Yùdìng Pèiwénzhāi yǒngwù shīxuǎn 御定佩文齋詠物詩選
Imperially Determined Pèi-wén Studio Anthology of Things-Chanted Poetry by 張玉書, 汪霦
About the work
A 486-juǎn imperial anthology of yǒngwù shī — poetry on objects, plants, animals, and natural phenomena — running from the Shījīng and pre-Hàn fragments through Hàn, WèiJìn, Six-Dynasties, Táng, Sòng, Yuán, and Míng, in 14,590 pieces organised into 486 thematic categories. Imperially commissioned by the Kāngxī emperor (聖祖玄燁) and compiled at the Pèiwén zhāi 佩文齋 (the imperial library studio in the Wǔyīngdiàn 武英殿 publishing compound — the same studio that produced the Pèiwén yùnfǔ 佩文韻府 phonological dictionary). The principal huìyuè (review) was carried out by Wénhuádiàn dàxuéshì Zhāng Yùshū (張玉書), Wényuāngé dàxuéshì Chén Tíngjìng (陳廷敬), and Hùbù shàngshū Wáng Hóngxù 王鴻緒; the principal biānjí (compilation) by Wāng Bīn (汪霦, the principal compilation hand), with Cài Shēngyuán 蔡升元, Yáng Xuān 楊瑄, Chén Yuánlóng (陳元龍), Zhā Shēng 查昇, Chén Zhuànglǚ 陳壯履, Lì Tíngyí 勵廷儀, Qián Míngshì 錢名世, Jiǎng Tíngxī 蔣廷錫, Zhāng Tíngyù (張廷玉), Wāng Hào 汪灝, and Zhā Shènxíng 查慎行 as joint biānjí guān. The work bears the imperial preface dated Kāngxī 45/6/21 (August 1706) and the gàochéng jìnchéng biǎo by Gāo Yú 高輿 dated Kāngxī 46/3/1 (April 1707). The imperial preface positions the work as carrying out Kǒngzǐ’s directive on poetry — “duōshí yú niǎoshòu cǎomù zhī míng” (to know widely the names of birds, beasts, plants, and trees) — and Zǐxià’s preface to the Shī-jīng: through the smallest things one may tōng tiāndì lèi wànwù (penetrate heaven-and-earth and classify the ten thousand things). The compilation thus expands the traditional yǒngwù genre — usually understood narrowly as poetry on natural objects — to cover all categorisable subjects (天經, 地志, 人事 …), making it effectively a thematic encyclopedia of Chinese poetry.
Tiyao
[The SKQS source carries the Kāngxī imperial preface (御製佩文齋詠物詩選序, dated Kāngxī 45/6/21) and Gāo Yú’s jìnchéng biǎo (dated Kāngxī 46/3/1) in place of the standard Sìkù 提要. Translated and abridged here.]
Kāngxī imperial preface. Of old, Zǐxià prefaced the Shī saying: “For setting right the loss-and-gain, for moving heaven-and-earth, for stirring ghosts-and-spirits — nothing is closer than poetry. The former kings used it to ordain husband-and-wife, complete xiàojìng (filial-and-reverent), thicken human relationships, beautify jiàohuà (instruction-transformation), shift custom-and-fashion.” Is not the dào of poetry great indeed? Yet Zhōugōng, continuing YáoShùn and esteeming WénWǔ, in regulating ritual to guide the empire, composed one piān of the Ěryǎ. Those who prefaced it later say: Ěryǎ serves to tōng gǔxùn zhī zhǐguī (open the path of gǔxùn [glossing]) and to xù shīrén zhī xìngyǒng (set out the inspirations of the poets). Its commentators say: Ěryǎ explains all Liùjīng, yet uniquely says “for setting out xìngyǒng” — because Ěryǎ’s composition is mostly for the Shī. So yī wù duō míng, piànyán shūxùn (one thing, many names; few words, distinct glosses) — all using the smallness of chóngyú cǎomù (insects-fish-grass-trees) to display the lǐ (principle) of heaven-and-earth and the ten thousand things; and so the Liùyì sìshǐ zhī dào (way of the Six Modes and Four Beginnings) is made clear by this.
Therefore the Shī — at its jí qí zhì (highest reach) — tōng tiāndì, lèi wànwù (penetrates heaven-and-earth, classifies the ten thousand things) — and yet does not transcend the smallness of chóngyú cǎomù. The yǒngwù of poetry — from the Three Hundred Pieces onwards — has been so. Kǒngzǐ said: “Near, to serve father; far, to serve ruler — and to know widely the names of birds, beasts, plants, and trees.” Serving father and serving ruler are zhōngxiào dàjié (great virtues of loyalty-and-filial-piety); birds, beasts, plants, and trees are the smallest things. Yet our Master bìngjǔ ér jíyán zhī (raises them together and speaks to the extreme). So poetry’s chēngmíng yě xiǎo, qǔlèi yě dà (its naming is small, its category-taking is large) — to take a single thing’s qíng (feel) and connect it to zhōngxiào zhī zhǐ (the meaning of loyalty-and-filial-piety) — from the Sāofù (rhapsodies) onwards, this has not been other than so. This is why poets of old composed yǒngwù poems.
From the Jīngwéi lecture-platform We have penetrated the Six Books, and even in leisure hours have not given up reading. Toward the way of poetry We have constantly applied the heart. From the lost poems of remote antiquity, HànWèi, Six Dynasties, Táng, down to Sòng, Yuán, Míng — viewing broadly and tasting deeply — qiān qí xiāoláng, duō qí jīngyīng (pulling out the chaff, gathering the essence) — We have commanded Grand Secretary Chén Tíngjìng and Minister Wáng Hóngxù to review-and-collate it; the Hànlín members Cài Shēngyuán, Yáng Xuān, Chén Yuánlóng, Zhā Shēng, Chén Zhuànglǚ, Lì Tíngyí, Zhāng Tíngyù, Qián Míngshì, Wāng Hào, Zhā Shènxíng, Jiǎng Tíngxī to compile-and-record it. The work is named Pèiwénzhāi yǒngwù shī. The gathering is jì duō (extensive); the yìlèi (subject-categories) are xiānbèi (entirely-complete) — and not merely as stated of old, “the zhǔ (kinds) of chóngyú niǎoshòu cǎomù”. Whatever in tiānjīng dìzhì rénshì (cosmology, geography, human-affairs) can be named as an object — none unlisted.
Therefore We have printed it for the world, sharing it with the empire’s scholars of literature, so that they may from the míngwù dùshù (named-things-and-measure-numbers) seek to align with the wēnróu dūnhòu (warm-soft-thick-honest) zhǐ (purpose) — to fill out the measure of poetry, as Bǔ Shāng (Zǐxià) said, and not betray the heart of the gǔ shèng (old sages) in their zhūnfù gǔxùn (deep repetitions of gloss). The benefit to the teaching-of-poetry will be considerable. Kāngxī 45, sixth month, 21st day (August 1706).
Gāo Yú’s jìnchéng biǎo (April 1707) documents the 64-cè finished volumes containing 486 categories and 14,590 ancient-and-modern poems of all forms.
Abstract
Date. Imperial preface Kāngxī 45/6/21 (August 1706). Memorial of presentation Kāngxī 46/3/1 (April 1707). The compilation thus dates squarely to 1706–07 — running parallel to the contemporaneous Yùdìng Quán Táng shī KR4h0140 (completed 1706, printed 1707) and the slightly later Yùdìng lìdài fùhuì KR4h0139 (completed 1706).
Significance. (1) The Yùdìng Pèiwénzhāi yǒngwù shīxuǎn is the most ambitious thematic anthology of Chinese poetry ever compiled — 14,590 pieces in 486 categories, providing thematic access to the entire pre-Qīng poetic corpus on any specifiable subject (天 / 日 / 月 / 星 / 河漢 / 風 / 雷電 / 雲 / 霞 / 雨 / 霧 etc.). (2) It supplements the strictly chronological Quán Táng shī with a subject-organised resource covering not only Táng but Hàn through Míng. (3) The imperial preface elaborates a theoretical justification of yǒngwù shī as Confucian poetic practice — drawing on Kǒngzǐ’s “names of birds, beasts, plants, trees” directive and on the Ěryǎ’s function within the Shījīng commentarial tradition. This positioning makes the anthology a Confucian-orthodox rather than aesthetic project. (4) The work is one of the three great Kāngxī-era literary compilations of 1706–07 — the others being the Quán Táng shī KR4h0140 and the Lìdài fùhuì KR4h0139 — which together define the imperial-cultural canon of pre-Qīng poetry-and-rhapsody. (5) The compilation’s Pèiwén zhāi sponsoring-studio name links the work to the Pèiwén yùnfǔ phonological dictionary (1711) — the Pèiwén zhāi was the studio that produced both, and the two works are companion projects (poetry by subject; rhymes by phonetic principal).
Editorial team. The team’s composition reflects the Kāngxī court’s senior Hànlín establishment: Zhāng Yùshū (1642–1711, the chief Hàn editor at court), Chén Tíngjìng (1639–1712, Wényuāngé Grand Secretary, also major figure on the Pèiwén yùnfǔ), Wáng Hóngxù (1645–1723, Hùbù shàngshū), with Wāng Bīn as principal compilation hand. Junior compilers include the future Wénhuádiàn Grand Secretary Zhāng Tíngyù (1672–1755, who would dominate the Yōngzhèng / early Qiánlóng courts) and the eminent poet Zhā Shènxíng 查慎行 (1650–1727).
Translations and research
- 蔡英俊 Cài Yīng-jùn, Yǒng-wù shī yán-jiū 詠物詩研究 — focused Chinese study of the yǒng-wù genre.
- 程章燦 Chéng Zhāng-càn, Wèi-Jìn Nán-Běi-cháo fù shǐ 魏晉南北朝賦史 — methodological treatment of pre-Táng yǒng-wù tradition.
- Stephen Owen, Readings in Chinese Literary Thought (Cambridge MA, 1992) — on the Confucian theory of yǒng-wù.
Other points of interest
The compilation’s title Pèiwén 佩文 (“wearing-the-pattern”) is the Kāngxī emperor’s zhāimíng (studio-name) — chosen, by his account in the preface to the Pèiwén yùnfǔ, from Zhāng Héng’s Sī xuán fù: “pèi póyīng yú yǐ rì zhī chū / sìfāng zhī rén lái guī wǒ — wearing the colours of dawn / men of the four quarters come and submit.” The studio-name marks the early-Qīng imperial literary project; works under the Pèiwén heading (the yùnfǔ, the yǒngwù shīxuǎn, the zhāi shūhuà pǔ etc.) form a unified imperial-cultural program of the 1700s.
Links
- ctext
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §49.