全閩詩話

Quánmǐn shīhuà 全閩詩話

Complete Remarks on the Poetry of Mǐn (Fújiàn) by 鄭方坤 (撰)

About the work

The Quánmǐn shīhuà 全閩詩話, in twelve juǎn, is Zhèng Fāngkūn 鄭方坤 (1700–1780)‘s regional shīhuà anthology for the Mǐn 閩 (Fújiàn) cultural region — the canonical pre-modern reference for the poetry of native Fújiàn writers and of others whose poems are intimately bound to Fújiàn places, events, or institutions. It is the first comprehensive regional shīhuà for any single province in the Chinese tradition, and the model for the subsequent regional-shīhuà sub-genre. Zhèng was himself a Fújiàn native (Hóuguān 候官, with extended-registration in Jiàn’ān 建安), and the work expresses both his regional identification and his characteristic late-Qián-lóng kǎozhèng method: organize by historical period, marshal evidence from 438 distinct source-books, and supply rich anecdotal context for each poet.

Tiyao

Quánmǐn shīhuà, twelve juǎn. By Zhèng Fāngkūn of our dynasty. Fāngkūn, zì Zéhòu 則厚, hào Lìxiāng 荔鄉, a man of Hóuguān (Fújiàn), with extended-residence registration in Jiàn’ān (Fújiàn). Jìnshì of Yōngzhèng guǐmǎo (1723), rising in office to Prefect of Yǎnzhōu fǔ (Shāndōng). All his life he applied himself sharp-edged to writing, having composed the Jīng bài 經稗 (KR1g0025), Lìdài wén chāo, Běncháo wén chāo, Běncháo shī chāo, Lǐnghǎi wénbiān, Lǐnghǎi cóngbiān, Dúshū zhájì, Dù jiān píngběn, Wǔdài shīhuà (i.e. KR4i0064), Sìliù tánbǐng, Shīhuà tíhú, Gǔjīn cí xuǎn, Zhèwěi jí, Quèsǎo zhāi chànghé jí, and so on — but his deepest investment was in poetry.

This work in particular gathers up the shīhuà of Fújiàn writers and those shīhuà relating to Fújiàn. Fújiàn literary figures begin to be noted in the early Táng with Xuē Lìngzhī 薛令之 and flourish in Ōuyáng Zhān 歐陽詹. Hence, from the Six Dynasties and earlier, only Guō Pú 郭璞, Xiè Tiào 謝朓, Dào Gài 到溉, and Jiāng Yān 江淹 — four men — are listed. For Guō Pú’s “earth-omen” matter, Zhèng still cites Zhōu Liànggōng 周亮工’s Shū yǐng 書影 (KR3l0050) account to argue that it is a forgery and reject it — quite a strict procedure. After the Táng, the material then comes thick and thronged. The whole work is: 1 juǎn on the Six Dynasties / Táng / Five Dynasties; 4 juǎn on Sòng / Yuán; 3 juǎn on Míng; 1 juǎn on our dynasty (the Qīng); 1 juǎn on anonymous figures and palace-women; 1 juǎn on monastics; 1 juǎn miscellaneous on transcendents, ghosts, and oddities.

The source books drawn upon number 438 species. The gathering is plentiful — broad and fine not winnowed — but, across more than a thousand years, the literary records of one region can be discerned by the plough, the old matter and surviving texts furnishing much material for kǎozhèng — and this work is itself surely one of the great deep ocean-pools of “discussing-the-arts” literature. Respectfully collated, Qiánlóng 45, 5th month (1780). Director-General Compilers: Jì Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. Director-General Collator: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.

Abstract

The Quánmǐn shīhuà is the founding text of the Chinese regional-shīhuà sub-genre and the most comprehensive single source for Fújiàn poetic history. Its method is rigorously historical: works are organized by period from the Six Dynasties through the early Qīng, with separate concluding juǎn for anonymous figures, palace-women, monastics, and miscellaneous categories (transcendents, ghosts, anecdotes). The result is a 12-juǎn survey of Fújiàn poetry across more than a millennium.

Composition window. Zhèng’s jìnshì dates to 1723, his death to 1780. The work was submitted as a Sìkù survey-book in 1780 and is mentioned in his own self-list of works in the Sìkù tíyào. Internal references to Qián-lóng-era figures place the work in his mature period after his retirement from the Yǎnzhōu prefectship. The standard bracket is 1750–1775.

Coverage. Zhèng’s regional principle is generously construed: a poet is “Fújiàn” if (i) he was a native of the province (the dominant case), (ii) he was an immigrant or transferee whose extended residence in Fújiàn produced significant poetic output, or (iii) he was a non-Fújiàn poet whose work attaches significantly to Fújiàn places or institutions. The four pre-Táng inclusions — Guō Pú, Xiè Tiào, Dào Gài, Jiāng Yān — are admitted on category (iii); Zhèng is careful to note the question of authenticity (Guō Pú’s dìchèn “earth-prophecies” he rejects). The Táng turn comes with Xuē Lìngzhī and Ōuyáng Zhān, after which the volume thickens steadily.

Method and limitations. Zhèng’s procedure is to enter a poet under a biographical headnote and append selected poems plus jìshì anecdotal material (the same procedure he and Lì È 厲鶚 independently brought to shīhuà compilation in the 1740s). The 438 source books cited are exhaustively listed in Zhèng’s preface and represent the most comprehensive single survey of Fújiàn-related literary sources in the Qīng. The Sìkù editors’ criticism — that he is “xì dà bù juān” (does not discard fine matter; gathers everything indiscriminately) — is fair and is repeated in modern critical assessments. Zhèng’s editorial method tends to inclusiveness over selectivity.

Reception. The work served as the model for subsequent regional shīhuà: Zhāng Wéipíng 張維屏’s Yuèdōng shīhuà 粵東詩話 (early 19th c.), Lǐ Jūnzhī 李濬之’s Qīng huà jiā shī shǐ 清畫家詩史 (regional Qīng), and others. It remains the principal single source for pre-modern Fújiàn poetic biography.

Translations and research

• Zhèng Fāng-kūn 鄭方坤; Chén Yán 陳衍, ed. (preface). Quán-mǐn shī-huà. Fú-zhōu: Fújiàn rénmín, 2006 — the standard modern reprint.
• Chén Yán 陳衍 (1856–1937), Mǐn shī jì 閩詩記 — direct continuation of Zhèng’s work into the late Qīng.
• Wú Wén-zhì 吳文治, ed., Qīng shī-huà 清詩話, 2 vols. Shàng-hǎi: Zhōnghuá, 1963 — includes Zhèng’s prefatory matter.
• Lín Yǐng-míng 林映明, Mǐn-dì shī-xué shǐ 閩地詩學史. Fú-jiàn rénmín, 2010 — treats Zhèng as the foundational figure.
• No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.

Other points of interest

Zhèng was a member of the great Fújiàn Lǐ (荔, li-xiāng “lychee village”) literary circle of the mid-eighteenth century, which included his contemporary Fújiàn officials and literati. The Quánmǐn shīhuà may be read partly as Zhèng’s contribution to that circle’s project of consolidating Fújiàn’s place in the shīhuà archive. The structural decision to give a separate juǎn to palace-women, monastics, transcendents, and ghosts is unusual for the period and reflects Zhèng’s antiquarian taste for marginal materials.

Links

• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §27 (literary criticism); §51.3 (regional historiography).
• Kyoto Zinbun Sìkù tíyào
• Wikidata Q11108514 (全閩詩話).