Issues Sources Problems and possibilities

1. Issues • Sources • Problems and possibilities

2. 1. Issues • Two important concerns in the period 1. Class identity (士/庶) and family lineage 2. The writing of local history • Official ranks: prestige (清/濁)vs. power • The year 317 CE • 原籍 vs. 出生地 • Regional factor in social status: *Northern immigrants vs. native Southern families *Early and later Northern immigrants

3. The sixth century: “a cultural elite”—members of the lower gentry and native Southerners *Imperial gift-giving and similar acts of favor and grace to award a well-written poem *appointment or restoration of office as reward for literary talent and scholarship • Non-kinship associations: * Groups formed around discussions of literature and literary scholarship *Patrons: non-royal personages [e.g. Zhang Hua 張華 (232-300), Ren Fang任昉 (460-508), “those who had passed the Dragon Gate”龍門之游, Shen Yue 沈約 (441-513)] Create a category or subcategory for such non-kinship associations?

4. 2. Sources 1 • Standard sources: 史傳、墓誌銘、造像記等等 • Other sources: • Local histories and locale-specific biographies E.g. Chang Qu’s 常璩 (291?-361) 華陽國志 The earliest extant local history on Sichuan. It includes the appendix “A List of Gentlemen and Gentlewomen of Yi, Liang and Ning from the Former Han” 益梁寧三州先漢以來士女目 錄. Xi Zuochi 習鑿齒 (fl. 4th century)，襄陽耆舊記

5. Sources 2.1 2) Family or clan histories (jiazhuan家傳) *Caveat about local and family/clan histories: Pre-Tang sources are often no longer extant in entirety but in fragmentary form. We have a large number of fragments of books preserved in encyclopedias compiled in Sui and Tang (and to a less degree Northern Song) and in commentaries and annotations to standard histories and literary works.

6. Sources 2.2 Some examples of sources that preserve fragments of pre-Tang works on local history and family/clan history: • 裴松之 (372-451)，陳壽 (233-97) 《三國志》注 陳述 (fl. mid-third century), 益部耆舊傳雜記 陳壽，益部耆舊傳 • 酈道元 (d. 527),《水經》注 • 李善 (d. 689), 蕭統 (501-531) 《文選》注 *LiuWeiyi 劉緯毅,ed. Han Tang fangzhi jiyi漢唐方志輯佚 (from 445 titles) (Beijing, 1997) Does not include 習鑿齒，襄陽耆舊記

7. Sources 3 3) Biographies of special social groups Examples: *Biographies of recluses: 皇甫謐 (215-282)，列女傳，高士傳 *Religious biographies 寶唱，比丘尼傳 (comp. 516) 惠皎 (497-554)，高僧傳

8. Sources 4 4) Collections of short narratives, including anecdotal collections, paradoxography and Buddhist miracle tales.

9. Sources 5 5) “Masters Literature”: works like these include an autobiographical chapter; some also have anecdotes scattered throughout. Most notably: Dianlun 典論 (3rd century) Baopuzi抱樸子 (4th century) Jinlouzi金樓子 (6th century)

10. Sources 6 6) Letters, communications, thank-you notes; funerary genres such as laments, sacrificial essays and tomb inscriptions *About thank-you notes (poem or prose): gift-giving is an important type of association, but gift-giving from emperors, crown princes and princes should be differentiated from gift-giving between social equals. **Yan Kejun 嚴可均, Quan shanggu sandai Qin Han sanguo liuchao wen全上古三代秦漢三國六朝文 (Academia Sinica database)

11. Sources 7 7) Poetry *Chinese poetry is characterized by its social nature. Poems are part of social and political life. Poetry tells us more about social relationships than dynastic history biographies or other biographical writings. In this period, titles of poems become increasingly narrative and give detailed account of the occasion of composition. **Lu Qinli 逯欽立, Xian Qin Han Wei Jin nanbeichao shi先秦漢魏晉南北朝詩(Academia Sinica database)

12. 3. Problems and possibilities: Intelligent mining vs. mechanical mining • Understanding the terms • Differences involved in the choice of certain standard terms in poem titles: 應詔，應制，應令，應教 贈，呈；答， 奉答；酬，奉酬；和，奉和 • The meaning of terms depends on context: E.g. 寒，寒門，寒士，寒人，寒賤 *Jiang Xue 江斅 (fl. early fifth century), who claimed that he had come from “a waning clan of humble lineage” 寒門悴族

13. 3. Problems and possibilities 2) Textual variants 王筠《以服散鎗贈殷鈞別》，王筠一作吳筠，吳筠或為 “吳均” (469-520) 誤字 Wang Yun (481-549) was a member of the Langye Wang clan and a famous poet of the day; Yin Jun (484-532) was the son-in-law of Emperor Wu of Liang. Wu Jun was another contemporary poet. Wang Yun and Yin Jun associated with each other in the crown prince Xiao Tong’s residence; but it is not impossible that Wu Jun and Yin Jun were friends with each other as well.

14. 3. Problems and possibilities 3) Sub-databases or subsets individually developed for works produced in the period? • Liu Yiqing 劉義慶 (403-444), Shishuo xinyu世說新語: a collection of anecdotes, divided into thematic categories, involving about 600 people (most from the 4th century) and their complicated relationships. • Other sub-databases could be developed for Yan Zhitui 顏之推 (531-?591), Family Instructions for the Yan Clan顏氏家訓; Yang Xuanzhi 楊衒之 (ca. 547), An Account of the Monasteries of Luoyang洛陽伽藍記. • All these works are available in Academia Sinica database.