Yùxuǎn Táng shī 御選唐詩
Imperially Selected Táng Poetry by 聖祖玄燁, 陳廷敬
About the work
The Kāngxī emperor’s personally-selected 32-juǎn anthology of Táng poetry, distilling the imperial-canonical Táng-poetry corpus down from the 900-juǎn Yùdìng Quán Táng shī KR4h0140 to a compact selection for daily reading. The imperial preface, dated Kāngxī 52/3 (April 1713), explains the editorial principle: the Quán Táng shī is xiángbèi (detailed-complete) but unwieldy for yínyǒng xìngqíng (intoning-with-feeling); the present compilation accordingly yì qí jīnghuá (draws its essence) and shù qí fāngrùn (sucks its fragrant moisture) — yielding 32 juǎn of gǔfēng (ancient-style) and jìntǐ (modern-form / regulated) verse, grouped by genre. The principal editorial zǒngyuè (chief reviewer) was Chén Tíngjìng (陳廷敬, 1639–1712, by then yuánrèn Wényuāngé dàxuéshì — having retired from active office and died Kāngxī 51 / Apr 1712, just before the preface); the jiàokān guān included Lì Tíngyí 勵廷儀, Jiǎng Tíngxī 蔣廷錫, Zhāng Tíngyù (張廷玉), and Zhào Xióngzhào 趙熊詔; the zhuànzhù guān (annotating editors) included Wú Tíngzhēn 吳廷楨, Zhōu Yí 周彝, Wú Shìyù 吳士玉, Wāng Hào 汪灝, Lú Xuān 盧軒, and others; with the noted Jīn-poetry scholar 郭元釪 Guō Yuánfǔ included as one annotator. The preface clearly states the selection criterion: wēnróu dūnhòu (warm-soft-thick-honest) — drawn from Kǒngzǐ’s evaluation of the Shī — zōng (the central canon). Pieces of yōusī gǎnfèn qiànlì xiānqiǎo (sorrowful-and-indignant, decorated-and-clever) are explicitly excluded, even if technically skilled. This makes the Yùxuǎn Táng shī a Confucian-orthodox Táng-poetry anthology — quite distinct in selection-principle from the Quán Táng shī’s comprehensive coverage.
Tiyao
[The SKQS source carries the Kāngxī imperial preface (御選唐詩序, dated Kāngxī 52/3 = April 1713) and the editorial zhímíng (staff list) in place of the standard Sìkù 提要. Translated and abridged here.]
Kāngxī imperial preface. In antiquity, the Liùyì (Six-Arts) work — all served to hányǎng xìngqíng (nourish inherent feeling) and to assist dàodé (the way and virtue). And of cóngróng fěngyǒng (relaxed reciting) — what gǎn rén zuì shēn (moves men most deeply) — nothing is closer than poetry. Hence the Yútíng (Shùn court) institution of music — yīyǒng héshēng (relying on sustained sound and harmonic tone) — was personally commanded by the emperor. In the ChéngZhōu time, the Liùyì were under the yuèguān (music office) and were the prior work of teaching-learning. From the Three Hundred Pieces downward to Hàn-Wèi-Six Dynasties, tǐzhì dìzēng (forms-and-systems progressively increased); reaching the Táng — all greatly prepared. So those who discuss poetry take the Táng as fǎ (standard). At the time, anthologies such as Yīn Fán’s Hé yuè yīnglíng, Gāo Zhòngwǔ’s Zhōngxìng jiānqì, the Yùlǎn shī, the Cáidiào jí — what they selected each had its own yìzhǐ (purpose), but observers always sighed at the bùbiàn bùgāi (incomplete-and-not-comprehensive).
We, in the spare time of the ten thousand affairs, give attention to poetry — having broadly searched and widely gathered, We have already printed the Quán Táng shī jí. And from earlier reading We had occasionally taken the choicest into one compilation: gǔfēng and jìntǐ, each in its category — totalling 32 juǎn. The tǎosuǒ (searching) values xiángbèi (detail-and-completeness); but yínyǒng xìngqíng (recital-with-feeling) should yì qí jīnghuá (extract the essence) and shù qí fāngrùn (drink the fragrance). Whenever — in líncháo tīngzhèng (court and government affairs) or xúnxíng xiǎnshòu (touring-and-hunting) leisure — We unroll and linger, We have always yōurán ér yǒu dé (peacefully obtained something).
We have therefore commanded the rúchén (Confucian officials) to yī cì biānzhù (sequentially compile and annotate). We have personally kǎodìng (checked-and-determined) — yī zì yī jù bì sù qí yuánliú (every word, every phrase must trace its source) — tiáo fēn lǚxī (carefully divided and finely analysed). Where there were zhēngyǐn éwù (citation-errors) and tuōlòu (omissions), We suí yù gǎidìng (issued correction-decrees). After more than a year, the work is complete, and We have ordered it engraved for printing — to instruct later students. Kǒngzǐ said: “Wēnróu dūnhòu, shījiào yě” (“Warmth-and-softness, thickness-and-honesty — this is the shījiào”). This compilation, although the fēnggé (styles) admitted are not single, all take wēnróu dūnhòu as their zōng (central canon). Pieces of yōusī gǎnfèn (sorrowful-indignant) or qiànlì xiānqiǎo (showy-pretty, slender-clever) — even if skilfully made — are not recorded. This makes the reader able to xuān zhì dá qíng (announce his intent and convey his feeling), yǐ fàn yú hépíng (to model himself on harmony). This is using the ancients’ zhèngshēng gǎn rén (correct-sound moving-people) principle. The Lǐjì says: “A jūnzǐ in the chariot hears the luánhé bells; on foot hears the jade-pendants ring — therefore fēipì zhī xīn (non-deviant heart) has no entry-point.” Examining this — Our purpose in poetry and Our intent in publishing this compilation — both can be seen. Kāngxī 52, 3rd month, early ten-day period (April 1713).
Abstract
Date. Imperial preface Kāngxī 52/3 (April 1713). Publication-order Kāngxī 52/6/22 (Aug 1713). The compilation followed the Quán Táng shī by 6–7 years — a selection from and distillation of the larger work.
Significance. (1) The Yùxuǎn Táng shī is the canonical KāngxīQīng selective anthology of Táng poetry — the imperial counterpart to the comprehensive Quán Táng shī. (2) The imperial preface’s explicit selection-criterion (wēnróu dūnhòu = “warm-soft-thick-honest,” from Kǒngzǐ’s Lǐjì statement) makes the work a Confucian-orthodox rather than aesthetic selection — explicitly excluding pieces of yōusī gǎnfèn (mournful-and-indignant) and qiànlì xiānqiǎo (decorated-and-clever) tone, however technically skilled. This is the strongest pre-modern statement of the Confucian-didactic position on Táng poetry. (3) The selection is annotated — yī zì yī jù bì sù qí yuánliú — with textual-philological annotations distinguishing it from purely aesthetic anthologies. The Kāngxī emperor’s claim of personal involvement in the annotation is rhetorical, but the editorial team (Chén Tíngjìng, Zhāng Tíngyù, Jiǎng Tíngxī, et al.) was the highest-level Hàn-lin establishment of the late Kāngxī court. (4) The work became the standard imperial Táng-poetry reader of the Qīng — used in palace education, copied for tribute, and circulated as the imperial standard.
Selection criterion in practice. The wēnróu dūnhòu criterion in practice means the anthology favours Wáng Wéi 王維, Mèng Hàorán 孟浩然, the high-Táng landscape poets, the Bái Jūyì fěngyù tradition, and the orthodox dàifū poetic voice — while downgrading the qíjué (strange-and-extraordinary) elements of Lǐ Hè 李賀, the late-Táng qiànmǐ (delicate-pretty) school, and the WǎnTáng aestheticist tradition. The exclusion of yōusī gǎnfèn would also reduce, e.g., Dù Fǔ’s sǎngluàn (chaos-and-disorder) pieces in favour of his more orthodox lyric work.
Translations and research
- Stephen Owen, The Great Age of Chinese Poetry: The High T’ang (Yale, 1981) — comprehensive English-language treatment.
- Pauline Yu, The Reading of Imagery in the Chinese Poetic Tradition (Princeton, 1987) — methodologically important on the Confucian shī-jiào (didactic-poetry) tradition.
- Stephen Owen, Readings in Chinese Literary Thought (Cambridge MA, 1992) — on the wēn-róu dūn-hòu doctrine.
- 林淑貞 Lín Shū-zhēn, Yù-xuǎn Táng shī lùn-jiū 御選唐詩論究 — focused Chinese study of the work.
Other points of interest
The Yùxuǎn Táng shī is part of a sequence of Kāngxī-era yùxuǎn (imperial-selection) literary anthologies based on the principle of selective canonicity rather than comprehensive coverage: the Yùxuǎn gǔwén yuānjiàn KR4h0138 (Spring-Autumn through Sòng prose, 1685), the Yùxuǎn sìcháo shī KR4h0143 (SòngJīnYuánMíng poetry, 1709), and the present work (Táng poetry, 1713). The three together form the Kāngxī court’s selective literary canon alongside the comprehensive Quán Táng shī KR4h0140 and Lìdài fùhuì KR4h0139. The Qiánlóng-era successors to this selective-anthology tradition — the Yùxuǎn TángSòng wénchún KR4h0147 and Yùxuǎn TángSòng shīchún KR4h0148 — continue and elaborate the Kāngxī model.