Shi Hua Zong Gui / Selected Works of Chinese Classical Literary Theory and Criticism

Author: (Song) Ruan Yue, edited and annotated by Zhou Benchun
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1987-08-01
Features: This book is one of the selections from "Selected Monographs on Chinese Classical Literary Theory and Criticism." Ruan Yue, styled Hongxiu, styled himself Sanweng, and also styled himself Songju Daoren, was from Shucheng. He passed the imperial examination in the eighth year of Yuanfeng (1085) and was listed as Meicheng. He served as a clerk in Qiantang and later became the county magistrate of Chaohu as a Ministry of Revenue official. During the Xuanhe era, he served as the prefect of Chenzhou (according to the preface of the poem and the preface of "A Hundred Poems of Chenzhou River," his first official post was in the second year of Xuanhe, while the "Official Register of Chenzhou" lists his appointment as "Zhijun" in the seventh year of Zhenghe, "promoted from the title of Chao"). He composed "A Hundred Poems of Chenzhou River" in seven-character quatrains (recorded in the Siku Quanshu, but only 92 survive). Due to his skill in quatrains, he was known as Ruan's Quatrain Master. In the first year of Jianyan in the Southern Song (1127), he served as the prefect of Yuanzhou as a Zhongfeng and retired, settling in Yichun. The Ming-era manuscript "Preface by Sanweng on the Longto Day of Shangxi (1161)" mentions "in the spring of Wuchen (1148), I traveled to Min and Chuan," but based on Ruan Yue's life and official career, the preface clearly appears to be a forgery. Ruan Yue's works include the five-volume "Songju Collection" (now lost), "A Hundred Poems of Chenzhou River," the ten-volume "Shihua Zongqu" (the precursor to "Shihua Zonggui"), the one-volume "Ci of Ruan the County Magistrate of Chaohu" (see "Catalogue of Ci Collections in Baisonglou"), and six surviving ci poems in the "Complete Ci of the Song Dynasty." The "Record of Rebuilding the City of Yuanzhou" in the Zhengde edition of the Yuanzhou Gazetteer includes the "Poem Preface to Wuxintang" and the two seven-character quatrains "On the Xuanfeng Road" and "On Chunbo Pavilion." The poems of Ruan the County Magistrate in the later collection of "Shihua Zonggui" are suspected to be by Ruan Yue, with only one seven-character quatrain cited.