Dōng Hàn wénjì 東漢文紀
Records of Eastern-Hàn Prose by 梅鼎祚
About the work
A 32-juǎn late-Míng anthology of Eastern-Hàn prose by Méi Dǐngzuò (梅鼎祚) — the third in his eight-dynasty Wénjì series, following KR4h0120 Huángbà wénjì and KR4h0121 Xī Hàn wénjì. Unlike Western Hàn — where the textual record was anchored on the Shǐjì and Hànshū — Eastern-Hàn has a more dispersed transmission: the source includes the Hòu Hàn shū, the eight pre-Hòu-Hànshū histories (Liú Zhēn 劉珍, Zhāng Fán 張璠 etc.), the burgeoning xiǎoshuō (small-talk) compilations of the period, and the golden-and-stone (epigraphic) record that flourished in the East-Hàn capital region around Luòyáng. Méi’s compilation thus has more yītuō fùhuì (forged attributions and ascribed materials) than the Western-Hàn volume, and his textual correction is correspondingly less detailed than in the Western-Hàn instalment.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Dōng Hàn wénjì in 32 juǎn — the Míng Méi Dǐngzuò edited it. Dǐngzuò’s Xī Hàn wénjì — root-based on Shǐ-Hàn — therefore mostly diǎnquè (canonical and accurate).
The present compilation also takes zhèngshǐ as its zōng (lineage); yet the various záshū (miscellaneous books) began to flourish in Eastern Hàn. Even among the 8 [pre-Hòu-Hànshū] histories of Liú Zhēn, Zhāng Fán etc., the zhèngshǐ corpus exceeds eight houses.
Following down to Six Dynasties, xiǎoshuō multiplied. The era’s distance from Luòjīng (capital Luòyáng) was minimal; therefore yītuō fùhuì (forged attributions) particularly more than Western Hàn.
As for the 集古 (Antique-Collecting), 金石 (Metal-and-Stone) records; 博古 (Antiquarian) and 考古 (Archaeology) sources; down to the 隸釋 (Lìshì) and 隸續 (Lìxù) — searching out old engravings, zhēngqí xuànbó (competing-in-strangeness and showing-breadth) — none below one house. From Western-Hàn, beyond the Wǔfèng brick and a few items, there is liáoliáo wúduō (scarcely-much); but its bēijié wéncí qìwù míngshí (stele-inscription text, vessel inscription identifications) — also mostly attributed to Eastern Hàn.
Dǐngzuò’s gathering being abundant, the principle is quánshōu (complete-gathering); the result is zhēnyàn hùchén (genuine-and-false mutually presented), yìtóng fēngqǐ (different-and-same swarming-up); the dìngé zhèngchuǎn (fixing errors, correcting confusions) less detailed than in the Xī Hàn wénjì — gù qí suǒ yě (it is fitting).
As for the Cáo Quán stele 曹全碑 (Cáo Quán bēi) — recently emerged — yet Dǐngzuò jūnzhí bùyí (gathered-and-collected without omission) — his 採輯 (gathering) labour is yú qínyǐ (worth being called diligent).
If the Yǒnghé Péi Cén pò Hūyánwáng stele — distant in the Western Regions — only from our Imperial-Glory sage-conquest qídìng (settled) — could Confucian scholars first huòdǔ qí wén (acquire-and-see its text) — Dǐngzuò lived in late Míng shuāiwēi (declining and weak) time; Jiāyùguān beyond was juéyù (a foreign land) — its yì ér bùzài (loss-without-recording) cannot be considered an omission.
Reverently submitted, fifth month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Same as KR4h0121: c. 1605–1618. Probably second or third in the series after Huángbà and Xī Hàn.
Significance. (1) The work is the canonical Míng anthology of Eastern-Hàn prose — a more dispersed and more contaminated corpus than Western-Hàn, hence more difficult to anthologise. (2) Méi’s inclusion of stelae (bēijié) as primary documents — drawing on the Lìshì and Lìxù lineage of Sòng-Qīng epigraphic recovery — anticipates Qīng-era kǎojù (evidential research) methodology applied to literary anthologies. (3) The work documents the major Eastern-Hàn intellectual figures: Bān Gù 班固, Cài Yōng 蔡邕, Wáng Chōng 王充 (Lùnhéng), Yáng Zhèn 楊震, Wáng Fú 王符 (Qiánfū lùn), Zhèng Xuán 鄭玄 etc. — many extracts otherwise scattered. (4) Méi’s coverage of the recently-discovered Cáo Quán stele (excavated 1573, Wàn-lì-era) testifies to the work’s currency with late-Wàn-lì antiquarian recovery. (5) The SKQS editors note the Péi Cén stele (Yǒnghé period, late Han, Western Regions) as missing — but excuse Méi because Qīng frontier-expansion under Qiánlóng was needed to recover materials Méi could not access in late Míng.
Translations and research
Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome
- Patricia Ebrey, The Aristocratic Families of Early Imperial China: A Case Study of the Po-ling Ts’ui Family (Cambridge, 1978) — uses Eastern-Hàn prose anthologies.
- Yán Kě-jūn 嚴可均, Quán Shàng-gǔ sān-dài Qín-Hàn Sān-guó Liù-cháo wén (1836) — Qīng successor.
- 高敏 Gāo Mǐn, Dōng-Hàn shǐ kǎo — Eastern-Hàn historical studies.
Other points of interest
The work documents the late-Wàn-lì antiquarian recovery of pre-Suí material at its peak — Méi Dǐngzuò’s program ran in parallel to Wáng Shìzhēn’s book-collecting, Mao Jìn’s Jígǔgé printing, and Hú Yìnglín’s 胡應麟 bibliographical scholarship. The series’ completion was, however, hampered by the chaos of late Wànlì and the Tiānqǐ / Chóngzhēn collapse — the last four volumes appeared only posthumously (cf. KR4h0124 tiyao).
Links
- ctext
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §32, §38.