Poetry of Pre-Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties (3 volumes in total)

Author: Lu Qinli (compilation and annotation)
Publisher:
Publication Date: Not available
Features: This collection comprises 135 volumes, including all poems, ballads, and folk sayings from the pre-Qin, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties periods, except for the Classic of Poetry and the Songs of Chu. It provides detailed annotations on sources and variant versions of texts, with brief biographies of each poet preceding their works. It serves as an important reference for the study of Chinese poetry history. This anthology gathers poetry from the pre-Qin, Han, Wei, and the Six Dynasties periods. In the Ming Dynasty, there was Feng Weina's Poetry Records, and in the modern era, Ding Fubao's Complete Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties Poetry. The former is disorganized and lacks discernment between authentic and spurious works, while the latter, though it corrected some of the former's shortcomings, still failed to fully rectify errors and omitted pre-Qin ballads and lost poems. Neither of these two works provides annotations on the sources of quoted texts. The strengths of Lu Qinli's work are:
① Extensive sources. Works before the Sui Dynasty, except for the Classic of Poetry and the Songs of Chu, are included if they are songs, poems, ballads, or folk sayings. It cites references from over 300 works in the Four Treasuries.
② Detailed sources. Every poem is annotated with the specific book and volume in which it appears, without exception, even for single words or phrases.
③ Accurate variant texts. All variant texts from different books, or different versions of the same book, as well as previous scholars' annotations, are recorded if they are of reference value.
④ Rigorous textual criticism. The book offers many unique insights in its judgments.
⑤ Well-organized arrangement. The volumes are arranged chronologically based on the birth and death dates of the authors, revealing connections and influences among contemporaneous writers and facilitating comparisons of different poetic styles and schools. However, since the final draft was not completed before the compiler's death, there are inevitable omissions and errors. Overall, the work remains one of the most comprehensive and user-friendly in its category.