Poetry of Pre-Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties (Complete Three Volumes)

Author: Dai Qinli
Publisher:
Publication Date: Not available
Features: This book comprises 135 volumes, including all poems, ballads, and proverbs from the pre-Qin, Wei-Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties periods, except for the Book of Songs and Chuci. It provides detailed annotations on sources and variant versions of texts, and each poet is preceded by a brief biography, making it an important reference work for the study of Chinese poetry history. It is a comprehensive collection of poetry from the pre-Qin, Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties periods. In the Ming Dynasty, there was Feng Weine's Poetry Records, and in the modern era, there was Ding Fubao's Complete Han, Wei, Three Kingdoms, and Northern and Southern Dynasties Poetry. The former was overly cluttered and failed to distinguish between authentic and spurious works, while the latter, although it corrected some of the former's shortcomings, still left room for improvement and omitted pre-Qin songs and poems. Both books did not annotate the sources of their citations. The strengths of Lü Qinli's book are:
① Extensive sources. Works from the Sui Dynasty and earlier, except for the Book of Songs and Chuci, are included if they are songs, poems, ballads, or proverbs. It cites references from over 300 works in the Four Treasuries.
② Detailed sources. Every poem is clearly annotated with the book and volume in which it appears, without exception, even for a single word or phrase.
③ Accurate variant texts. All variant texts from different books, variant texts from different versions of the same book, and previous scholars' corrections that are worth referencing are recorded.
④ Rigorous textual research. The book offers many original insights in its annotations.
⑤ Well-organized arrangement. The volumes are arranged according to the birth and death dates of the authors, which shows the connections and influences between contemporary writers and makes it easier to compare different poetic styles and schools. However, since the final draft was not completed before the compiler passed away, there are inevitably some errors. Overall, the book remains one of the most complete and user-friendly works of its kind.