Gǔ Shǐ Kǎo Xù 古史考序
Preface to the Investigation of Ancient History by 孫星衍; compilation by 章宗源
About the work
Gǔ Shǐ Kǎo Xù 古史考序 is 孫星衍’s preface to the Gǔ Shǐ Kǎo 古史考 (Investigation of Ancient History), a jíyìběn compilation of pre-Qín and Hàn historical fragments assembled by his late friend 章宗源 (Zhāng Zōngyuán, styled Féngzhī 逢之, jǔrén 舉人 of the Qiánlóng bǐngwǔ year, 1786). The preface is dated the 21st day of the 6th month of Jiāqìng 11 (July 1806) and was written at Sūn Xīngyǎn’s office in Āndé 安德, Shāndōng.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source. This is a Qīng-period preface.
Abstract
Sūn Xīngyǎn’s preface provides a biographical sketch of Zhāng Zōngyuán, a devoted jíyìběn scholar who spent his life recovering lost texts listed in the Suí Shū 隋書 bibliography. Zhāng’s work — filling over ten baskets (qiè 笈) — was nearly sold to a provincial official (Bì Dūbù 畢督部) but the transaction was interrupted by military disturbances in Húběi. Zhāng later fell into misfortune: he became involved with a corrupt Buddhist monk at Guǎnghuì Monastery 廣慧寺 whose bribery case implicated him; his examination degree was stripped by a powerful minister, and he died poor and dispirited after his students’ employer burned the books he had assigned them to compile. Most of his manuscripts passed to a collector named Yè Jìwén 葉繼雯; a fraction (about 10–20%) reached Sūn Xīngyǎn, who edited and published the Gǔ Shǐ Kǎo as a memorial to his friend.
Sūn Xīngyǎn (1753–1818) was one of the most important Qīng-period philologists and bibliographers, a jìnshì of 1786 associated with the Yǎnzhōu 兗州 school of Han Learning. His preface is a significant source for the social history of jíyìběn scholarship in the Qiánlóng-Jiāqìng era, documenting the precarious conditions under which the texts reconstructed in this division were produced.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.