Zhōngxīng yǐlái juémiào cíxuǎn 中興以來絕妙詞選
Selected Marvellous Lyrics from the Restoration On edited by 黃昇 (輯)
About the work
The Zhōngxīng yǐlái juémiào cíxuǎn 中興以來絕妙詞選 is the Southern-Sòng-only second half (ten juǎn) of Huáng Shēng’s 黃昇 great 1249 cí anthology — see KR4j0066 Huāān cíxuǎn for the full work, which combines this with the TángSòng zhūxián juémiào cíxuǎn covering the late-Táng and Northern-Sòng. The SBCK preserves the SòngYuán cutting under the standalone title used here. The Zhōngxīng yǐlái part covers 88 Southern-Sòng cí-poets from Kāng Yǔzhī 康與之 (“Kāng Bókě”) to Hóng Cuǐ 洪瑹, plus Huáng Shēng’s own 40 pieces appended at the end (the inclusion that became the Sànhuāān cí KR4j0056). The opening juǎn alone covers Kāng Yǔzhī (23 pieces), Chén Qùfēi 陳去非 (Chén Yǔyì), Lǐ Hànlǎo 李漢老 (Lǐ Jīng), Yè Shǎoyùn 葉少藴 (Yè Mèngdé), Zēng Gōnggǔn 曾公衮, Zēng Chúnfǔ 曾純甫, Zēng Hóngfù 曾谹父, Lǚ Jūrén 吕居仁 (Lǚ Běnzhōng), Zhū Xīzhēn 朱希眞 (Zhū Dūnrú), Zhū Yōng 朱雍, and Zhāng Zhòngzōng 張仲宗 (Zhāng Yuángàn). Later juǎn include the major figures Xīn Qìjí (42 pieces — the largest single contribution), Lù Yóu (20 pieces), Fàn Chéngdà 范成大 (7 pieces), Zhāng Xiàoxiáng 張孝祥 (24 pieces — under his zì Zhāng Ānguó 張安國), and others. The compilation is the principal Sòng anthology of Southern-Sòng cí; its biographical notices are textually critical for many minor figures.
Prefaces
The same Huáng Shēng preface that fronts the Huāān cíxuǎn runs at the head of this SBCK volume; it is dated Chúnyòu jǐyǒu bǎiyī (the hundredth day after winter solstice of 1249) and signed Yùlín. The preface lays out Huáng’s anthology principles (continuation of the Huājiān jí + Yuèfǔ yǎcí line; emphasis on yǎzhèng; the deliberate suppression of Cǎotáng-line vulgar verse) and closes with the announcement that his friend Liú Chéngfǔ 劉誠甫 has undertaken to cut the woodblocks.
Abstract
The SBCK transmits the textually best line of the Zhōngxīng yǐlái juémiào cíxuǎn — Liú Chéngfǔ’s 1249 cutting, by way of late-Sòng reissues, then through the Yuán and Míng. The list of 88 anthologized Southern-Sòng poets is the basic working list for Southern-Sòng cí-canonical figures: Huáng’s emphasis on the Xīn Qìjí line (42 pieces) and on Lù Yóu (20) shapes how the Southern-Sòng cí-canon is presented in every later anthology that draws on this text. Huáng’s biographical notes — appended under each author’s name — are the earliest, sometimes only, source for the basic life-data of figures such as Zēng Gōnggǔn, Zhū Yōng, Hóng Cuǐ, Wú Yàngāo 吳彥高 (Wú Jī), and several women writers included in the anthology. The collection’s Chúnyòu 1249 dating sets a firm bibliographic terminus for what counts as “Southern-Sòng cí” in later editorial usage.
Translations and research
- See the parent entry KR4j0066 for full bibliographic apparatus on Huáng Shēng’s anthology.
- Lin Shuen-fu, The Transformation of the Chinese Lyrical Tradition (Princeton, 1978) — major chapter dependent on the Zhōng-xīng yǐ-lái selection.
- Kang-i Sun Chang, The Evolution of Chinese Tz’u Poetry — Southern-Sòng anthology-history.
- Stuart Sargent, “Tz’u,” in Mair, ed., Columbia History of Chinese Literature.