Hundred and Thirty-three Masters' Collections from the Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties (Volumes 1-5)

Author: (Ming) Zhang Pu, editor
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-01-01
Features: The Collected Works of 103 Famous Writers from the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties is a large-scale literary anthology compiled by Zhang Pu of the Ming Dynasty. Zhang Pu, styled Tianru, was a native of Taicang, Jiangsu, and one of the prominent leaders of the Tan She (Tang Society). He lived to the age of forty and compiled over three thousand volumes in his lifetime, which reflects his diligent efforts but also inevitably some imperfections. This book comprises one hundred and eighteen volumes. Based on Zhang Xie's Collected Works of 72 Writers from the Ming Dynasty, the compiler also selected writers with a significant number of works from Feng Weina's Record of Ancient Poems and Mei Dingze's Record of Literary Works Through the Ages, covering 103 writers from Jia Yi of the Han Dynasty to Xue Daoheng of the Sui Dynasty. The compiler compiled their prose and poetry into this collection, adding to it. Essentially, each writer has their own collection, with the order of contents being: first, fu (a type of classical Chinese poetry), then prose, and finally poetry. Each collection is preceded by a preface by the compiler, commenting on the writers' lives and creative works. A notable feature of this book is not purely an objective presentation of materials but rather includes a "selection of doubts and difficulties." The prefaces written by the compiler point out that when studying the literature of the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties, one should absorb its essence of "prioritizing substance over form, revealing brilliance while containing substance." At the same time, it highlights that "Chen Ji's frivolity and the parallelism of the Zhou and Sui dynasties" are dross. The compiler offers his own views on each of the 103 writers and their works, with a preface for each and discussions for every writer. Divided, they are individual discussions of each writer; combined, they form a cohesive whole. The current edition is a photolithographic reproduction of the edition published in the fifth year of the Guangxu reign (1879) by Peng Maoqian's Xunshutang.