Collected Works of Yuan Zhen: An Annotated Chronological Edition. Poetry Volume

Author: Yang Junfan
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2002-06-01
Features: Yuan Zhen had already organized his poems and prose during his lifetime, ultimately forming the Yuan Shi Changqing Ji in one hundred volumes. This edition was lost by the Northern Song Dynasty, but during the Xuanhe period, Liu Lin and his son in Jian'an copied and compiled the scattered fragments, obtaining sixty volumes to be published, which became the ancestor of all surviving Yuan Zhen collections. The original appearance of the Liu edition is no longer visible today. The two Song Dynasty printed versions of the Liu edition have also become incomplete: the Zhejiang edition of Yuan Shi Changqing Ji survives with eight volumes, and the Shu edition of Xin Kan Yuan Wei Zhi Wen Ji survives with twenty-four volumes. This book records five hundred seventy Yuan Zhen poems, with the original poems split into eight hundred. The main part is copied from the Yuan Shi Changqing Ji, based on Yang Yi; the rest are separately copied from the supplements of Ma Yi's external collection, the collated fragments in Bian Xiaoxuan's Yuan Zhen Nianpu, the supplementary fragments in the external collection of the Yuan Zhen Ji, and the supplements in Chen Shangjun's Quan Shi Jiao Wei Bian. The Yuan Shi Changqing Ji had never been annotated before, and the creation of this book carries its own pioneering significance. However, Yuan Zhen, the talented poet, was not stingy with his talent when writing, especially in the long, powerful rhyming poems in the collection and his works that competed with Bai Juyi. He quoted extensively from classics, showing off his skills, making it truly challenging. With my limited knowledge, I was able to annotate the Yuan Zhen collection after three changes of seasons, with much assistance from others. In poetry, I emphasize abundant references to historical and literary facts, explaining the origins of words. For contemporary and past references, I provide detailed or brief annotations. When the same event is mentioned multiple times, I provide more detailed annotations upon the first occurrence.