The Hall of Arts

AnonymousThe Commercial Press · ChinaJul 2024

Rating 2.5
Word count
7.1K words
Chapters
50

Tags

Classical Poetry Tang Lost GemArt SpaceLeisurely MoodAnonymous WorkObject ChantHall ImageryShort FormClassical VerseScholar's TasteElegant Style

Summary

"Yitang" is a poem composed by the Tang dynasty poet Zheng Sun.

Editor's review

Though it survives only as a single Tang poem, "Yitang" holds special value as a textual and bibliographic artifact thanks to its base text from the original Republican-era Commercial Press edition. Zheng Sun's poem is not a prominent work in the Tang poetic corpus, and precisely for this reason it preserves the selective eye of an era and offers a glimpse into how a traditional publishing house compiled and presented an individual poem. The book is compact and well suited as a specimen for close reading of classical poetry, allowing readers to study diction, imagery, and structure within a single poem rather than pursuing a grand narrative of literary history. It can be read as a cross-section: read the poem while noting the layout, headnotes, and editorial arrangement of the original edition, and gain an understanding of the basic forms of Republican-era collation of ancient texts. For readers familiar with Tang anthologies, the book offers not new knowledge but a path of retrospect, reminding us how classics are shaped by repeated printing and selection. Best read slowly in quiet moments, with commentaries and reference works at hand, for a more solid payoff.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read the original poem and the original edition's headnote first, then use reference works to verify difficult words and phrases one by one.
  2. Have a Tang anthology on hand for comparison, and observe how different anthologies treat Zheng Sun's poem.
  3. Note the layout and arrangement of the original Republican edition, and observe it as a physical textual artifact.
  4. After reading, write a short review of about a hundred words recording the most direct changes in your understanding of the poem.

About the publisher

The Commercial Press China · Founded in 1897

"Republic-era Commercial Press Original Editions" refers to original books printed by The Commercial Press during the Republican period, not a separate publishing house. Judging from the 300 titles held in the collection, its publishing focus centers on classical poetry and lyrics, literary appreciation, classic works, military texts, prose and miscellaneous writings, and Eastern philosophy. Representative titles include Wang Guowei's Renjian Cihua, Zhong Rong's Shipin, the lyric collections of Xin Qiji and Liu Yong, Sun Wu's The Art of War, and Lü Buwei's Xianshi Lan. Its author resources are mainly classical writers, together with modern scholars such as Li Jingbang and Guo Huaruo, whose collations and annotations are also represented, giving the list a character centered on original texts while attending to annotation and appreciation. Public information on the precise Republican-era catalog and printings is limited; this overview is based only on the titles held in the collection.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 【早登新安县楼】罗隐
  3. 卷665_33【干越亭】罗隐
  4. 卷665_34【南园题】罗隐
  5. 卷665_35【人日新安道中见梅花（其年以徐寇停举）】罗隐
  6. 卷665_36【许由庙】罗隐
  7. 卷665_37【题段太尉庙】罗隐
  8. 卷665_38【湘妃庙】罗隐
  9. 卷665_39【八骏图】罗隐
  10. 卷665_40【庭花】罗隐
  11. 卷665_41【病中题主人庭鹤】罗隐
  12. 卷665_42【蝉】罗隐
  13. 卷665_43【薛阳陶觱篥歌】罗隐
  14. 卷665_44【酬丘光庭】罗隐
  15. 卷665_45【投宣武郑尚书二十韵】罗隐
  16. 卷665_46【投浙东王大夫二十韵】罗隐
  17. 卷665_47【寄剡县主簿】罗隐
  18. 卷665_48【中秋不见月】罗隐
  19. 卷665_49【答宗人衮】罗隐
  20. 卷665_50【早行】罗隐
  21. 卷665_51【咏白菊（一作罗绍威诗）】罗隐
  22. 卷665_52【晚泊宿松】罗隐
  23. 卷665_53【钱塘遇默师忆润州旧游】罗隐
  24. 卷665_54【江南别】罗隐
  25. 卷665_55【四顶山】罗隐
  26. 卷665_56【姥山】罗隐
  27. 卷665_57【岐王宅】罗隐
  28. 卷665_58【长明灯】罗隐
  29. 卷665_59【堋口逢人】罗隐
  30. 卷665_60【遇边使】罗隐
  31. 卷665_61【移住别友】罗隐
  32. 卷665_62【宫词】罗隐
  33. 卷665_63【泾溪】罗隐
  34. 卷665_64【题杜甫集】罗隐
  35. 卷665_65【感弄猴人赐朱绂】罗隐
  36. 卷665_66【题磻溪垂钓图】罗隐
  37. 卷665_67【春风】罗隐
  38. 卷665_68【竹下残雪】罗隐
  39. 卷665_69【杏花】罗隐
  40. 卷665_70【镇海军所贡（题不全）】罗隐
  41. 卷665_71【席上歌水调】罗隐
  42. 卷665_72【题新榜（在浙幕，沈崧得新榜示题其末）】罗隐
  43. 卷665_73【句】罗隐
  44. 卷六百六十六
  45. 卷666_1【比红儿诗】罗虬
  46. 卷666_2【句】罗虬
  47. 卷六百六十七
  48. 卷667_1【星精亭】郑损
  49. 卷667_2【钓阁】郑损
  50. 卷667_3【玉声亭】郑损

FAQ

Does this book contain only one poem? According to available information, "Yitang" is a poem composed by the Tang dynasty poet Zheng Sun, from the original Republican-era Commercial Press edition. It is therefore better seen as the presentation of a single poem in a particular edition rather than a poetry collection or anthology, and reading should focus on close reading and observation of the edition.
Can I read it without a foundation in classical Chinese? Yes, but you will need support. The original edition usually provides no modern vernacular annotation, so it is advisable to use a classical Chinese dictionary and reference works of Tang poetry commentary, resolving vocabulary obstacles first and then appreciating the poetry; the pace will be slower.
What significance does the original Republican edition have for general readers? It preserves the editorial methods and publishing forms of a particular period and lets readers see the process by which a classic text was selected and typeset. For general readers this significance may not be directly useful, but it adds a direct sense of how ancient texts were transmitted.

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About the author

Anonymous Author

Anonymous is not a real personal name but a general Chinese designation for authors whose names are unknown, lost, or unsigned. Neither nationality nor dates of birth and death can be verified, and available public information is limited, so the works attributed to this name are the only basis for description. The collection holds 2,078 works under Anonymous, spanning medicine, classics, historical readings, ancient poetry, classical literature, and philosophy. Representative works include The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Lingshu, Mencius, The Book of Documents, Nineteen Old Poems, Complete Song Ci, and The Peacock Flies Southeast. Most of these works took shape through long transmission and editing, emerging either from collective folk creation or from authors whose names were lost over time. In ancient China, the Book of Songs, the Great Learning, and many popular storybooks and plays were signed Anonymous because their authors could not be traced. Anonymous works cross the classics, histories, philosophical writings, medical texts, and poetry; their subjects are broad, and their styles vary from archaic simplicity to clear naturalness, making them important and influential sources for understanding ancient Chinese thought, medicine, and literature.