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 Quán-Táng shī. Structure:
- 古詩 gǔshī — 13 juǎn (pre-Hàn through Suí — combining Hàn-Wèi-Jìn-Sòng-Nán-Qí-Liáng-Chén-Wèi-Běi-Qí-Zhōu-Suí into a single “古” stratum)
- 唐詩 Tángshī — 100 juǎn + 10 juǎn Shíyí (補遺)
- 宋詩 Sòngshī — 107 juǎn
- 金元詩 Jīn-Yuán 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, Jīn-Yuán verse 50, Míng chūjí 86, cìjí 140.
Originally titled Shíèr dài shīxuǎn. Yet Hàn, Wèi, Jìn, Sòng, Nán Qí, Liáng, Chén, Wèi, Běi-Qí, 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 “zì-Guì 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 Wànlì-Tiānqǐ-Chóngzhēn periods (the most politically sensitive late-Míng decades) are the missing volumes.
Translations and research
Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome
- 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 / Jīn-Yuánshī / 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.