Míng shī zōng 明詩綜
Comprehensive Anthology of Míng Poetry by 朱彝尊
About the work
A 100-juǎn comprehensive anthology of Míng-dynasty poetry, compiled by the great early-Qīng scholar Zhū Yízūn (朱彝尊, 1629–1709). The work is the principal late-life poetic project of Zhū — companion to his Jīngyì kǎo 經義考 KR2n0011 (the kǎozhèng bibliography of the Classics commentaries) and his Rìxià jiùwén (Beijing-area topography). The Sìkù tíyào opens with a substantial critical history of Míng poetry, organising the dynasty’s 270 years into three phases: (1) Hóngwǔ founding — fresh and unaffected, sweeping away Yuán qǐmǐ (intricate-flowery), each writer expressing their own strength without sectarian division; (2) Yǒnglè through Chénghuà / Hóngzhì — the rise of Sān Yáng (Yáng Shìqí, Yáng Róng, Yáng Pǔ — the cabinet officials) and the Táigé style (cabinet-style), characterised by chōngróng héyǎ (gentle-harmony, elegant-warmth) celebration of peace — its defect being rǒngtà fūkuò (verbose-trivial, superficial-empty), wànhuì yīyīn (ten-thousand-mouths-one-sound); (3) Zhèngdé / Jiājìng / Lóngqìng — Lǐ Mèngyáng and Hé Jǐngmíng rose first, then Lǐ Pānlóng and Wáng Shìzhēn (the Míng one — Yuánměi) — together founding the Qián / Hòu qīzǐ and propagating fùgǔ (return-to-antiquity) — leading the empire to wú dú Táng yǐhòu shū (read no books after the Táng); thereafter degenerating into mónǐ piāoqiè (imitation-plagiarism) wherever one looked; finally the late-Wàn-lì Gōngān with its chènguǐ (strange-shocking) sound, the Jìnglíng with its yōulěng (dim-cold) flavour, me-xián cèdiào (small-strings, sideways-tunes) competing — and fó-the Míng house duly wū yǐ (fell). The Sìkù tíyào characterises Zhū’s compilation as the corrective response to the previous standard, Qián Qiānyì’s Liècháo shī jí 列朝詩集 — which was discredited by Qián’s jìchǒu yánwěi (recording-ugliness-and-speaking-falsehood) reputation (Qián had served the conquering Qīng after a brief Southern Míng appointment), and his dǎngtóng fáyì (party-favouritism and faction-condemnation) bias. Zhū’s compilation does not pursue ad hominem attacks, gives each poet a brief biographical notice, includes critical commentary from many hands, and appends his own Jìngzhìjū shīhuà 靜志居詩話 as the final commentary stratum. The Sìkù observes that within 60–70 years of completion, Qián Qiānyì’s Liècháo shī jí had been completely forgotten while Zhū’s compilation alone remained in active circulation — vindicating Zhū’s editorial judgment.
Tiyao
Your servants respectfully submit: the Míng shī zōng in 100 juǎn — compiled by the Guócháo (Qīng-dynasty) Zhū Yízūn. Yízūn has the Jīngyì kǎo — already catalogued.
The Míng’s poetic schools went through three major transformations:
(1) Hóngwǔ founding — rénxīn húnpǔ (people’s hearts simple-and-natural), washing away the Yuán-late qǐmǐ (intricate-flowery), each writer gè shū suǒcháng (each expressed their own strength), without ménhù yìtóng views.
(2) Yǒnglè through Chénghuà / Hóngzhì — following the Sān Yáng táigé tǐ (Three Yángs’ cabinet-style), wù yǐ chōngróng héyǎ, gēyǒng tàipíng (working at gentle-harmony, elegant-warmth, singing peace). Its defect: rǒngtà fūkuò, wànhuì yīyīn (verbose-trivial, superficial-empty, ten-thousand mouths singing one sound). Xíngmó tújù, xìngxiàng bùcún (form-and-mould merely present, inspiration-and-imagery not preserved).
Therefore in Zhèngdé, Jiājìng, Lóngqìng, Lǐ Mèngyáng, Hé Jǐngmíng juéqǐ yú qián (rose abruptly at the front); Lǐ Pānlóng, Wáng Shìzhēn [the Míng Wáng Yuánměi] fènfā yú hòu (followed energetically); with fùgǔ zhī shuō (return-to-antiquity theory) dìxiāng chànghé (alternately echoed) — dǎo tiānxià wú dú Táng yǐhòu shū (leading the empire to read no books after the Táng) — tiānxià xiǎngyīng, wéntǐ yī xīn (empire responded, literary form renewed). The Seven Masters’ fame thus took the chángshā tándiàn (Chángshā altar) [referring to Lǐ Dōngyáng of Chángshā, the previous arbiter]. Gradually, mónǐ piāoqiè bǎi bì jù shēng (imitation-plagiarism, hundred defects all arose) — yàngù qūxīn (tired of the old, chasing the new), bié kāi qījìng (separately opening a path).
After Wànlì: Gōngān advocated chènguǐ zhī yīn (strange-shocking sound); Jìnglíng marked yōulěng zhī qù (dim-cold flavour) — me-xián cèdiào cáozàn zhēngmíng (small-strings, sideways-tunes, jangling competition); tiāoqiǎo dàng hū rénxīn (light-cleverness moved people’s hearts), āisī guān hū guóyùn (sorrowful thought concerned with the dynasty’s fortunes) — and the Míng’s social-structure was thereby ruined.
Across the 270 years, the zhǔméng zhě (banner-bearers) alternately shèngshuāi (flourished-and-faded); the piānzǔ zhě (one-sided partisans) mutually zuǒyòu (interfered). The various selectors’ compilations all jiānchí zhěnyù (held strictly to their territory) — gè zūn suǒwén (each esteeming what they had heard).
Then Qián Qiānyì’s Liècháo shī jí appeared. With jìchǒu yánwěi talent — jì yǐ dǎngtóng fáyì (added with party-favouritism and faction-condemnation) — chěng qí ēnyuàn diāndǎo shìfēi (giving free rein to favours-and-grudges, inverting truth-and-falsehood); hēibái húnxiáo (black-and-white muddled), wúfù gōnglùn (no longer any public judgement).
Yízūn, because of widespread dissatisfaction, edited this book to correct the errors. Each person has a brief account of their shǐmò (beginning-and-end) — bù héngqiān tāshì qiǎosì jītán (no irrelevant accusations or skilful ridicule). Below the native-place note: gè bèizǎi zhūjiā pínglùn (all critical comments by various hands are recorded); his own Jìngzhìjū shīhuà 靜志居詩話 is appended at the end. Although late Lóng / Wàn material may be over-extensive — shì yuǎn zhě piānzhāng yìyì (the more distant ages, the more easily pieces are lost), shí jìn zhě bùzhì duō cún (closer times, more sections preserved) — also depending on suí suǒ jiànwén (what was seen and heard), not entirely the product of biāobǎng (signboarding).
The píngpǐn (grading) is also generally chípíng (balanced); for the older men’s sīzēng sīài (personal hatred and personal love) — wǎngwǎng duō suǒ kuāngzhèng (often there are corrections).
In the 60–70 years since [the compilation], Qián Qiānyì’s book has sīmiè wú yí (entirely vanished) — and yet Yízūn’s compilation alone is shījiā suǒ chuánsòng (transmitted-and-recited by poetic-scholars). This is also the rénxīn yíbǐng zhī gōng (the public-spirit shared by all hearts) — yǒu bùzhī qí rán ér rán zhě yǐ (with the not-knowing-why-it-is-so being so itself). Reverently submitted, fourth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781). Editor-in-Chief Jǐ Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì. General Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
Date. Zhū Yízūn was active as a Míng-poetry editor through the 1680s–1700s; the Míng shī zōng was completed in or around 1705, with the first printed edition in Kāngxī wǔshēn (1705) — though some sources give 1690s starting point. The bracket adopted (1690–1709) covers Zhū’s active compilation life through his death in 1709.
Significance. (1) The Míng shī zōng is the standard pre-modern comprehensive anthology of Míng-dynasty poetry — replacing Qián Qiānyì’s Liècháo shī jí 列朝詩集 (the previous standard, ~70 juǎn, 1652) which had been discredited by Qián’s èrchén (twice-served-official) reputation and his factional bias. (2) Zhū’s compilation method — brief biographical xiǎozhuàn, citations from multiple critics, his own shīhuà commentary appended — establishes a balanced, scholarly format that became the model for late-Qīng comprehensive anthologies. (3) The Sìkù tíyào’s sustained three-phase model of Míng poetry (Hóngwǔ founding → Sān Yáng táigé → Qián/Hòu qīzǐ → Gōngān/Jìnglíng late-Míng) is the canonical Qīng narrative of Míng poetic history, drawn directly from Zhū’s compilation framework. (4) The work preserves the largest pre-modern corpus of Míng poetry by women, monks, and provincial poets — Zhū’s bibliographic interests gave him access to obscure regional collections. (5) Zhū’s own Jìngzhìjū shīhuà — appended to the compilation as the final critical stratum — is one of the major Qīng shīhuà (poetics-essay) works and was widely cited independently of the parent compilation.
The Qián Qiānyì connection. The Sìkù tíyào’s pointed contrast — Qián Qiānyì vanished, Zhū Yízūn transmitted — is doubly motivated: (a) Qián Qiānyì was anathematised by the Qiánlóng emperor in 1769, all his works banned (Liècháo shī jí in particular), so the Sìkù tíyào in 1781 cannot mention him neutrally; (b) Zhū Yízūn, by contrast, was the boxue hongci recipient of 1679 and respectful of Qīng authority, making his compilation politically safe and aesthetically preferable. The compilation’s survival is thus partly a function of early-Qīng political ideology — not purely aesthetic merit, although the Sìkù casts it that way.
Translations and research
- Yim Chi-hung, The Poet-historian Qian Qianyi (London, 2009) — for Qián Qiān-yì context.
- Lawrence C. H. Yim, The Poet-Historian Qian Qianyi (Routledge, 2009) — companion volume.
- 王運熙 Wáng Yùn-xī, Zhū Yí-zūn yán-jiū 朱彝尊研究 — modern Chinese monograph.
- 葛兆光 Gě Zhào-guāng, Zhōng-guó sī-xiǎng shǐ — for the late-Míng / early-Qīng intellectual context.
Other points of interest
The Míng shī zōng’s erasure of Qián Qiānyì as a Míng poet (and as a Míng-poetry anthologist) is itself one of its most consequential moves. Qián Qiānyì was the leading Míng poet-critic of his generation and the most-cited compiler of Míng poetry; his erasure by the Sìkù commission rests on Zhū’s compilation having superseded his. Modern scholars (W. L. Idema, Lawrence Yim, Wai-yee Li) have recovered Qián Qiānyì’s Liècháo shī jí as a major source for late-Míng / early-Qīng poetry, but its eclipse during the high Qīng was nearly total.