Discourses on the Song Dynasty

Wang Fuzhi北京汇聚文源文化发展有限公司 · ChinaJul 2024

4.6

Word count: 158K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Traditional Chinese thought and culture have a long history and are highly original, inventive, and literary. Early modes of thought have distinctive features; religious theology, classical texts of Chinese medicine, ancient military strategy, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and the Hundred Schools of Thought, feng shui and metaphysics, the Twenty-Four Histories, and local customs and geography are all profound and extensive. This "Essence of Classic Chinese Culture: Original Texts" series preserves the original appearance of the books and focuses on preserving and transmitting traditional Chinese thought and culture. By reading the literary essence left by ancient sages, readers can cultivate their character and subtly come to appreciate the classics of Chinese learning.

Editor's review

Song Lun is Wang Fuzhi's representative work of late-life historical commentary. Taking the political situation, institutions, and figures from the Northern Song to the Southern Song as its thread, it analyzes layer by layer the deep causes of Song weakness and factional strife. Wang Fuzhi lived in the late Ming and early Qing, and used discussion of Song history to convey his reflections on rise and fall, order and chaos; his brush is cold and sharp, his judgments original, and he often finds new meaning in ordinary historical events. His discussions of monarchical power, ministerial power, the civil service examinations, the military system, and finance have both the framework of traditional Confucian principle and a strong sense of contemporary critique. This book should not be read as a general introduction to Song history, but as a work of historical commentary with a pronounced sense of problematic. It is suitable for careful reading after one has a basic outline of Song history; read alongside the relevant annals and biographies in Song Shi, one can better appreciate the force of his argumentation arising from history. This edition preserves the original appearance of the text, making it easy to appreciate Wang Fuzhi's language style and rhythm of argument, and is an indispensable text for studying traditional historical commentary.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who already have a basic outline of Song history and hope to understand deeply the strengths and weaknesses of Song institutions
Upper-level undergraduates and graduate students interested in traditional historical commentary and political thought
Readers who like a cold, sharp critical style and are willing to appreciate the logic of argument in the original text
Professionals engaged in the history of Chinese historiography or Ming-Qing intellectual history

Not a good fit for

Beginning readers with no foundation in Song history encountering ancient historical commentary for the first time
General leisure readers expecting light, story-oriented history books
Readers unaccustomed to classical Chinese expression and with limited patience for reading

Reading tips

First read through the relevant imperial annals and biographies of famous ministers in Song Shi to establish a basic framework of historical facts before reading this book.
Excerpt Wang Fuzhi's judgments on monarchical power, the military system, and factional strife by theme, and compare them item by item with historical facts.
After finishing each juan, write a short review of three hundred characters, asking about the evidentiary boundaries and contemporary standpoint of his judgments.
Mark obscure allusions first, consult them together, then return to reread the relevant passages.

About the publisher

北京汇聚文源文化发展有限公司 China

Beijing Huiju Wenyuan Cultural Development Co., Ltd. is a cultural institution focused on publishing traditional Chinese classics. Public information about the company is limited, and its publishing profile is mainly reflected in the 83 books in the database. Judging from its representative titles, the company attends to classics across the traditional Four Categories of Chinese literature. The Lotus Sutra relates to Buddhist literature; Comprehensive Institutions, A Record of Reading in the Prefectural Studio, and The Meaning of Textual Criticism are works of history and bibliography; New Songs from the Jade Terrace is a literary anthology; Agricultural Administration in Its Entirety concerns agricultural policy and practice; and Annotations to the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals and Discourse on the Song Dynasty reflect the directions of classical scholarship and historical commentary. Its authors include Du You, Chao Gongwu, Xu Ling, Xu Guangqi, He Xiu, Zhang Xuecheng, and Wang Fuzhi, as well as anonymous works. Its common categories center on classic works, social sciences, Eastern philosophy, literary appreciation, and philosophical reading, indicating a publishing orientation characterized by the organization of traditional scholarly primary texts and the promotion of traditional cultural reading.

版权信息
宋论卷一太祖
宋论卷二太宗
宋论卷三真宗
宋论卷四仁宗
宋论卷五英宗
宋论卷六神宗
宋论卷七哲宗
宋论卷八徽宗
宋论卷九钦宗
宋论卷十高宗
宋论卷十一孝宗
宋论卷十二光宗
宋论卷十三宁宗
宋论卷十四理宗
宋论卷十五度宗

FAQ

Can I read Song Lun directly without a foundation in Song history?

You can try, but it will be quite difficult. Song Lun takes specific historical events as the object of discussion; if you lack a basic understanding of the political situation and figures from the Northern Song to the Southern Song, it is easy to see only conclusions without knowing what they are aimed at. It is advisable first to read a concise Song history or the relevant annals and biographies in Song Shi, then enter this book; understanding will be much smoother.

How does Song Lun differ from general works on Song history?

It is not a general history narrating historical facts, but critical writing by Wang Fuzhi on Song politics, institutions, and figures. Its focus is not on what happened, but on why it was so and where gains and losses lay; it carries a strong sense of contemporary critique, and readers should note its problematic background in the late Ming and early Qing.

This edition preserves the original appearance of the text; what should readers note?

Preserving the original appearance means the language and arrangement are more traditional, and there may not be extensive modern annotations. Readers need their own reference works or online resources to look up allusions and institutional terms, and should note textual differences between editions; when encountering difficulties, they may consult other collated editions.

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About the author

Wang Fuzhi Author · Chinese · 1619–1692

Wang Fuzhi (1619–1692), courtesy name Er Nong and pseudonym Jiang Zhai, was known as Mr. Chuanshan. A native of Hengyang, Hunan, he was a thinker, philosopher, historian and literary figure of the late Ming and early Qing periods. He lived through the Ming–Qing transition, once raised troops to resist the Qing, and later lived in seclusion at Shichuan Mountain for more than forty years, producing over a hundred works. His writings cover philosophy, history, literary appreciation and social thought, with representative works including the Du Tongjian Lun, Song Lun, Huang Shu and Jiang Zhai Wen Ji. He is regarded as the great synthesizer of traditional Chinese materialist thought and, together with Huang Zongxi and Gu Yanwu, is counted among the three great thinkers of the late Ming and early Qing. His historical commentaries draw lessons from the past with rigorous reasoning; his philosophical works carry forward and develop Zhang Zai's thought; and his literary criticism is perceptive and original. His posthumous writings have had a profound influence on later generations.