuán Chinese prose. (3) Máo’s rhetorical annotations (píngdiǎn and structural marks) established the prose-pedagogy method that the Qīng Tóngchéng pài (Yáo Nài, Liú Dàkuí) inherited and refined; modern Chinese-prose pedagogy still descends from this lineage. (4) The work — together with KR4h0106 Wénbiān — represents the canonical formation of the gǔwén tradition in late-imperial pedagogy.
Translations and research
- David Pollard, A Chinese Look at Literature: The Literary Values of Chou Tso-jen (London, 1973) — discusses the Táng-Sòng pài and modern reception.
- 黃毅 Huáng Yì, Míng-dài Táng-Sòng pài yán-jiū — focused study.
- 鄭利華 Zhèng Lì-huá, Máo Kūn yán-jiū — monograph on Máo.
- 郭紹虞 Guō Shào-yú, Zhōng-guó wén-xué pī-píng shǐ — Chinese literary criticism, treats Máo’s role in the Qián-Qī-zǐ / Táng-Sòng-pài / Hòu-Qī-zǐ / Gōng-ān debate.
Other points of interest
The work’s establishment of the Eight Great Masters grouping became the definitive late-imperial canon of pre-Yuán prose. The selection’s exclusions — Lǐ Áo 李翱 (Hán Yù’s student), Sū Shùnqīn 蘇舜欽, Méi Yáochén 梅堯臣, Sū Mǎguāng 司馬光, etc. — were not because these figures were considered minor, but because Máo’s eight represent the mainstream Hàn-Yù-derived gǔwén lineage. The Qīng critic Yáo Nài 姚鼐 supplemented Máo with a Qīng selection (the Gǔwén cí lèizuǎn 古文辭類纂) to produce the definitive Tóngchéng pài curriculum.
Links
- ctext
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §32, §44.