New Evidence of Jiao Xun's Writings

Author: Liu Jianzhen
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-12-01
Features: Jiao Xun, a renowned scholar praised by Ruan Yuan, the leader of the Yangzhou School, as the "Scholar of Yangzhou," lived only fifty-eight years in his life but left behind as many as 450 volumes of writings covering fields such as Confucian classics, literature, history, mathematics, astronomy, calendar, medicine, opera, inscriptions and seals, architecture, and fengshui. However, due to the abundance of his writings, those published and photocopied are numerous, but many remain unprinted, and forgeries occasionally appear. This book begins with an "Overview of Jiao Xun's Writings," comprehensively organizing the records of Jiao Xun's writings over the past two hundred years, systematically summarizing their titles, volumes, and characteristics. At the end is a "Chronological List of Jiao Xun's Writings," which arranges his major works in chronological order. The core of the book introduces and analyzes twenty-five of Jiao Xun's writings, including one rare printed edition, five manuscripts, fifteen drafts, and four forgeries or misattributed works. Among these twenty-five writings, five have never been seen before, while twenty are accessible to scholars but little is known about them. They include five lost poems, thirty-four lost poems, ninety-nine lost essays, one hundred four book reviews, and two hundred seventeen letters. It can be said to be a monograph systematically studying Jiao Xun's bibliography, especially his unpublished drafts. [Preface] Preface Jiao Xun's writings are abundant, with many published and photocopied, but a significant number remain unprinted, and forgeries occasionally appear. The scope of this book only covers a part of them. Some are newly discovered manuscripts, such as Continuation of the Carving Mulberry Collection, Notes of Lichang, and Collected Old Essays; some are unpublished drafts, such as Geographical Explanations of the Book of Songs, The Story of Yi Liao and E, Diary of Commenting on the Book of Changes, Diary of Lichang, Book Reviews of Lichang, Mirror of Selection Studies, Wu's Herbal, and Record of the Nine Yangs; some are preliminary drafts, such as Differences and Similarities in the Annotation of Poems, Poetry Collection of Lichang, Ci Collection of Lichang, and Collection of the Leftovers of the Book of Changes; some are revised drafts before publication, such as Explanation of the Book of Changes and Explanations of Plants, Animals, Insects, and Fish in the Book of Songs; some are compilations of manuscripts, such as Manuscripts of Lichang; some are forgeries, such as Taste of Lichang, Inscriptions on Brick Tablets, and Record of Ancient Bronze Mirrors, and even misattributed works, such as Essentials of the Book of Songs. Additionally, there are works with incomplete explanations, such as Discussions on the Ancient Book of Documents. For the works involved, they are generally first identified by their versions, then their contents are described, and finally their value is discussed. However, except for a few exceptions, there is no direct connection between the books, and most can stand alone as separate pieces. This is a feature of the book, and in fact, it is also a challenge in the arrangement of the format. If arranged by the order of writing, some works are difficult to determine their specific time; if categorized by their storage locations, the number of words in each chapter will vary greatly due to differences in library collections; if organized by version, it will clearly become disorganized; if divided into upper and lower parts based on the authenticity of the drafts, the imbalance between the two parts will be significant due to the few forgeries. Under the guidance of my mentor, Professor Tian Hanyun, I abandoned the chapter format and replaced it with a volume-based method. Thus, following the example of the four-part system, the first four volumes are compiled into the categories of Confucian classics, history, philosophy, and literature, while the fifth volume focuses on correcting forgeries and misattributions. There are still many other drafts and manuscripts of Jiao Xun's writings, and I hope to continue and verify them in the future.