Wenyuan Yinghua (Volumes 1-6)

Author: Li Fang
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1990-12-01
Features: One of the Four Great Books of the Northern Song Dynasty, a literary compendium. Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao Ling, ordered Li Fang, Xu Xuan, Song Bai, and Su Yijian, among others, to jointly compile it. The project began in the seventh year of the Taiping Era (982) and was completed in the third year of the Yongxi Era (986). Emperor Zhenzong of Song, Zhao Heng, made several revisions during his reign. Later, Emperor Xiaozong of Song, Zhao Shen, ordered specialists to conduct a collation. Finally, Zhou Bida, Hu Ke, and Peng Shuxia revisited the text. The printing began in the first year of the Jiating Era (1201) and was completed four years later. The surviving Song edition now exists only in fragments. The entire work comprises 1,000 volumes, continuing from the Wenxuan (A Selection of Refined Literature) and starting from the Liang Dynasty down to the late Tang and Five Dynasties periods. It includes works of over 2,000 writers and nearly 20,000 pieces, categorized into 39 types by genre (such as fù [rhapsodies], shī [poetry], gēxíng [narrative poems], záwén [miscellaneous prose], Zhongshu zhìgào [imperial decrees from the Zhongshu Office], and Hàlin zhìgào [imperial decrees from the Hanlin Academy]). Within each category, further subheadings are organized by theme, such as the 42 subcategories under fù [rhapsodies], including celestial phenomena, seasons, geography, water, imperial virtue, and capital cities. Approximately one-tenth of the work consists of works from the Northern and Southern Dynasties, while nine-tenths are Tang Dynasty works. Most of these were collected from scarce manuscript collections of poetry and prose, preserving many valuable historical documents. The collation notes also include variant readings from other editions, which can be used to compile and correct Tang Dynasty poetry and prose collections. During the Qing Dynasty, when compiling the Complete Tang Poems, Complete Tang Prose, and Four Treasuries, it was used as a reference. The Wenyuan Yinghua also includes many imperial decrees, legal judgments, memorials, and inscriptions, which can be used to verify historical facts. This book was not widely circulated. In the 45th year of the Jiajing Era (1566), Hu Weixin and others reprinted it based on manuscript copies. In 1966, Zhonghua Book Company published a collated photolithographic edition, combining 140 volumes from the Song edition and 860 volumes from the Ming edition, appending Peng Shuxia’s Wenyuan Yinghua Bianzheng (A Critical Commentary on the Wenyuan Yinghua) and Lao Ge’s Wenyuan Yinghua Bianzheng Shiyi (Supplementary Notes to Peng Shuxia’s Wenyuan Yinghua Bianzheng).