A Songru Xue'an Edition Collected in the Institute of History and Philology: Its Compilation and Circulation in the Mid-Qing

Abstract

Song Yuan xue'an (sic) case studies of Song and Yuan learning) was complied first by Huang Zongxi (1610-1695), then taken on by Quan Zuwang (1705-1755); and finally finished based on Quan Zuwang's manuscript in the hands of Wang Zicai and Feng Yunhao in the Daoguang era of the Qing dynasty. Both Wang and Feng attached their preface to the front of the Song Yuan xue'an, introducing all versions of the manuscript for the text and making some judgments on these versions. Based on their judgments, readers are prone to assume that the work of compiling the text was mostly done by Quan Zuwang in a single line of textual transmission. However, another version of the manuscript was compiled by Huang Zongxi's descendant, Huang Zhang, and is now collected in the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. Its existence shows us that the textual history of the Song Yuan xue'an followed several lines of transmission, and that the contents of the text can be shown to be close to Huang Zongxi's original.