HòuZhōu wénjì 後周文紀
Records of Later-Zhōu (Northern-Zhōu) Prose by 梅鼎祚
About the work
An 8-juǎn late-Míng anthology of Northern-Zhōu prose by Méi Dǐngzuò (梅鼎祚) — covering the Northern Zhōu dynasty (557–581), the final volume of his eight-dynasty Wénjì program. The dynasty’s name is given as 後周 HòuZhōu (“Later Zhōu”) to distinguish from the ancient Western Zhōu — but the SKQS editors object: “The original Zhōu had Fēng and Hào as its old capital, with centuries-long jurisdiction; no other Central-Plain or Jiāngzuǒ régime shared the name. Lú Sīdào’s Xīngwáng lùn 興亡論 titled it HòuZhōu — but this is meaningless. Therefore LìngHú Défēn’s Guóshǐ simply called it Zhōushū. Méi retains HòuZhōu — a failure to correct.” The volume is literarily dominated by Yǔ Xìn 庾信 (5 of the 8 juǎn): Yǔ Xìn arrived in Northern Zhōu as a Liáng exile after the Hóu Jǐng rebellion (548) and the Liáng collapse, and produced his most famous work — including the Āi Jiāngnán fù 哀江南賦 — under Northern-Zhōu sponsorship.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the HòuZhōu wénjì in 8 juǎn — the Míng Méi Dǐngzuò edited it.
Examining: DōngHàn and DōngJìn — the “dōng (eastern)” name suǒyǐ bié yú Xī (used to distinguish from “western”); NánQí — the suǒyǐ bié yú Běi (distinguished from “northern”). But for Zhōu — FēngHào jiùjīng (the old capital), niánsì miányuǎn (centuries-long span); no other Central-Plain or Jiāngzuǒ régime took up that name. Lú Sīdào wrote Xīngwáng lùn, titling it HòuZhōu — shū wéi wúyì (specially without meaning). Therefore LìngHú Défēn’s Guóshǐ (Tang historian) merely called it Zhōushū. Dǐngzuò still uses “Later” — unavoidable failure to correct.
What is recorded — one dynasty’s prose — not more than 8 juǎn; but Yǔ Xìn alone takes 5 juǎn. Next: Wáng Bāo’s writings still are 18 articles. If not “borrowing material from foreign states” — its jìliáo (scarce) further than Northern-Qí.
Yet Yǔwén Tài [Yǔwén Yōng — Northern-Zhōu Wǔdì] as chéngxiàng (chancellor) — gāngē rǎorǎng zhī zhōng (amid spear-and-shield disturbance) — actually alone able to zūnchóng rúshù (honour Confucian arts), lǐzhèng wéntǐ (correctly establishing literary form):
- Dàtǒng 5 (539), 1st month — established xíngtái xué (provincial-administration school).
- Same year, 11th month — commanded Zhōu Huìdá 周惠達 and Táng Jǐn 唐瑾 to establish lǐyuè (ritual and music).
- Dàtǒng 11 (545), 6th month — concerned that since Jìn prose was fúhuá (drifting and flowery), commanded Sū Chuò 蘇綽 to compose the Dàgào (Great Pronouncement), proclaiming it to the various ministers, with the order: henceforth, all literary writing must follow this form (i.e. archaic-imperial style).
Now looking at one dynasty’s decrees-and-orders — generally wēnchún yǎlìng (warm-pure, elegant-and-fine), with HànWèi yífēng (HànWèi remaining manner). Even those slightly mixing páiǒu (parallel-and-couplet) — their chīcí diǎnzhòng (declamatory wording is canonical-and-weighty); no QíLiáng’s qǐyàn zhī xí (silken-flowery habit). Other pieces like Yǔ Xìn’s Chūnfù and Dēngfù — mostly his Liáng-period old compositions; his post-entering-Northern works also are flesh-and-substance mutually supporting (huáshí xiāngfú), fēnggǔ bùfá (vital force not lacking). So Dù Fǔ has the lines: “Yǔ Xìn’s writing in old age becomes more accomplished — soaring-cloud vigorous-brush — meaning unrestrained”. Is this not because expelling carving, esteeming simplicity — its leadership had a gradual process?
Wúpíng bùpō, wúwǎng bùfù (no flat that does not slope; no going-out that does not return-back). The Six Dynasties’ mínglì zhī fēng (luxuriant style) — at its extreme it will turn back; at Zhōu it has its small revival. The work cannot be slighted just because its transmission is sparse.
Reverently submitted, fifth month of Qiánlóng 43 (1778). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. c. 1615–1618 compilation; posthumous publication 1620s–1638.
Significance. (1) The work is the canonical Míng anthology of Northern-Zhōu prose — the final volume of the eight-dynasty Wénjì program. (2) The volume is literarily dominated by Yǔ Xìn (5 of 8 juǎn) — the most important Six-Dynasties prose-poet, whose post-Liáng Northern-Zhōu work (including the Āi Jiāngnán fù 哀江南賦, the Xiǎoyuán fù 小園賦) is preserved here. (3) The SKQS editors offer a substantial theoretical reading of Northern-Zhōu literary history: under Yǔwén Tài (Northern-Zhōu Wǔdì), there was a deliberate fǎngǔ (return-to-ancient) program — Sū Chuò’s Dàgào 大誥 (commissioned 545) was an archaic-imperial-style pronouncement intended to replace the prevailing fúhuá style of Six-Dynasties literature with a return to HànWèi yífēng. (4) The Qīng formula — wúpíng bùpō, wúwǎng bùfù — articulates the dialectical theory of literary history that informs the Sìkù editors’ approach: extreme decoration → eventual return to simplicity. Northern Zhōu’s small revival is the first wave of this anti-decorative reaction, anticipated by Sū Chuò’s program and exemplified by Yǔ Xìn’s late style. (5) The volume thus closes the Wénjì series on a theoretically significant note: the trajectory of pre-Suí prose is not monotonic decline but a wave returning toward simplicity, preparing the SuíTáng restoration.
Translations and research
- William T. Graham, The Lament for the South: Yu Hsin’s “Ai Chiang-nan fu” (Cambridge, 1980) — translation and study of Yǔ Xìn’s most famous work.
- Albert R. Dien, Six Dynasties Civilization (Yale, 2007) — comprehensive history.
- Tian Xiaofei, Visionary Journeys: Travel Writings from Early Medieval and Nineteenth-Century China (Cambridge MA, 2011) — includes Yǔ Xìn material.
- Yán Kě-jūn 嚴可均, Quán Shàng-gǔ sān-dài Qín-Hàn Sān-guó Liù-cháo wén (1836) — Qīng successor that supersedes Méi’s series.
Other points of interest
The volume concludes Méi Dǐngzuò’s eight-dynasty Wénjì program (KR4h0120–KR4h0129) on a methodologically significant note: the Northern-Zhōu fǎngǔ program under Yǔwén Tài and Sū Chuò is presented by the SKQS editors as the historical pivot that prepared the SuíTáng literary restoration. Dù Fǔ’s couplet — quoted at the volume’s end — “Yǔ Xìn’s writing in old age becomes more accomplished” — is one of the most-cited literary-historical evaluations in classical Chinese: Yǔ Xìn’s exile-and-late-flowering became a model for post-rebellion literary maturation invoked by Dù Fǔ during the An Lu-shan Rebellion era, and is the classic example of literary fortitude amid political collapse.
Links
- ctext
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §32, §38.