Péi Sōngzhī Jìnjì 裴松之晉紀
Péi Sōngzhī’s Record of the Jin by 裴松之 (撰); reconstructed by 湯球
About the work
Péi Sōngzhī Jìnjì 裴松之晉紀 is a very sparse jíyìběn reconstruction (1 juǎn, approximately 59 lines, 2 fragments) of the lost Jìnjì 晉紀 composed by 裴松之 (Péi Sōngzhī, 372–451 CE), best known today for his monumental annotations to the Sānguó Zhì 三國志 (KR2a0012). The reconstruction is part of 湯球’s compilation published in the Guǎngyǎ Shūjú Cóngshū 廣雅書局叢書.
The two surviving fragments cover:
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Emperor Mù 穆帝, Yǒnghé 1 (345 CE): A notice that Jiāng Biāo 江彪 was appointed Shàngshū Lìbù Láng 尚書吏部郎 (Palace Bureau Chief of Personnel); a comment that in his three terms as xuǎnguān (selection official), he was stingy in his nominations. Source: Bái Shūchāo 書鈔.
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Emperor Ān 安帝, Lóng’ān 1 (397 CE): Sīmǎ Dàozǐ 司馬道子 was made Grand Tutor (Tàifù 太傅), and Wáng Yǎ 王雅 was appointed Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince (Tàizǐ Shǎofù 太子少傅). On the day of the appointment ceremony, there was a sudden violent storm; Wáng Yǎ arrived in the rain and had to take the oath in drenching downpour. Source: Bái Shūchāo 書鈔 65; note from Lèi Hán 類函 that a variant source reads 《晉書》 instead.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This is a jíyìběn reconstruction.
Abstract
裴松之 (372–451 CE; zì Shìqí 世期) is far better known for his celebrated annotations to the Sānguó Zhì (completed 429 CE) than for any independent historical composition. His Jìnjì 晉紀 — a history of the Jìn dynasty — is recorded in the Suí shū jīngjí zhì at 8 juǎn and represents a secondary scholarly project that has survived in only two citations. The content of the fragments (covering Emperor Mù and Emperor Ān) suggests the Jìnjì extended at least through the period of Eastern Jìn political crisis in the late fourth century.
The minute size of this reconstruction (59 lines, 2 fragments) makes it one of the most fragmentary texts in the Táng Qiú series. Most of Péi Sōngzhī’s scholarly energy went into the Sānguó Zhì annotations; the Jìnjì was evidently a less widely-cited work and left very few traces in the secondary encyclopedic tradition. His biography is in Sòng shū 64.
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.
Links
- Péi Sōngzhī: Wikipedia