Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/495

CHINA (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) 483 the throne, records, prefaces and dedications, miscellaneous pieces, poems, sacrificial docu- ments, epitaphs, and sepulchral inscriptions. The emperors of the present dynasty have dis- tinguished themselves in this class more than in any other ; and we have a bulky series from the different monarchs. Thus there is a liter- ary collection of 176 books, besides another of poems in 28 books, by the second emperor of the line. His successor has left a collection in 30 books, and the fourth monarch has left col- lections to the amount of 166 books. Single poems should also come within this category, such as the Hwa tseen ke, a love tale written in metrical stanzas. (English by Thorns, " Chi- nese Courtship," London, 1824.) In the 6th century a new class of works appeared, which may be termed anthologies. The first of these was compiled about 530, by the son of the founder of the Leang dynasty. It is named Wan seuen, and is still one of the best known, the contents being selections from all preceding writers of fame. The subjects into which it is divided are anomalous verse, poems, elegies, sevens verse, decrees, appointments, orders, in- structions, essays, manifestations, statements, declarations, accusations, documents, memo- rials, epistles, notifications, replies, rejoinders, farewells, prefaces, eulogiums, commendations, contracts, historical relations, commendatory historical narrations, discourses, literary gems, admonitions, monumental legends, obituaries, laments, inscriptions, epitaphs, memoirs, dirges, and sacrificial orations. A notable work of this kind, with the title Koo wan yuen keen, in 64 books, was published by imperial commission in 1685. It gives an uninterrupted succession of choice literary selections, from the time of the Tso chuen down to the end of the Sung dynasty. The annotations of five eminent scholars are appended. A huge compilation of the poetry of the Tang dynasty, under the title Tseuen fangjahe, in 900 books, was issued in 1703, by imperial commission. Upward of 2,200 people were employed in making the collection, which they gathered from private histories, miscellaneous works, monumental records, and every available source, making altogether 48,900 pieces. The wri tings of Le T'ae-pih and T'oo Foo hold a prominent place in the collection. In the 4th or 5th century, when poetry and composition began to be more under the restraints of fixed and conventional laws, critiques on poetry and literature first made an appearance ; and to this class we are indebted for a fund of information on the his- tory, changes, internal mechanism, and chief aim of this much cultivated branch of art. As an example of these works may be noticed the She h'eo yuen Ice hwo fa ta ching, in 18 books, by Yu Seang, issued in 1697. The various ob- jects of the themes of poetry are detailed in the order of a cyclopaedia. The theme is first ex- plained, then its various applications, followed by quotations from the poets, the ideas em- bodied, and the application in the successive parts of a poem. This is followed by a kind of rhyming dictionary, in which a number of quo- tations are given under each rhyme, and notes for the artistic management of the same. In the last class are placed the "Rhymes and Songs." The tsze, or rhyme, is a composition between prose and poetry, in which the rhyme is repeated at the end of lines of indeterminate length, unfettered by the laws of versification. It first began to be used in the Tang dynasty, but is much more common in recent times, be- ing generally applied to light and trivial sub- jects. A large work of this class is the Yu ting leih tae she yu, in 100 books, published by imperial commission in 1707. This is a com- prehensive collection of the choicest rhymes, from the commencement of the art in the Tang dynasty down to the end of the Ming, com- prising 1,540 articles, making upward of 9,000 verses. A list of rhymers is included. The Weuh, or songs, embrace dramatic composi- tions, these being in great part choral effu- sions. These are barely acknowledged by lit- erary men as forming a part of the literature of the nation, although they are to be found in every book store. A much valued work of the kind is the Yuen jin plh chung Weuh, or " Hundred Plays of the Yuen Dynasty," being a selection from the productions of more than 200 dramatists who wrote about that period. As a dramatic composition the Se seang ke, or "Record of the Western Pavilion," holds the highest place in native estimation ; and next to it ranks the Pe-pa-ke, or " Tale of a Guitar." A well known collection of recent date is en- titled the Chuy pih Hew, numbering several tens of dramatic pieces. It has long been the custom in China to publish large collections of separate works, under the name of Ts'ung shoo, sometimes confined to specialties, but very of- ten ranging over the whole field of literature, and containing some choice or rare treatises in each department, according to the compiler's taste or fancy. These may consist of few or many volumes, some collections extending to hundreds. By this means many works are preserved, which would otherwise probably be lost sight of altogether. As an example of these, the Han wei ttfung shoo is a collection of 96 works written during the Han and Wei dynasties, and republished in the Ming dynasty by Ch'ing Yung in the above form. IV. PRINT- ING. There is reason to believe that print- ing by wooden blocks was known to the Chi- nese in the 6th century, though we scarcely hear anything of its application for four centu- ries later, till the advantages of the art became so manifest that we are told that in 932 Fung Taou and Le Yu; two ministers of the Later Han, memorialized the throne to have the " Nine Classics " revised and printed. The monarch complied, and in about 20 years the copies were in circulation. From that time, so rapidly did this stereotypography advance, that by the end of the 13th century the greater part of the manuscript literature of former ages