Dong du shi lüe 東都事略 [Abridged Events of the Eastern Metropolis]

Part of Song, Liao, Jin, Yuan si shi 宋遼金元四史 [Four Historiographical Works on the Song, Liao, Jin, and Yuan]. 12 vols. 8vo, orig. wrappers, orig. stitching. [China]: Saoye shanfang 埽 [read: 掃] 葉山房, [1798].




An edition of a history of the Northern Song (960-1127), originally part of a series of four historical works, as advertised on the title page. The "Eastern Metropolis" of the title refers to Kaifeng, capital of the Northern Song. Abridged Events of the Eastern Metropolis is a work in the so-called annals-biography (jizhuan ti 紀傳體) format. It recounts the history of nine reigns of the Northern Song.


The authors, Wang Shang (d. 1150) and Wang Cheng, were father and son. In 1187, Wang Cheng presented Abridged Events of the Eastern Metropolis to the court, where Hong Mai 洪邁 (1123-1202) used it extensively in his own work. Hong presented the book to the throne, and Wang Cheng was made custodian of the imperial library. Wang Cheng alone is often listed as the author of the work, but Tang Guangrong 唐光榮 has argued convincingly that Wang Cheng continued the work begun by his father, and that this fact was well known at the time. Wang Shang is thus to be counted as a co-author (Tang, in Mao et al., Zhongguo wenhua shijia, 260-68).


The history was little known in its own time but was well received by posterity. The editors of Siku quanshu 四庫全書 [Complete Books of the Four Repositories] remarked that Abridged Events was one of three works representing "the most outstanding and worthy of being transmitted among privately published histories in the Song."


The publisher of our edition, Saoye shanfang, or the "Mountain dwelling of sweeping leaves," was "a famous commercial publisher...Initially, it was established in Suzhou, but it later established branches in Shanghai, Hankou, and other places" (Zhou, Tushuguan xue qingbao xue cidian, 370). One authority writes that it was Xi Shichen 席世臣 (b. ca. 1756, d. before 1814), the editor of our book, who founded the publishing venture in the late 18th century (Yang, Saoye shanfang shi yanjiu, 43).


Our edition is not dated, but it carries Prefaces by Xie Qikun 謝啟昆 and Ruan Yuan 阮元 dated 1798 (Jiaqing 3) and one by Xi Shichen, the editor, dated 1795 (Qianlong yimao). Reportedly, the book was first published in 1795 and then reprinted with the addition of Xie's and Ruan's Prefaces (Yang, 51). At the very beginning of the book, the corresponding bibliographical précis from the Siku quanshu has been included.


Fine set, preserved in a hantao. Cf. WorldCat 51202166, which mentions 10 volumes, whereas our copy has 12.



References


Mao Yuanming 毛远明 et al., eds. Zhongguo wenhua shijia: Ba-Shu juan 中国文化世家：巴蜀卷. Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe, 2004.


Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual. Enlarged 6th edition. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2022.


Yang Libao 杨丽莹. Saoye shanfang shi yanjiu 扫叶山房史研究. Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe, 2013.


Zhou Wenjun 周文骏. Tushuguan xue qingbao xue cidian 图书馆学情报学词典. Beijing: Shumu wenxian chubanshe, 1991.