Yùxuǎn Sòng Jīn Yuán Míng sìcháo shī 御選宋金元明四朝詩
Imperially Selected Poetry of the Four Dynasties Sòng, Jīn, Yuán, and Míng by 聖祖玄燁, 張豫章
About the work
The Kāngxī-era imperial selection of post-Táng pre-Qīng poetry — explicit companion to the Yùdìng Quán Táng shī KR4h0140. The full title (per the Sìkù tíyào) is Yùxuǎn sìcháo shī “Imperially Selected Four-Dynasties’ Poetry” — covering Sòng (87 juǎn, 882 poets), Jīn (25 juǎn, 321 poets), Yuán (81 juǎn, 1,197 poets), and Míng (128 juǎn, 3,400 poets) — totalling 317 juǎn and over 5,800 poets (per the Sìkù tíyào extent: 292 juǎn in main + supplementary xìngmíng juélǐ (biographical) sub-juǎn making 317 total). The work bears the imperial preface dated Kāngxī 48, 5th month (June 1709) and was edited “by imperial command” under the lead of yòu chūnfāng yòu shùzǐ Zhāng Yùzhāng (張豫章); the principal compilers were Zhāng Yùzhāng, Wèi Xuéchéng 魏學誠, Wú Bǐng 吳昺, Chén Zhìyán 陳至言, Chén Zhāng 陳璋, and Wáng Jǐngzēng 王景曾; a large team of lùxuǎn guān (recording-selection officials) — including 顧嗣立 Gù Sìlì (the future Yuán shī xuǎn compiler), Chén Péngnián 陳鵬年, 查慎行 Zhā Shènxíng, and many others — carried out the actual sourcing and selection. The structural plan in each dynasty puts emperor-pieces first, then by genre — four-syllable verse, yuèfǔ / gēxíng, gǔtǐ, regulated verse, juéjù, six-syllable, záyán — with biographies preceding each dynasty. Each dynasty was issued in a stand-alone form (the Yùxuǎn Sòng shī, Jīn shī, Yuán shī, Míng shī) and the four-together form. The Kāngxī preface delivers a substantial critical-historical statement on the SòngJīnYuánMíng poetic tradition — strongly rejecting the late-Míng gǔwén school view that “Táng poetry alone is great.” The Sìkù tíyào itself elaborates the imperial argument into a more detailed account of SòngJīnYuánMíng poetic history (Wáng Yǔchēng → Yáng Yì → Ōuyáng XiūMéi Yáochén → Sū ShìHuáng Tíngjiān → Jīrǎng jí school → Sìlíngjiānghú school → … → Míng Qián / Hòu qīzǐ → Gōngān → Jìnglíng → late Míng decline).
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Yùxuǎn sìcháo shī in 292 juǎn — in Kāngxī 48 (1709) the Sage-Ancestor Benevolent Emperor yùdìng (imperially-determined); the yòu shùzǐ Zhāng Yùzhāng and others fèngchì biāncì (compiled-and-arranged by command). Sòng poetry 87 juǎn, 882 authors; Jīn poetry 25 juǎn, 321 authors; Yuán poetry 81 juǎn, 1,197 authors; Míng poetry 128 juǎn, 3,400 authors. Each dynasty is prefaced with detailed xù xù zuòzhě zhī juélǐ (biography by rank and native place). Poetry-order: emperor-pieces first; then four-syllable; then yuèfǔ gēxíng; then gǔtǐ; then regulated verse; then juéjù; then six-syllable; then záyán — by genre.
Táng poetry, at the Five-Dynasties, declined; early-Sòng, did not revive. Wáng Yǔchēng 王禹偁 first learned from Bái Jūyì — like gǔwén having Liǔ Mù 柳穆 — clarified yet not yet fused. Yáng Yì 楊億 and others advocated the XīKūn style, circulating widely for a time. Ōuyáng Xiū, Méi Yáochén — first transformed the old format. Sū Shì, Huáng Tíngjiān — yì chū xīnyì (further produced new meanings). Sòng poetry then reached its 极盛 (highest flourishing). After the southern crossing, the Jīrǎng jí school (the Shào Yōng lineage) ran in parallel. Drifting on to the Sìlíng (Yǒngjiā Four-Spirits) and the Jiānghú schools — bì jí ér bù fù (failure was extreme and could not recover).
Jīn: the Jīn took over the central plain, so their poetic format mostly followed the Northern-Sòng Yuányòu style. At the end of the dynasty, the guóyùn yǔ Sòng tóng shuāi (national fortunes declined with Sòng) — yet shīdào nǎi jiào Sòng wéi dúshèng (the Way of Poetry was relatively more flourishing than the Sòng!). Yuán Hǎowèn 元好問 self-inscribed at the end of the Zhōngzhōu jí a poem: “Yèxià Cáo and Liú, their qì was qínháo; Jiāngdōng’s various Xiè-s, yùn yóu gāo. If from huáshí one rates the shīpǐn — Wúnóng will not easily get the brocade robe.” Are these empty words?
Yuán: the Yuán dynasty’s authors yún xìng (rise like clouds) — from Yú Jí, Yáng Zài, Fàn Zǐpéng, Jiē Xīsī downward, the names are zhǐ bù shèng qū (uncounted). At the end of the dynasty, all competed to follow qǐlì (intricate-decoration) — like xiǎocí (lyric song). Yáng Wéizhēn 楊維楨 — relying on his cáiqì (talent-and-spirit), broke the yáiàn (cliff-banks) and remade — fēngqì yī xīn (atmosphere renewed). Yet eventually he could not fǎn zhū gǔ (return to antiquity).
Míng: the Míng poetry is zǒng zá, with many ménhù (sectarian) factions. To summarise: Gāo Qǐ 高啟 and his contemporaries — at the highest flourishing. After Hóngxī and Xuāndé, the style mixed with Táigé (cabinet-style); fēngyǎ gradually fading. Lǐ Dōngyáng 李東陽 modestly revived it — but Běidì (Lǐ Mèngyáng) and Xìnyáng (Hé Jǐngmíng) had already juéqǐ (risen abruptly) and contended for style. The poetic style then transformed. Again it transformed — to the Gōngān; thirdly to the Jìnglíng. Yínwā jìng zuò (licentious-and-jangling competed for production) — and the Míng fortunes ended.
In general: each of the four dynasties has its own shèngshuāi (flourishings-and-declines); its authors have their respective lengths-and-shortnesses. In over 700 years the zhùzuò hàofán (compositions enormous-in-number) — even the most learned tōngrú cannot view all the surviving collections; and to chéngtài shālì (filter the sand-and-pebbles) and pījiǎn jīngyīng (pick-out the essence), assembling four dynasties into a single great compilation — the strength to do this was lacking.
Our state honours antiquity and respects literature; the Shíqú and Tiānlù (imperial libraries) preserve more than previous dynasties. Our Sage-Ancestor Benevolent Emperor roamed his heart in fēngyǎ (the Shījīng tradition) and applied himself diligently to learning. In the overflow of imperial reading, no piece was missed; he could discriminate gain-and-loss and lè zhù hóngbiān (engrave the great compilation). Not only were the four dynasties’ authors thus biǎozhāng (signalled-for-display) by imperial discernment — but the reader, yán bō (following the wave) and dé qí (capturing what is marvellous), can see for himself the zhèngbiàn yuánliú (regular-and-modified, source-and-flow) of the various poetic schools — yīyī shí qí ménjìng (each one knowing its gates and paths). The Sage’s jiāhuì rúlín (benefactions to the forest of Confucians) — can it be slight? Reverently submitted, fourth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Imperial preface Kāngxī 48/5 (June 1709) — the standard completion date. The compilation followed the Yùdìng Quán Táng shī of 1706–07 by two-three years, designed as its post-Táng companion.
Significance. (1) The Yùxuǎn sìcháo shī is the imperial canonical anthology of post-Táng pre-Qīng poetry — a four-volume set covering 700+ years of the Chinese poetic tradition with 5,800+ poets and ~25,000+ pieces. (2) Together with the Quán Táng shī it completes the Kāngxī-imperial pre-Qīng poetry canon — Táng + SòngJīnYuánMíng = complete Tang-through-Ming. (3) The Kāngxī preface delivers a strong defense of SòngJīnYuánMíng poetry against the late-Míng dogma that “only Táng poetry is great” (the Qián / Hòu qīzǐ position) — making poetry’s yùn (vibration) a matter of xīn (heart) that crosses dynasties, and arguing from the institutional history (which dynasties used poetry for civil-service selection) that post-Táng poetry deserves serious attention. (4) The work — though selective rather than comprehensive — establishes the canonical poets of each post-Táng dynasty. For Sòng: Wáng Yǔchēng, Yáng Yì, Ōuyáng Xiū, Méi Yáochén, Sū Shì, Huáng Tíngjiān, Shào Yōng, Lù Yóu …; for Jīn: Yuán Hǎowèn …; for Yuán: Yú Jí, Yáng Zài, Fàn Zǐpéng, Jiē Xīsī …; for Míng: Gāo Qǐ, Lǐ Dōngyáng, Lǐ Mèngyáng, Hé Jǐngmíng, the Gōngān and Jìnglíng schools. (5) The Sìkù tíyào’s elaboration of this canonical history is the closest thing in pre-modern Chinese scholarship to a comprehensive narrative history of post-Táng poetry — and would be used as the basis for both Sì-kù-period and Qīng-shǐ-period literary-historical scholarship.
Editorial method. The selection was carried out by a large team — six principal zuǎnxuǎn guān (lead selectors), ten lùxuǎn guān (recording selectors including Gù Sìlì), and 17 collators. The work is therefore a distributed imperial editorial project rather than the product of a single editorial mind — characteristic of late-Kāngxī imperial-anthology methodology.
Modern reception. The work is less central to modern SòngYuánMíng poetry studies than the Quán Táng shī is to Táng-poetry studies — for two reasons: (a) it is selective rather than complete, so modern scholars prefer the more comprehensive Lù Xīnyuán 陸心源 / Qián Zhōngshū / Zhū Yízūn Sòng shī jìshì 宋詩紀事 + Yuán shī jìshì and other genre-specific works; (b) its imperial framing (the Kāngxī canonical view) reflects an early-Qīng court aesthetic that modern scholars do not necessarily share.
Translations and research
- Yoshikawa Kōjirō 吉川幸次郎, An Introduction to Sung Poetry, tr. Burton Watson (Cambridge MA, 1967) — standard treatment of Sòng poetry, makes use of the Yù-xuǎn Sòng shī.
- Stephen Owen, The End of the Chinese Middle Ages (Stanford, 1996) — methodological for the late-Táng / early-Sòng transition.
- 錢鍾書 Qián Zhōng-shū, Sòng shī xuǎn-zhù 宋詩選注 (Běi-jīng, 1957) — major modern Sòng-poetry anthology, partly in dialogue with the Yù-xuǎn Sòng shī.
- Yoshikawa Kōjirō, Yuán Míng shī gài-shuō 元明詩概說 — standard treatment of Yuán-Míng poetry.
Other points of interest
The Kāngxī preface’s argument — that poetry’s quality is xīn (heart), not yùnhuì (epochal cycle); and that institutional history (whether the dynasty used shīfù in examinations) matters for understanding why some periods are perceived as “more poetic” — is a remarkable anti-periodisation argument comparable to the same emperor’s stance on Táng poetry in the Quán Táng shī preface (where he rejected the chūshèngzhōngwǎn periodisation). The two prefaces together state the Kāngxī court’s coherent anti-school, anti-periodisation poetic aesthetic — a major early-Qīng critical position.