Sìliù fǎhǎi 四六法海
Sea of Parallel-Prose Method by 王志堅
About the work
A 12-juǎn late-Míng anthology of parallel prose (sìliù wén 四六文 — prose in alternating four-and-six-character lines), compiled by Wáng Zhìjiān (王志堅, 1576–1633, zì Shūdí 叔狄, hào Xiāoshū 廷孝, of Kūnshān 崑山). The work runs from WèiJìn through Yuán — running back further than most Míng sìliù anthologies, which typically begin with QíLiáng or with Táng. The work’s organisation is by genre (tǐfǎ): 勑 (edicts), 詔 (decrees), 冊文 (investiture documents), 赦文 (amnesties), 制 (controls), 手書 (autograph letters), 德音 (virtue-pronouncements), 令 (orders), 教 (instructions), 策問 (examination questions), 表 (memorials), 章 (chapters), 劄子 (memos), 啟 (notifications), 書 (letters), 序 (prefaces), 論 (discussions), and many more.
Wáng’s distinctive contribution is systematic genre-origin tracing: he locates the toushǐ (origin-source) of each genre at a specific WèiJìn moment, e.g.:
- 勑 → Sòng Wǔdì 宋武帝
- 冊文 → Sònggōng jiǔxī wén 宋公九錫文 (CáoWèi enfeoffment text)
- 表 → Lù Jī 陸機, Huán Wēn 桓溫, Xiè Língyùn 謝靈運
- 書 → Wèi Wéndì (Cáo Pī), Yīng Qú 應璩, Lù Jǐng 陸景, Xuē Zōng 薛綜, Ruǎn Jí 阮籍, Lǚ Ān 呂安, Lù Yún 陸雲, Xí Zǎochǐ 習鑿齒
- 序 → Lù Jī
- 論 → Xiè Língyùn
The pre-Qí-Liáng pieces are mostly mixed parallel-and-散文 (parallel mixed with prose) — establishing that sìliù and gǔwén are historically continuous, not opposed. Each piece carries Wáng’s textual commentary: source-anecdote, variant readings, or chronological notes.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Sìliù fǎhǎi in 12 juǎn — the Míng Wáng Zhìjiān edited it. Zhìjiān has the Dúshǐ shāngyǔ — already catalogued.
Since QínHàn — beginning with Lǐ Sī’s Jiàn zhúkè shū, the huácí (flowery words) tradition began to be punctuated; beginning with Zōu Yáng’s Yùzhōng shàng Liángwáng shū, the layered citation of allusions (diéchén gùshì) began. Parallel-prose (piántǐ) was thus gradually emerging.
The fúmìng (heaven-mandate) compositions — like the Fēngshàn shū; diǎnyǐn (canonical-citation) compositions — like Yǐn duì and Dá Bīn xì — juéjué moving toward parallel sentences gradually more numerous; spreading to JìnSòng — gélǜ (formal rhythms) became formed; reaching QíLiáng — tǐcái (form-and-material) thoroughly differentiated. By zhìshí (solid) to qū lìzǎo (running toward flowery decoration) — none knowing how it became so. Yet all originate from古文 gǔwén (ancient prose) — drift-changing-by-stages — like 4-syllable verse becoming 5-syllable in Hàn, then 6-syllable / couplet-style in Six Dynasties, becoming jìntǐ (modern-form) in Táng. Each form’s face is distinct — yet shénlǐ (spirit-and-principle) is the same. Their root in fēngyǎ (refined verse) is one.
Thereafter mutual succession — chasing the end and forgetting the root. Zhōu Wǔdì rebuked their fúmí (drifting decadence); Suí Lǐ È discussed their tiāoqiǎo (lightweight cleverness); Hán Yù also was qínqín (concerned) about the change of gǔwén / shíwén. Going down — worse. First over-extended in Sòng qǐzhā (notifications-and-memos); again over-extended in Míng biǎopàn (memorials-and-judgements); skin-and-fur scraping, mutually trading on the borrowed; sometimes plastering over to hide emotion; sometimes piling up to harm qì (spirit); sometimes engraving-and-fancying to harm yǎ (elegance) — sìliù became zuòzhě zhī gòu lì (an object the writer turned-against).
Sòng Yáo Xuàn’s Táng wéncuì even eliminated parallel-couplet works entirely; Sòng Qí’s revising of the Xīn Táng shū eliminated zhàolìng (decrees) — and Míng late, Yùzhāng [the Wúzhōng school] attacking the Yúnjiān school for yánsuí Liùcháo (descended from Six Dynasties) as criticism. Is this not because sìliù writers do not know that they share the same source with gǔtǐ — drifting lower and lower — providing critics’ mouths with material?
Zhìjiān’s compilation goes down to Yuán, yet reaches back to WèiJìn — like the 勑 starting from Sòng Wǔdì; 冊文 from Sònggōng’s 九錫; 表 from Lù Jī, Huán Wēn, Xiè Língyùn; 書 from Wèi Wéndì, Yīng Qú, Lù Jǐng, Xuē Zōng, Ruǎn Jí, Lǚ Ān, Lù Yún, Xí Zǎochǐ; 序 from Lù Jī; 論 from Xiè Língyùn. Mostly these are forms in their transitional/初變 state — parallel-and-prose mixed.
Through QíLiáng to Táng — also many do not strictly use couplets. This makes readers know: the parallel-prose’s yùnyì (carrying-meaning) and qiǎncí (selecting-words) is not different from gǔwén — for this tǐ he has shēn yǒu gōng (deeply contributed). At each piece’s end, he occasionally annotates běnshì (source-anecdote), or kǎozhèng yìtóng (compares variant readings), or lúliè shǐmò (lists beginning-and-end) — all yuányuán běnběn (root-and-source), words with shízhēng (real evidence) — not what Míng-era selection-books can match.
Per its fánlì — although made for jǔyè (examination preparation) — in fact the yuánliú zhèngbiàn (source-flow, regular-and-modified) of sìliù is in this piān. Cannot be slighted as a publisher’s reprint.
Reverently submitted, fifth month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Wáng Zhìjiān (1576–1633) compiled the work in his middle years — probably c. 1610–1633.
Significance. (1) The work is the canonical late-Míng anthology of parallel prose (sìliù wén) — establishing that parallel prose and ancient prose share a common origin (tóngyuán) and develop continuously, not antagonistically. This is the theoretical answer to the gǔwén pài’s anti-parallel-prose attacks. (2) Wáng’s chronological reach back to WèiJìn — earlier than most parallel-prose anthologies — provides the maximum genealogical depth to the sìliù tradition, locating its roots in WèiJìn classical prose before formal hardening in QíLiáng. (3) The work’s textual annotations are scholarly-critical in a way unusual for Míng anthologies — comparing variant readings, providing source-anecdotes. (4) The work is one of the few extant comprehensive Sòng-style qǐzhā (notification-and-memo style) examples, illustrating the late-imperial bureaucratic-prose corpus. (5) The Sìkù editors consider it an essential examination-preparation aid and a serious scholarly work — not a mere commercial publication.
Translations and research
- David R. Knechtges and Eugene Vance (eds.), Rhetoric and the Discourses of Power in Court Culture: China, Europe, and Japan (Seattle, 2005) — comparative rhetorical study, includes sì-liù.
- Hilde de Weerdt, Information, Territory, and Networks: The Crisis and Maintenance of Empire in Song China (Cambridge MA, 2016) — Sòng bureaucratic prose, including qǐ-zhā.
- 莫道才 Mò Dào-cái, Sì-liù wén yán-jiū — focused Chinese study.
Other points of interest
The work’s title — Sìliù fǎhǎi “Sea of Parallel-Prose Method” — declares its encyclopedic ambition in the sìliù genre, paralleling Liú Xié’s Wénxīn diāolóng in scope but focused on parallel prose alone. Wáng’s theoretical statement — that parallel and ancient prose share a common origin — was a major contribution to late-Míng / early-Qīng literary theory, and influenced the Qīng Tóngchéng pài to take a more balanced view of parallel prose than the early-Qīng gǔwén extremists.
Links
- ctext
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §32, §44.