Traditional Confucian Education Series - A Thousand Poems

Author: (Song) Xie Fangde (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-06-01
Features: In the 45th year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1706), Cao Xueqin's grandfather, Cao Yin, published "Lingting Twelve Varieties," which included "Fenmen Zuanlei Tang Song Shixian Qianjia Shixuan." The entire book consists of 22 volumes, divided into 14 categories, and is attributed to "[Houcun Mr. as Compiler]." [Houcun Mr.] refers to Liu Kezhuang of the Southern Song Dynasty (1187–1269), styled Qianfu, who called himself Houcun Jushi. However, some argue that the collection was not compiled by Liu Kezhuang but may have been produced by publishers who borrowed his reputation to gain favor. Later, two other "Qianjia Shixuan" collections appeared: the seven-character "Zengbu Chongding Qianjia Shixuan," attributed to Xie Fangde (compiler) and Wang Xiang (annotation), and the five-character "Xinjuang Wuyan Qianjia Shixuan," attributed to Wang Xiang (compiler and annotation). Both were used as educational texts for children. Eventually, bookshops combined the five-character and seven-character poems into one volume, collectively titled "Qianjia Shixuan," which is the edition being published now.