The Qingyuan Proscription of Factions

沧洲樵叟Jun 2024

4.0

Word count: 19K words
Chapters: 6

Summary

Traditional Chinese thought and culture have a long history and are highly original, inventive, and literary. Early intellectual forms are especially distinctive: religious theology, classical texts of Chinese medicine, ancient military strategy, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and the Hundred Schools, feng shui and metaphysical learning, the Twenty-Four Histories, and local customs and geography—all are profound and extensive. The "Essence of Classic Chinese Learning: Original Texts" series preserves the original appearance of the books and focuses on conserving and transmitting traditional Chinese thought and culture. By reading the literary essence left by ancient sages, readers cultivate their temperament and subtly come to appreciate the classics of Chinese learning.

Editor's review

Qingyuan Dangjin (The Qingyuan Proscription) belongs to the "Essence of Classic Chinese Learning: Original Texts" series, whose aim is to preserve the original appearance of the text, offering readers an entry point at the level of primary sources for understanding the historical event of the party proscription during the Qingyuan era of the Southern Song. The book continues the series' approach to organizing traditional thought and culture, emphasizing the presentation of ancient texts in their original form rather than popularized narrative retelling or modern scholarly interpretation. For readers familiar with Southern Song political history, the fate of Daoxue, and factional strife, this book can serve as basic material for encountering relevant records; read alongside other historical sources, it allows a more complete grasp of the event's development and the atmosphere of the era. It should be read as a documentary reader rather than a narrative work, with attention to distinguishing the original book's structure and historical context, and with an appreciation, within the series' overall framework, of the significance of preserving and transmitting traditional classics. It is suitable for slow reading in a quiet study environment, taking notes while reading and cross-referencing related works on Southern Song history, for more solid gains.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature and history enthusiasts interested in Southern Song political history and the Qingyuan proscription
Students of ancient history who need to consult primary sources to support research
Classics readers interested in the preservation of traditional texts in their original form
Readers who wish to understand factional strife on the basis of historical sources

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting popular storytelling and a relaxed reading experience
Beginners lacking a foundation in classical Chinese who need sentence-by-sentence vernacular translation and annotation
Readers seeking systematic modern scholarly argumentation and summaries of viewpoints

Reading tips

First understand the basic background of the Qingyuan proscription, then enter the original text to reduce obstacles to comprehension.
Read alongside related works on Southern Song history, placing the original records within a concrete historical context.
Mark figures, events, and chronological clues as you read, to facilitate cross-referencing and sorting out.
Treat it as a documentary reader within the series and read it alternately with other original classics of Chinese learning.

版权信息
庆元党禁
御题庆元党禁
原序
庆元党禁
正文

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no foundation in classical Chinese at all?

Not very. This book is a reader that preserves the original appearance of the text, emphasizing the presentation of the traditional text as it is, and does not provide sentence-by-sentence vernacular translation or detailed annotation. Readers with no foundation in classical Chinese may be hindered by vocabulary and structure; it is advisable first to acquire some ability to read literary Chinese, or to read alongside relevant translated and annotated editions.

What historical background should I understand before reading?

It is advisable first to gain a general understanding of the causes of the Qingyuan proscription during the reign of Emperor Ningzong of the Southern Song, the figures involved, and the situation of Daoxue, knowing that this was a political event intertwined with factional and scholarly disputes. With the basic thread in mind, reading the relevant records in the original book makes it easier to locate personal relationships and the sequence of events, avoiding seeing only fragments without knowing what they refer to.

Is this book a specialized study of the Qingyuan proscription?

Judging from the materials, it belongs to the "Essence of Classic Chinese Learning: Original Texts" series, emphasizing the conservation and transmission of traditional thought and culture and the preservation of the original appearance of the text; it is not a monographic study written by a modern scholar. Readers should treat it as reading material at the level of primary sources rather than as ready-made scholarly conclusions or systematic analysis.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

沧洲樵叟 Author

Cangzhou Qiaosou, whose real name and life remain unknown, has only limited publicly available information. All that is known is that a single work is attributed to this author, titled The Qingyuan Proscription of the Party (Qingyuan Dangjin), classified under Eastern philosophy. The Qingyuan proscription was a political suppression of Dao-learning scholars during the Qingyuan reign of Emperor Ningzong of the Southern Song, and later accounts largely revolve around this event. Based on the available information, the book presumably takes this historical event as its subject and is a work of historical narrative or source compilation. The author used the sobriquet "Cangzhou Qiaosou"; their true name, native place, dates of birth and death, and scholarly background cannot be verified. Since only this one work is held in the collection, it is difficult to summarize the author's overall writing style or intellectual trajectory, though it may be inferred that the author was concerned with the relationship between Southern Song politics and Dao-learning. Readers should approach the book in the context of Southern Song political and Neo-Confucian history, and should note the problems of source provenance raised by the author's unidentified identity.