Shǔ Wáng Běnjì 蜀王本紀
Basic Annals of the Kings of Shu compiled by 鄭樸 (輯); attributed to 揚雄 (attributed)
About the work
The Shǔ Wáng Běnjì 蜀王本紀 (“Basic Annals of the Kings of Shǔ”) is a short historical record purporting to document the legendary kings of ancient Shǔ (the Sìchuān Basin), from the mythical ruler Cán Cóng 蠶叢 through the later Kāimíng 開明 dynasty and into the Qín conquest of Shǔ in 316 BCE. It is traditionally attributed to Yáng Xióng 揚雄 (53 BCE – 18 CE) of the Western Hàn. The Kanripo text represents a Míng recension compiled by Zhèng Pǔ 鄭樸 (fl. ca. 1595, Wànlì era). The Kanripo source file is brief (approximately 335 lines), consistent with a single short juǎn of fragmentary historical material.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
The attribution of the Shǔ Wáng Běnjì to Yáng Xióng 揚雄 揚雄 (53 BCE – 18 CE) is ancient but problematic. Yáng Xióng, the great Western Hàn fù-poet and philosopher, was a native of Chéngdū (Shǔ), and it would be natural for him to have compiled local historical records. The text is quoted in numerous early medieval lèishū and geographical works, most notably in Cháng Qú’s 常璩 Huáyáng Guózhì 華陽國志 (ca. 347 CE), which preserves many passages that appear to derive from the Shǔ Wáng Běnjì. However, the text as it now exists is a reconstruction from quotations rather than a complete transmitted text, and doubts have been raised about whether Yáng Xióng was truly its author or whether the attribution is a later scholarly convention.
The content of the Kanripo text, as seen from the source file, opens with the legendary kings Cán Cóng 蠶叢, Bó Huò 柏濩 (Bái Huò), and Yú Fú 魚鳧 — each said to have lived for centuries and undergone divine transformation — before narrating the story of the king Dù Yǔ 杜宇 (the mythical “Wàng Emperor” associated with the cuckoo), Biē Líng 鼈靈 (who became the Kāimíng emperor after Dù Yǔ’s abdication), and the eventual Qín conquest. These legends are the foundation for later Shǔ mythography, including the theme of the zǐguī 子規 (cuckoo) as a symbol of longing associated with Dù Yǔ.
The Míng compiler Zhèng Pǔ 鄭樸 鄭樸 (fl. ca. 1595, Wànlì era) assembled the surviving text from scattered quotations in earlier works. His compilation is described by the Sìkù Quánshū editors (who include a version of the Shǔ Wáng Běnjì in the Yáng Zǐyún anthology KR4b0001). The dating bracket of 1580–1610 represents the most plausible window for Zhèng Pǔ’s compilation activity, consistent with his Wànlì-era preface activity documented in the catalog.
Translations and research
- Knechtges, David R. “Riddles as Poetry: the Fu of Yang Xiong.” In Nienhauser (ed.), The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature. Indiana University Press, 1986. (Background on Yáng Xióng.)
- Loewe, Michael, ed. Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide. Society for the Study of Early China / IEAS, 1993. Entry on the Shǔ Wáng Běnjì (attribution and textual history).
- Cháng Qú 常璩. Huáyáng Guózhì 華陽國志. The principal external source preserving passages from or related to the Shǔ Wáng Běnjì.
Other points of interest
The legendary narrative of the Shǔ Wáng Běnjì — particularly the story of Dù Yǔ and the cuckoo — became one of the most evocative mythological complexes in classical Chinese literature. The cuckoo (zǐguī 子規 or dùyǔ 杜宇) as an image of longing, exile, and the departed spirit of a betrayed ruler appears throughout Táng and Sòng poetry.
Links
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shu_Wang_Benji