Quán Liáng Wén 全梁文
Complete Prose Writings of the Liang Dynasty compiled by 嚴可均 嚴可均 (編)
About the work
This file contains the Quán Liáng Wén 全梁文 section of 嚴可均’s Quán shànggǔ sāndài Qín Hàn Sānguó Liùcháo wén 全上古三代秦漢三國六朝文 (KR4h0176), spanning 74 juàn of prose attributed to writers of the Liang dynasty (502–557). The file opens with the Xiào sī fù 孝思賦 attributed to Emperor Wǔ 武帝 (Xiāo Yǎn 蕭衍, 464–549), the dynasty’s founding ruler and one of the most prolific imperial writers of Chinese history. Primary sources cited throughout include the Liáng shū 梁書, the Nán shǐ 南史, and Buddhist collectanea (including, near the end of the file, citations from texts preserved in the Buddhist canon concerning the monk Huì Jiǎo 慧皎 [497–554], compiler of the Gāosēng zhuàn 高僧傳).
The Liang dynasty was one of the most culturally brilliant periods of the Southern Dynasties era. Among the writers represented are: Emperor Wǔ himself (edicts, essays, Buddhist treatises), Crown Prince Xiāo Tǒng 蕭統 (501–531; compiler of the Wén xuǎn 文選, represented here by prefaces and correspondence), Xiāo Gāng 蕭綱 (503–551; later Emperor Jiǎn Wén, literary theory letters), Liú Xiè 劉勰 (ca. 465–ca. 522; prose writings separate from the Wénxīn diāolóng 文心雕龍), Sěn Yuē 沈約 (441–513; carried over from the Southern Qi section), and Rén Fǎng 任昉 (460–508; administrative and literary prose). The editorial cross-reference “今改編入《全梁文》” appears in adjacent sections, confirming that Yán Kějūn sometimes transferred texts assigned to other dynasties into this file when authorship review warranted.
For the structure of the broader anthology, see KR4h0176. The adjacent dynastic sections are KR4h0173 (Southern Qi) and KR4h0181 (Chen).
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The Liang (502–557) is the most richly documented of the four Southern Dynasties in Yán Kějūn’s anthology, reflecting both the political stability of Emperor Wǔ’s long reign (r. 502–549) and his extraordinary personal productivity as writer, Buddhist lay devotee, and patron of letters. The Quán Liáng Wén gathers edicts, memorials, essays, letters, prefaces, and Buddhist treatises from across the dynasty’s 55 years. Emperor Wǔ’s own contributions run to several juàn; he is the best-documented single author in the file. The anthology section also preserves documents by Xiāo Tǒng that supplement our knowledge of the Wén xuǎn compilation process. Huì Jiǎo’s material near the end of the file bridges secular and Buddhist literary culture, as was typical of the Southern court world.
Yán Kějūn drew on the Liáng shū, Nán shǐ, Tang encyclopedias, and Buddhist canon to assemble this section. The editorial note “今改編入《全梁文》” found in adjacent Yan Kejun sections documents his careful practice of assigning texts to the correct dynasty when earlier scholarship had misattributed them. For full compilation history and scholarly significance of the parent anthology, see KR4h0176.
Translations and research
- Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual. §30.3.2.
- Qián Zhōngshū 錢鐘書. Guǎnzhuībiān 管錐編. Vols. 3–4. Zhōnghuá, 1979.
- Knechtges, David R., and Taiping Chang, eds. Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide. Leiden: Brill, 2010–2014. See entries for Xiāo Yǎn, Xiāo Tǒng, Liú Xiè, and Rén Fǎng.