Shícāng lìdài shī xuǎn 石倉歷代詩選
Stone-Storehouse Anthology of Poetry through the Ages by 曹學佺
About the work
A 506-juǎn monumental late-Míng anthology of poetry from antiquity to mid-Míng, compiled by Cáo Xuéquán (曹學佺, 1574–1647, zì Néngshǐ 能始, hào Shícāng 石倉, of Fúzhōu 福州). The work — originally titled 十二代詩選 Shíèr dài shīxuǎn (“Anthology of Twelve Dynasties’ Poetry”) — is the largest single Míng-era multi-dynastic poetry anthology, dwarfed only by the Qīng QuánTáng shī. Structure:
- 古詩 gǔshī — 13 juǎn (pre-Hàn through Suí — combining HànWèiJìnSòngNánQíLiángChénWèiBěiQíZhōuSuí into a single “古” stratum)
- 唐詩 Tángshī — 100 juǎn + 10 juǎn Shíyí (補遺)
- 宋詩 Sòngshī — 107 juǎn
- 金元詩 JīnYuán shī — 50 juǎn (only Yuán Hǎowèn 元好問 representing the entire Jīn)
- 明詩初集 Míngshī chūjí — 86 juǎn
- 明詩次集 Míngshī cìjí — 140 juǎn
The work — particularly distinctive — gives substantial weight to Sòng and Yuán (the Qīzǐ movement’s neglected dynasties; cf. KR4h0110 for the contrasting Lǐ Pānlóng anthology that excluded both).
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Shícāng lìdài shī xuǎn in 506 juǎn — the Míng Cáo Xuéquán edited it. Xuéquán has the Zhōuyì kěshuō — separately catalogued. This compilation’s selections of historical verse — from antiquity to Míng. Total: ancient verse 13 juǎn, Táng verse 100 juǎn, Shíyí 10, Sòng verse 107, JīnYuán verse 50, Míng chūjí 86, cìjí 140.
Originally titled Shíèr dài shīxuǎn. Yet Hàn, Wèi, Jìn, Sòng, NánQí, Liáng, Chén, Wèi, BěiQí, Zhōu, Suí is in fact eleven dynasties; if including gǔyì, the count is awkward; further, combining the Five Dynasties with Táng and Jīn with Yuán — the tǐlì míngmù (form-and-name) all conflict. We therefore follow the 板心 (block-spine) title lìdài shīxuǎn, which is consistent.
The selections are juǎn-broad and fánxióng (massive), unavoidably róuzá (mixed-up). Yet the 2000-year span’s poets are roughly outlined. Xuéquán himself was a working poet — his qùqǔ (selection-rejection) does not deviate from the fēngyǎ (refined) standard. Better than indiscriminate xiàodà bùjuān (catching the trifling and not discarding) anthologisers.
The Jīn dynasty — only Yuán Hǎowèn alone is recorded — somewhat omissive. Probably Mao Jìn’s 毛晉 reprint of Zhōngzhōu jí (KR4h0066) and Héfén zhūlǎo shījí had not yet circulated widely; so Xuéquán had not seen them. He placed Yuán Hǎowèn at the head of Yuán verse — because one person cannot constitute a full jí — combining him with Yuán.
According to the Qiānqǐngtáng shūmù, Xuéquán’s recorded Míng verse further includes Sānjí 100 juǎn, Sìjí 132 juǎn, Wǔjí 52 juǎn, Liùjí 100 juǎn — these are all lost today.
However: since the Wànlì period and after, the fányīn cèdiào (proliferating tones and decadent rhythms) have transformed and become more remote. Lùnzhě děngzhū “zìGuì wújī” (those who say “from Guìzhōu on there is nothing to discuss”) regard this period as not worth comment. The present recension stops at Jiājìng / Lóngqìng — precisely at Míng poetry’s jíshèng (peak); the missing Sānjí and after — their loss is not a great loss.
Reverently submitted, eleventh month of Qiánlóng 45 (1780). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Cáo Xuéquán (1574–1647) compiled the work in his later years — c. 1620–1645 (the latest pieces are Wàn-lì-era; Cáo died loyalty-suicide in 1646 after Fúzhōu fell to Qīng forces). The work was lost in Sānjí through Liùjí parts; the SKQS editors note that what survives ends at Jiājìng / Lóngqìng — the Sānjí+ extension into Wànlì decadence is irrecoverable.
The compiler. Cáo Xuéquán was a major late-Míng Fúzhōu literatus and bibliographer; jìnshì of Wànlì 23 (1595); one of the leading Wàn-lì-era cángshū jiā (book-collectors); founded the Shícāng yuán 石倉園 (“Stone-Storehouse Garden”) library at Fúzhōu, source of his hào and the anthology’s title. He was a strong supporter of Buddhism and Chán Buddhism in late-Míng public life. After the Míng collapse and the establishment of the Lóngwǔ régime at Fúzhōu (1645), Cáo became a senior official; on Fúzhōu’s fall to Qīng forces in 1647, he committed suicide by hanging.
Significance. (1) The work is the largest pre-Qīng dynastic-history poetry anthology in Chinese history — exceeded only by the Qīng official compilations. (2) Its inclusion of Sòng and Yuán in substantial scale represents the late-Míng / Gōng-ān-school reaction against the Qīzǐ anti-Sòng-Yuán prejudice. (3) The work is the principal source for many minor Míng poets (especially the Wàn-lì-era figures) whose biéjí are now lost. (4) Cáo’s combination of anthological labour + private library + loyalty suicide makes him a paradigmatic figure of the late-Míng literary recluse type, alongside KR4h0085 / KR4h0086’s 顧瑛 Gù Yīng and other models. (5) The losses (4 of 8 Míng sub-collections gone) document the anti-loyalist Qīng disposal of late-Míng materials — the Sānjí through Liùjí covering the WànlìTiānqǐChóngzhēn periods (the most politically sensitive late-Míng decades) are the missing volumes.
Translations and research
- Lynn Struve, Voices from the Ming-Qing Cataclysm (Yale, 1993) — discusses late-Míng loyalists including Cáo Xué-quán.
- Frederic Wakeman Jr., The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-Century China (Berkeley, 1985) — context for Cáo’s loyalty suicide.
- 陳慶元 Chén Qìng-yuán, Fú-jiàn wén-xué shǐ — Fú-jiàn literature, with substantial treatment of Cáo Xué-quán.
- 方寶川 Fāng Bǎo-chuān, Cáo Xué-quán nián-pǔ — chronological biography.
Other points of interest
The work’s structure — gǔshī / Tángshī / Sòngshī / JīnYuánshī / Míngshī chūjí / Míngshī cìjí — established a canonical periodisation of Chinese poetry that remained standard in late-imperial literary historiography. Cáo’s inclusion of Sòng and Yuán restored these dynasties to canonical status after the Qīzǐ exclusion; the Sìkù editors approve this as a corrective to Qīzǐ extremism. The lost Sānjí+ parts — covering the politically sensitive late-Míng — are a major historical loss; the surviving anthology is still the largest pre-Qīng dynastic poetry compilation.
Links
- ctext
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §32, §38.