Quán Shànggǔ Sāndài Qín Hàn Sānguó Liùcháo Wén 全上古三代秦漢三國六朝文
Complete Prose from High Antiquity through the Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties compiled by 嚴可均 嚴可均 (編)
About the work
This file preserves the early portions of 嚴可均’s monumental Quán shànggǔ sāndài Qín Hàn Sānguó Liùcháo wén 全上古三代秦漢三國六朝文, the most comprehensive anthology of surviving pre-Tang Chinese prose ever assembled. The file opens with writings attributed to the legendary ruler Tàihào 太昊 (Fú Xī 伏羲) and proceeds through the Quán shànggǔ sāndài wén 全上古三代文 (卷1–10 and beyond), Quán Qín wén 全秦文, Quán Hàn wén 全漢文, and Quán Hòu-Hàn wén 全後漢文 sections; it ends in the Three Kingdoms period (Eastern Wu material). A chapter header “全上古三代文卷十五” at line 42,719 confirms the internal structure. The file is the largest in the Kanripo KR4h division (over 420,000 lines), carrying the bulk of the anthology’s ancient and Han-dynasty content.
The anthology as a whole spans 746 juàn and covers 3,497 writers from high antiquity through the fall of the Sui dynasty (618). In the Kanripo corpus, the dynasty-specific Six Dynasties sections are split into separate files: KR4h0172 (Liu Song), KR4h0173 (Southern Qi), KR4h0174 (Eastern Wei and Northern Qi), KR4h0175 (Northern Zhou), KR4h0178 (Three Kingdoms), KR4h0179 (Jin), KR4h0180 (Liang), KR4h0181 (Chen), and KR4h0182 (Northern Wei).
Each passage in the anthology is followed by a source citation (introduced by 見 or a full reference in parentheses/brackets) identifying the primary source from which it was excerpted — official histories, encyclopedias, Buddhist and Daoist collections, epigraphy, and miscellaneous records.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. The Quán shànggǔ sāndài Qín Hàn Sānguó Liùcháo wén was compiled after the Sìkù quánshū 四庫全書 was completed and has no corresponding Siku tiyao.
Abstract
Yán Kějūn 嚴可均 (1762–1843) began compiling this anthology in 1808 after being excluded from the imperially-sponsored Quán Táng wén 全唐文 project. Working for twenty-seven years, he assembled 746 juàn of pre-Tang prose from 3,497 named authors, drawing on earlier collections (notably Méi Dǐngzuò’s 梅鼎祚 Wénjì 文紀), official histories (zhèngshǐ), literary encyclopedias (lèishū), Buddhist and Daoist canon, epigraphic records, and scattered quotations in early commentaries and miscellanies. The work was completed in 1836 and printed posthumously by the Guǎngyǎ Shūjú 廣雅書局 (Guǎngdōng Provincial Press) in 1887–93; a reduced-format reprint with hand-punctuation was issued by Zhōnghuá Shūjú 中華書局 in 1958 (4 vols.), and a fully typeset and punctuated edition in 10 volumes from Héběi Jiàoyù 河北教育 appeared in 1997. A companion index (Quán shànggǔ sāndài Qín Hàn Sānguó Liùcháo wén piānmíng mùlù jí zuòzhě suǒyǐn 全上古三代秦漢三國六朝文篇名目錄及作者索引) was published by Zhōnghuá in 1965.
The file in the Kanripo corpus (KR4h0176) covers from mythical high antiquity (shànggǔ) through the end of the Later Han and into Three Kingdoms territory: this span corresponds to the Quán shànggǔ sāndài wén, Quán Qín wén, Quán Hàn wén, and Quán Hòu-Hàn wén sections—together several hundred juàn comprising the quantitatively dominant portion of the anthology. The ancient sections preserve materials from texts such as the Zhōulǐ 周禮, Guóyǔ 國語, and Zhàn guó cè 戰國策 commentary traditions, as well as inscriptions and fragments cited in Tang-dynasty encyclopedias. The Han sections are the richest, recovering prose by hundreds of Han officials, scholars, and writers whose complete collected works are no longer extant.
Qián Zhōngshū 錢鐘書 (1910–98) devoted 277 entries in volumes 3–4 of his Guǎnzhuībiān 管錐編 (Zhōnghuá, 1979) to discussing content, noting errors, and amplifying the scholarship of this anthology.
Translations and research
- Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual. §30.3.2. Harvard University Asia Center, 4th ed., 2015.
- Qián Zhōngshū 錢鐘書. Guǎnzhuībiān 管錐編. 4 vols. Zhōnghuá, 1979.
- Quán Hànwén 全漢文. Yán Kějūn, comp.; Rèn Xuěfāng 任雪芳, corrected. Shāngwù, 1999 (the Han sections extracted as a stand-alone volume).
- Quán shànggǔ sāndài Qín Hàn Sānguó Liùcháo wén piānmíng mùlù jí zuòzhě suǒyǐn 全上古三代秦漢三國六朝文篇名目錄及作者索引. Zhōnghuá, 1965.