莊子集釋

Zhuāng zǐ jí shì 莊子集釋

Collected Glosses on the Zhuāng zǐ

by 郭慶藩 (Guō Qìngfān, 1844–1896) — late-Qīng philologist

Guō Qìngfān’s Zhuāng zǐ jí shì is the modern standard critical edition of the Zhuāng zǐ — the reference text against which all subsequent Zhuāng zǐ scholarship works. Completed 1894, shortly before the author’s death.

Abstract

The Jí shì (“Collected Glosses”) integrates in a single running apparatus:

1. Guō Xiàng 郭象 commentary (3rd cent.) — the foundational WèiJìn exegesis.
2. Chéng Xuán yīng 成玄英 sub-commentary (成玄英, Táng) — the core Zhuāng zǐ shū 莊子疏, Chóng xuán 重玄 philosophical reading.
3. Lù Démíng 陸德明 Shì wén 釋文 — Táng phonological and philological notes.
4. Qīng philological emendations — principally Wáng Niànsūn 王念孫 (Dú shū zá zhì 讀書雜志), Yú Yuè 俞樾 (Zhū zǐ píng yì 諸子平議), Sūn Yíràng 孫詒讓, and Guō Sōngtāo 郭嵩燾 (Guō Qìngfān’s uncle).
5. Guō Qìngfān’s own notes (Zǐ jìng àn yǔ 子瀞案語).

The Jí shì was quickly recognized as superior to earlier collations and has remained the base text for Chinese, Japanese, and Western Zhuāng zǐ scholarship — reprinted by Zhōng huá shū jú in the Xīn biān zhū zǐ jí chéng series (1961, rev. 2004), which remains the standard. The Kanripo entry simply registers that the work exists in the corpus; there are no extant WYG or Dào zàng editions of this Qīng monograph — its transmission is through late-Qīng/Republican printings and the modern Zhōng huá redaction.

Dating. 1894. Dynasty: 清.

Translations and research

• The Jí shì is the base text for virtually all modern translations of the Zhuāng zǐ, including:
  • Watson, Burton. The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu. Columbia UP, 1968.
  • Graham, A. C. Chuang-tzŭ: The Inner Chapters. Allen & Unwin, 1981.
  • Ziporyn, Brook. Zhuangzi: The Complete Writings. Hackett, 2020.
• Zhōng huá shū jú critical edition (Wáng Xiào yú 王孝魚 punctuation): Zhuāng zǐ jí shì. Běijīng: Zhōng huá shū jú, 1961 / rev. 2004.

Links

• Kanseki Repository KR5c0386
• Author: 郭慶藩.
• Commented text: KR5c0051 Zhuāng zǐ (Guō Xiàng commentary).