Song Dynasty edition

Author: Cheng Youqing et al. / Country:
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-08-01
Features: The content of book printing during the Song Dynasty was rich and diverse. Confucian classics were naturally vigorously promoted by the rulers. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Imperial Academy took the lead in revising and publishing the Five Classics Corrected Edition, Seven Classics Corrected Edition, and annotations of various classics, which became the standard texts for imperial examinations and scholars' studies. In the Southern Song Dynasty, local government offices, private individuals, and bookshops were enthusiastic about printing classics, and developed convenient and readable combined annotations, popular supplementary pronunciation editions, illustrated annotated editions, and editions with repeated wording and meaning, as well as annotated sentence editions. As reference books for reading classics, elementary school books were also included in the priority of printing. In the history section, the revision and printing of official histories were particularly emphasized, among which the printing frequency of the three major histories—Shiji, Han Shi, and Sui Shi—was the highest. Additionally, Zizhi Tongjian and related history books were also very popular. In the philosophy section, the printing of Buddhist classics was particularly prominent, especially the printing of several Da Zang Jing (Great Treasury of the Mahayana Canon), which was on a grand scale. Medical books, agricultural books, and mathematical books were also highly valued because they were related to people's livelihoods. Compendiums such as Taiping Yuluan and Cufu Yuanqu were also highly regarded. In the poetry and literature section, collecting, organizing, and printing the poetry collections of Tang Dynasty scholars preserved the works of Tang Dynasty writers; printing the poetry collections of contemporary scholars allowed the works of contemporary writers to be widely disseminated, and so on. The rich content of book printing during the Song Dynasty is difficult to enumerate in full. Below, we will only select a few examples to understand some characteristics of the content of Song Dynasty book printing.
Printing of Confucian Classics in the Song Dynasty
The woodblock printing industry during the Song Dynasty flourished, and the printing of Confucian classics, the foundation of feudal ruling ideology, was naturally given great importance. During the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, there were multiple editions of Confucian classics such as the Five Classics, Nine Classics, and Thirteen Classics, with varying content including single classics, annotated classics, single annotations, combined annotated classics, supplementary pronunciation editions, illustrated editions, and editions with repeated wording and meaning (Figure 333). These included editions printed by the Imperial Academy, as well as those by local governments and private bookshops. Below, we will briefly introduce some representative activities of printing Confucian classics during the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties.
The Nine Classics printed by the Imperial Academy during the Five Dynasties period were still stored by the Song Dynasty Imperial Academy for printing. However, the annotations by Kong Yingda and others for the classics had never been printed, making them inconvenient to use. Therefore, in the first year of the Duanong era (988), it was decided to revise and print the Five Classics Corrected Edition. The Yuhai records in Volume 43, "Revision and Printing of the Five Classics Corrected Edition in the Duanong Era," states: "In the third month of the first year of the Duanong era, the Vice Director of the Imperial Academy, Kong Wei, and others were ordered to revise and examine Kong Yingda's Five Classics Corrected Edition of 180 volumes, and an edict was issued to the Imperial Academy to engrave and print it." (Photocopy page 813) This included the Five Classics Corrected Editions of the Zhouyi, Shangshu, Mao Shi, Liji, and Chunqiu Zuozhuan. The revision and printing were rigorous, and after a second revision and printing, the Five Classics Corrected Edition was printed as a single annotation edition, distinct from the later practice of combining the text, annotations, and annotations into one volume, which was referred to as a single annotation edition.
During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Seven Classics Corrected Edition was printed. The Yuhai records in Volume 43, "Revision and Printing of the Seven Classics Annotations in the Chengping Era," state: "In the ninth month of the fourth year of the Chengping era (1001), the Academician of the Hanlin Academy, Xing Zhuo, and others, along with the Direct Lecturer Cui Jianjian, submitted a report on the re-examination and revision of the Rites of Zhou, Rites of the Rites, Gongyang, Guli Commentary, Xiaojing, Lunyu, and Erya—seven classics annotations totaling 165 volumes. On the ninth day of the tenth month, it was ordered to engrave and distribute them." (Photocopy page 814) This edition of the Seven Classics Corrected Edition was also a single annotation edition.
During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Nine Classics annotations were reprinted. The Yuhai records in Volume 27, "Jingde Imperial Academy Observing Books and Lacquered Boards," state: "In the ninth month of the second year of the Jingde era (1005), the Imperial Academy reported: 'The characters of the Shangshu, Xiaojing, Lunyu, and Erya are erroneous and incomplete, please engrave them separately using Li E's edition.'" (Photocopy page 534) Li E's edition refers to the Imperial Academy edition printed during the Five Dynasties period. The Yuhai records in Volume 43, "Jingde Books and Lacquered Boards, Revision and Correction of Four Classics," state: "In the ninth month of the seventh year of the Xiangfu era (1014), it was also decided to engrave the Yi and Shi boards again, and Chen Pengnian and Feng Yuan were ordered to revise and correct them. Afterward, if there were any errors or omissions in the Nine Classics and Shiwen, they were all re-examined and engraved." In the fifth year of the Tianxi era (1021), "it was ordered that the Imperial Academy engrave the boards for the classics again due to their deterioration over the years." (Photocopy page 814) This re-engraving of the Nine Classics annotations printed during the Five Dynasties period included Wang Bi's annotations to the Zhouyi, Kongzi's commentary to the Shangshu, Zheng Xuan's annotations to the Mao Shi, Zheng Xuan's annotations to the Rites of Zhou, Zheng Xuan's annotations to the Rites of the Rites, Zheng Xuan's annotations to the Liji, Du Yu's Collected Explanations of the Spring and Autumn Annals and Commentaries, He Xiu's Commentary on the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, Fan Ning's Collected Explanations of the Guli Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's annotations to the Xiaojing, He Yan's Collected Explanations of the Lunyu, and Guo Pu's annotations to the Erya.
The above are several activities of printing Confucian classics during the Northern Song Dynasty. They were all selected and revised by the court, published and distributed by the Imperial Academy, and became the standard texts followed by the world. These Northern Song Dynasty editions have not been passed down to this day. Some can be inferred from the re-engraved editions of the Southern Song Dynasty, while others are difficult to know in detail. The above activities of printing Confucian classics were either self-printed by the Imperial Academy or printed in Hangzhou or Chengdu under the Imperial Academy. During the Southern Song Dynasty, on the one hand, the Imperial Academy had weak financial resources, and most of the boards were engraved in various prefectures, and on the other hand, woodblock printing technology had fully developed, and private and commercial printing were extremely flourishing. Therefore, the printing of Confucian classics during the Southern Song Dynasty included imperial academy editions, prefectural and county editions, private family editions, and commercial editions; there were single annotation editions, as well as combined annotation editions, supplementary pronunciation editions, illustrated annotated editions, and editions with repeated wording and meaning, among other types. The widespread publication and diversification of the forms of Confucian classics greatly facilitated the dissemination and popularization of classics. Below are several important activities of printing Confucian classics during the Southern Song Dynasty.
During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Imperial Academy re-engraved the Northern Song Dynasty editions of the classics' annotations. The boards of the Imperial Academy of the Northern Song Dynasty were completely looted by the Jin people during the Jingkang disaster. After Emperor Gaozong crossed the Yangtze River, due to the lack of classics, he decided to spend heavily to engrave the Northern Song Dynasty imperial academy editions of the classics. The Yuhai records in Volume 43, "Jingde Books and Lacquered Boards, Revision and Correction of Four Classics," state: "On the seventh day of the ninth month of the ninth year of the Shaoxing era (1139), an edict was issued to various prefectures to collect the original good editions of the Imperial Academy for examination and engraving. In the intercalary eleventh month of the fifteenth year, the Doctor Wang Zhiwang requested that the annotations of the classics without boards be engraved in Lin'an Prefecture. In the fifth month of the twenty-first year, an edict was issued ordering the Imperial Academy to search for the old boards of the five classics and the three academies." (Photocopy page 815) The editions of the classics re-engraved during the Shaoxing era included single classics, annotated classics, and single annotation editions. Several single annotation editions from the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty have been passed down, allowing us to glimpse the appearance of the Northern Song Dynasty imperial academy editions. These books were named as imperial academy editions, but in fact, the engraving work was carried out by various prefectures and counties in Jiangnan.
During the reigns of Emperors Gaozong, Guangzong, and Ningzong of the Southern Song Dynasty, the tea and salt bureau of East Zhejiang Road successively printed combined annotation editions of the classics. The Confucian classics printed before this were either single classics, annotated classics, or single annotation classics. By the Shaoxing era of Emperor Gaozong, combined annotation editions of the classics began to appear, printing the text, annotations, and annotations together for easier reading. In the existing combined annotation edition of the Liji Justice printed by the tea and salt bureau of East Zhejiang Road, there is a postscript by Huang Tang from the third year of the Shaohui era (1192) of Emperor Guangzong, which states: "The annotations of the six classics, from the Beijing and Shu editions, all omit the text and annotations. Moreover, the chapters are scattered and disorganized, which is a problem for readers. The bureau had previously published the Yi, Shi, and Rites of Zhou with the text and annotations combined in one book for easy reading, but only the other classics were missing. In the first winter of the Xinhai year of Shaohui, Tang, a member of the bureau, took Mao Shi and Liji..."