Tángrén wànshǒu juéjù xuǎn 唐人萬首絕句選
Selection from the Ten-Thousand Táng Quatrains by 洪邁, 王士禛
About the work
A 7-juǎn selective anthology by Wáng Shìzhēn (王士禛, 1634–1711) drawn from the celebrated Sòng compilation Tángrén wànshǒu juéjù 唐人萬首絕句 by Hóng Mài (洪邁, 1123–1202, Wénmǐngōng 文敏公) — Hóng Mài’s monumental 100-juǎn Sòng anthology that compiled some 10,000+ Táng-period quatrains (juéjù) and was personally presented to and praised by the Sòng Xiàozōng emperor. The catalog meta’s “洪遂” is a typographical error for 洪邁 — Wáng Shìzhēn’s preface explicitly names Sòng Hóng Wénmǐngōng Mài as the original compiler. The Hóng Mài compilation, however, was much-criticised for prioritising the round number (10,000+ pieces) over quality, including many mediocre or mis-attributed pieces (chuǎnbó zhì duō). A previous attempt at distillation was made by Sòng Lín Qīngzhī 林清之 (zì Zhēnfù 真父, of Fúqīng), who as cāngbù shìláng extracted 7-syllable 1,280, 5-syllable 156, and 6-syllable 15 pieces (total 1,451) and made a 4-juǎn compilation entitled Táng juéjù xuǎn — recorded in Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí 書錄解題; but that compilation is lost. Wáng Shìzhēn’s present compilation, completed in Kāngxī wùzǐ (1708) when Wáng was 75 (3 years before his death), distills Hóng Mài’s 10,000+ down to 895 pieces by 264 authors — keeping roughly one-tenth (about one-tenth of Hóng Mài, or one-half of Lín Qīngzhī’s earlier distillation). The work was assembled in Wáng’s retirement, “from leisure-time cóngróng (relaxed) collation,” and the Sìkù tíyào judges it the most careful of his anthology compilations.
Wáng’s preface to the work makes a sustained critical argument: the Táng juéjù are not merely juéjù but the actual Táng yuèfǔ (music-bureau pieces) — citing Wáng Zhīhuàn’s Huánghé yuǎnshàng, Wáng Chānglíng’s Zhāoyáng rìyǐng, Wáng Wéi’s Wèichéng zhāoyǔ (Yángguān sāndié), and pieces by Liú Yǔxī and Zhāng Hù as established musical settings of Táng quatrains. The argument is Táng sānbǎi nián yǐ juéjù shànchǎng / jí Táng sānbǎi nián zhī yuèfǔ yě — “the Táng three centuries produced juéjù as their specialty / this is the Táng three centuries’ yuèfǔ.” The Sìkù tíyào’s response is dryly critical: “yuèfǔ zhǔ shēng bù zhǔ cí” — “yuèfǔ is centrally about sound not words; the music-bureau’s practice was not exclusively juéjù. The present compilation is in fact a selection of poetic words not of sung sound — no need to overstate the case.”
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Tángrén wànshǒu juéjù xuǎn in 7 juǎn — compiled by the Guócháo (Qīng-dynasty) Wáng Shìzhēn. Hóng Mài’s Tángrén wànshǒu juéjù sought to fill the round number; chuǎnbó zhì duō (jumbled-and-erratic, extremely many). The Sòng Cāngbù shìláng Lín Qīngzhī Zhēnfù, of Fúqīng, copied out its best — obtaining 7-syllable 1,280, 5-syllable 156, 6-syllable 15 — lè wéi sì juǎn, míng yuē Táng juéjù xuǎn (totalling 4 juǎn, named Selected Táng Quatrains) — recorded in Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí. Roughly tài qí bāfēn yǒu qí (he discarded eight-tenths-and-a-bit). But the book is not transmitted, so we cannot judge its quality.
The present Shìzhēn compilation further shāncún (cuts-and-preserves) 895 pieces, 264 authors — gēng shífēn ér qǔ qí yī yǐ (further taking one-tenth out of ten parts). The book was completed in Kāngxī wùzǐ (1708), only three years before Shìzhēn’s death — zuì wéi wǎnchū (the latest to appear). And falling in his retirement (tiánjū xiánxiá) period, he could cóngróng jiàolǐ (collate with leisure). Therefore jiào tā xuǎn wéi jīngshěn (more careful than his other selections).
However, his preface says “to serve as Táng yuèfǔ” — this is not entirely so. Yuèfǔ is primarily about shēng (sound), not cí (words). Its selecting poems for music was also not exclusively for juéjù. Shìzhēn’s book in fact selects cí (words), not shēng (sound). No need to make grand claims. Reverently submitted, ninth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Compiled by Wáng Shìzhēn in Kāngxī wùzǐ (1708) — 3 years before his death (1711) — in his retirement. The base text is Hóng Mài’s Sòng compilation (the Tángrén wànshǒu juéjù of mid-12th century), which was itself a major Sòng project. The catalog meta’s Hóng Suì 洪遂 attribution for the original is a typographical error for Hóng Mài 洪邁.
Significance. (1) The Tángrén wànshǒu juéjù xuǎn is Wáng Shìzhēn’s last major anthology and — per the Sìkù — his most careful. (2) The compilation is the principal accessible distillation of Hóng Mài’s enormous Sòng quatrain compilation: Hóng Mài’s 10,000+ Táng quatrains in 100 juǎn survives in the SKQS but is unwieldy for general reading; Lín Qīngzhī’s 4-juǎn Sòng-era distillation is lost; only Wáng’s 7-juǎn compilation remains as a usable selection. (3) Wáng’s preface advances the critical argument that Táng juéjù and Táng yuèfǔ are functionally identical — Táng quatrains were sung as music-bureau pieces, the Táng’s specific contribution to the yuèfǔ tradition. The Sìkù’s rebuttal — that yuèfǔ is centrally about sound, not text — represents the Qiánlóng-era philological response to Wáng’s aesthetic generalisation. (4) The work continues Wáng’s High-Táng / Shényùn aesthetic program — his selection within the Hóng Mài corpus favours the brief, evocative, music-fit pieces consistent with the Shényùn ideal. (5) Wáng Shìzhēn’s Shényùn anthology trilogy — the Sānmèi jí KR4h0153 (High-Táng), the Èrjiā shī xuǎn KR4h0154 (Míng), and the present Tángrén juéjù xuǎn — together construct his canonical poetic genealogy.
Hóng Mài’s original. The base Sòng compilation by Hóng Mài (1123–1202) — the Yíjiān zhì author and Róngzhāi suíbǐ essayist — was a colossal project: 100 juǎn, 10,000+ Táng quatrains, presented to Xiàozōng for imperial review. Hóng Mài’s compilation deliberately aimed at quantity (the round number 10,000) — a feature his Qīng successors (Lín Qīngzhī, Wáng Shìzhēn) judged a defect.
Translations and research
- Stephen Owen, The Late Tang (Harvard, 2006) — comprehensive English-language treatment of late-Táng quatrain poets.
- Charles Hartman, The Making of a Confucian Hero: The Bibliography of the Cui Yi Mausoleum (Albany, 1986) — on Hóng Mài’s textual practice.
- 蔣寅 Jiǎng Yín, Wáng Shì-zhēn shī-xué yán-jiū 王士禎詩學研究 — modern Chinese monograph.
Other points of interest
The Yángguān sāndié 陽關三疊 controversy cited in Wáng’s preface — Wáng Wéi’s quatrain Wèichéng zhāoyǔ set to music with three-fold repetition (sāndié) as a Táng farewell-song — is one of the most-cited examples in Chinese aesthetic discourse of a quatrain crossing into the music tradition. Wáng Shìzhēn’s preface uses it to argue for the inseparability of Táng juéjù and Táng yuèfǔ — a position influential through the Qīng but rejected by Qiánlóng-period musicology.