曹嘉之晉紀

Cáo Jiāzhī Jìnjì 曹嘉之晉紀

Cáo Jiāzhī’s Record of the Jin by 曹嘉之 (撰); reconstructed by 湯球

About the work

Cáo Jiāzhī Jìnjì 曹嘉之晉紀 is a jíyìběn reconstruction (1 juǎn, approximately 313 lines) of the lost Jìnjì 晉紀 composed by the Jin-dynasty historian 曹嘉之 (Cáo Jiāzhī). The reconstruction is part of 湯球’s broader compilation of lost pre-Tang Jin histories, published in the Guǎngyǎ Shūjú Cóngshū 廣雅書局叢書.

The reconstruction opens with the late Wèi period and extends through the Eastern Jìn. Notable surviving passages include:

• Wèi Gāng Lù 2 (257 CE), Zhūgě Dàn 諸葛誕 rebels: An anecdote of Zhūgě Dàn habitually reading while leaning against a pillar; lightning struck the pillar, yet he continued reading unperturbed. Source: Bái Shūchāo 書鈔 152; Yùlǎn 御覽 13 and 187.
• Jǐngyuán 3 (262 CE), Jī Kāng 嵇康 executed: Jī Kāng, sentenced to death in the Eastern Market (Dōng Shì 東市), looked at the sun’s shadow, asked for his qín 琴, and played — a famous final act of aesthetic defiance. Source: Wén Xuǎn 文選 annotation to Sījiù Fù 思舊賦.
• Passages on Emperor Wǔ’s 武帝 governance (Tàishǐ 泰始era, 265–274 CE), including the anecdote about Xún Yù 荀勖 and Hé Qiáo 和嶠 sharing a carriage into court — Hé Qiáo’s pride led him to insist on separate vehicles.
• Anecdotes about Hé Qiáo’s notorious avarice — he counted his cash with a writing-brush, and the Minister of Works (Sīkōng) Wèi Guǎn 衛瓘 remarked he ought to have been styled “Miser He” rather than “Cháng Fēng” (長豐, his honorific title).

Principal citation sources include Wén Xuǎn 文選 annotations, Bái Shūchāo 書鈔, and Tàipíng Yùlǎn 御覽.

Tiyao

No tiyao found in source. This is a jíyìběn reconstruction.

Abstract

曹嘉之 (Cáo Jiāzhī; dates unknown) is a Jin-dynasty historian of whom little biographical information survives. He does not appear in the Jìn shū among the historians’ biographies. His Jìnjì 晉紀 is recorded in the Suí shū jīngjí zhì 隋書經籍志 and cited in scattered Tang-dynasty encyclopedias. The surviving reconstruction demonstrates that the work covered at minimum the late Wèi through the Western Jìn period. The vivid anecdotes — Jī Kāng’s final recital, Zhūgě Dàn’s sangfroid under lightning — suggest a focus on individual character portraits (rénwù chūn 人物春), a common feature of the pre-Tang Jin histories. After the Tang Jìn shū was compiled, the text disappeared. 湯球’s reconstruction at approximately 313 lines constitutes the only surviving access to this work.

Translations and research

• Goodman, Howard L. 2015. “Jin shu.” In Chennault et al., eds., Early Medieval Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide. IEAS, University of California, Berkeley, pp. 136–145.