Empresses and consorts selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States with Pei Songzhi's commentary |
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CHEN SHOU AND RECORDS OF THE THREE STATES |
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 | 5 Records of the Three States Empresses and consorts |  |
CHEN SHOU AND RECORDS OF THE THREE STATES
Chen Shou, author of Records of the Three States, was from Anhan
[OMITTED] prefecture in Baxi [OMITTED] commandery of Shu.[10] In his youth he
studied with an older historian from the same commandery, Qiao Zhou
[OMITTED] (201-270),[11] and learned the Shang shu [OMITTED] [Hallowed
Documents] and the three commentaries to the Spring and Autumn
Annals. But he especially concentrated on The Grand Scribe's Records
and the Han History.[12] Later, Chen was an official in Shu, where
he served as master of records (zhupu [OMITTED]) for the general of the
guards (wei jiangjun [OMITTED]), gentleman librarian in the Eastern
Library (Dongguan mishulang [OMITTED]), and cavalier gentleman-in-attendance
of the Yellow Gates (sanji Huangmen shilang [OMITTED]
[OMITTED]).[13] According to the Jin shu [OMITTED] [Jin History], Chen was removed
from office more than once because he chose to remain aloof from the
eunuch Huang Hao, who controlled Shu at the time.[14]
In 263 Shu was conquered by Wei, and two years later Sima Yan
[OMITTED] (236-290) abolished Wei and became the first ruler of the
Western Jin [OMITTED] (266-317). Chen, however, did not immediately take
office in the Jin government. Sometime before the change of regimes,
he was in mourning for his father, and during the mourning period,
he fell ill and had a maidservant concoct some pills for him to take.
This was apparently a violation of ritual and engendered censure, with
the result that Chen spent some years out of office.[15]
After a time, Chen Shou was recommended as filially pious and
incorrupt[16] by a powerful admirer, the influential official and literatus
Zhang Hua, and so came to serve the Jin. He became an assistant
gentleman editor (zuo zhuzuo lang [OMITTED]), then gentleman editor
(zhuzuo lang), and next chancellor of Pingyang marquisate (Pingyang
hou xiang [OMITTED]).[17] While Chen was serving as gentleman editor,
(d. 289) and Prefect of the Palace Writers (zhongshu ling [OMITTED]) He
Jiao [OMITTED] (d. 292) enlisted him to edit the works of the famous Shu
statesman and strategist Zhuge Liang. The Zhuge Liang ji [OMITTED]
[Collected Works of Zhuge Liang], Chen's edition of Zhuge's works
in twenty-four juan, was submitted to the throne in 274.[18]
With Jin's conquest of Wu in 280, Chen began work on his history
of the three now defunct states.[19] Just when he completed the
manuscript is not known. Chen may have completed portions of the
work as early as sometime prior to the fall of Shu. The Wei section
was certainly well along or complete before the fall of Wu, but the Wu
section itself was probably not begun until after 280, and the complete
work may not have been presented for some years after that.[20] Since
the writing of the work had not been officially sponsored, official copies
were not made until after Chen's death.[21] It was generally well received.
Xiahou Zhan [OMITTED] (243-291), who was compiling his own Wei shu
[OMITTED] [Wei History], was reportedly so impressed with Chen's work that
he quit and destroyed what he had written.[22]
Even so, the praise of Chen's work was not universal, and
assessments of it could be affected by nonhistoriographical
considerations. The Huayang guozhi [OMITTED] [Record of the States
South of Mt. Hua] says:
Following the pacification of Wu, Shou assembled histories of the
Three States, wrote a history of Wei, Wu, and Shu in sixty-five juan,
and titled it Records of the Three States. He further wrote Records
of Ancient States in fifty chapters. It was elegant and refined. Inspector
of the Palace Writers Xun Xu and Prefect of the Palace Writers Zhang
Hua deeply liked it and believed that Ban Gu and Sima Qian could
not match him.[23]
A few lines later, however, one finds:
Hua memorialized that [Chen] be made concurrently a gentleman of
the palace writers (zhongshu lang [OMITTED]), but Shou's Record of Wei
had displeased [Xun] Xu. Xu did not want him within [the court]
and memorialized that he be grand administrator (taishou [OMITTED]) of
Changguang [OMITTED] commandery.[24]
Chen's Jin History biography mentions this incident as well but does
not refer to Xun's unhappiness with Chen's history. Rather, it says,
"Xun Xu was jealous of [Zhang] Hua and hated Shou, so he spoke
disparagingly to the Division of Personnel (Li bu [OMITTED]), and Shou was
declined because of his mother's age and did not go."[25]
The reason for Xun's displeasure over Chen's Record of Wei is not
readily apparent, though given the prominence of the Xun family in
the work and Xun's own role in the events described there, the
possibilities are probably countless. But the problem may have been
a difference over policy between Xun and Zhang, who was Chen's
champion. The two disagreed over plans to conquer Wu, with Xun
opposed and Zhang in favor.[26] Xun may not have wanted Zhang to
have another partisan within the palace, and he may have seen
something in the Record that he felt argued against his position.
In any case, although Chen did not take up the Changguang posting,
later Du Yu [OMITTED] (222-284), who was then general-in-chief who
subdues the South (zhennan da jiangjun [OMITTED]), recommended
Chen to be a cavalier gentleman-in-attendance (sanji shilang [OMITTED]
[OMITTED]). The court actually appointed him attending secretary-preparer of
documents (zhishu shi yushi [OMITTED]), a high office in the
Censorate. By and by, he left office to go into mourning for his mother.[27]
Before she died, Chen's mother had asked to be buried in Luoyang
[OMITTED]. Chen followed her wishes, but once more he met with criticism
on the death of a parent. Some felt that Chen should have returned
her to their home in Shu for burial.[28] At any rate, several years later
Chen was appointed palace cadet of the heir apparent (taizi zhong shuzi
[OMITTED]) but died before he could assume his duties.[29]
Of the sixty-five juan that make up the Records of the Three States,
thirty are devoted to Wei, fifteen to Shu, and twenty to Wu. There are
relatively few textual problems with the work, and there is no doubt
that these are essentially the original work. Although the relative size
of each section may have been partly determined by political
considerations, it is also likely to reflect the amount of material on each
state that Chen had at his disposal. A variety of sources was potentially
available to him.[30] Among them was Wang Chen's Wei History. This
was an official history of Wei that was worked on at various times by
Wei Ji [OMITTED], Miao Xi [OMITTED] (186-245), Wei Dan [OMITTED], Ying Qu [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] (190-252), Xun Yi [OMITTED], Ruan Ji [OMITTED] (210-263), Sun Gai [OMITTED],
and Fu Xuan. The final forty-juan work, however, was completed by
Wang Chen alone on imperial command.[31] Wang's imperially
sanctioned work must be used with care because it avoids or glosses
over matters sensitive to the throne.[32]
Another work Chen must have seen was the Wu shu [OMITTED] [Wu
History]. Again, this project was to some extent collaborative. Zhou
Zhao [OMITTED], Xue Ying [OMITTED] (d. 282), Liang Guang [OMITTED], and Hua He
[OMITTED] all were involved with the Wu History, but the final fifty-five-juan
official histories of Wei and Wu, Chen Shou would have been able to
draw on at least one privately compiled history—Yu Huan's Wei
Epitome.[34]
Unlike Wei and Wu, Shu seems to have had neither officials charged
with compiling a history nor solid records of court activities. Chen
wrote:
The state [of Shu] did not establish a history [bureau], and no one
was in charge of note-taking and record-keeping. Because of this [the
records of] many activities and events are missing, and disasters and
anomalies lack documentation.[35]
Although he seems to have had much less available to him than in
the cases of Wei and Wu, Chen still managed to complete a section
on Shu.[36] No doubt being from there, having served in its government,
having already authored the Accounts of the Elders of Yi Region, and
having edited Zhuge Liang's works all helped Chen overcome this
difficulty.[37]
Records of the Three States is somewhat different from its famous
predecessors. Lacking treatises and tables, it does not adhere to the
format established by The Grand Scribe's Records and Han History.
Instead, Chen's history consists entirely of annals and biographies.[38]
Also distinctive is the title of the work, for it is alone among the standard
histories in being designated zhi [OMITTED]. Lien-sheng Yang notes, however,
that the three sections of the history have also been called shu [OMITTED] in
the tables of contents and chapter headings of various editions since
at least Song times. This use of shu ("history," "documents") as
opposed to shi [OMITTED] ("history") in the titles of the three major divisions
of the work, Yang suggests, puts it in the line of the Han History, as
opposed to The Grand Scribe's Records; that is to say, it marks it as
a work concerned with a single period, rather than one that overarches
several periods in the manner of Sima Qian and certain later
historians.[39] Although there is no doubt about the coverage of Records
of the Three States, Yang's point about shu is moot.
In his "Shang San guo zhi zhu biao" [OMITTED] [Memorial
Presenting the Commentary to Records of the Three States], Pei Songzhi
refers to Chen's work as guo zhi [OMITTED], or "records of the states."
Whether this was meant to be a title is unclear, although the Zhonghua
shuju editors treat it as such.[40] It may be that "records of the states"
is simply a term that reflects the fact that the three sections were
sometimes treated separately. Evidence for this can be seen in the
bibliographical treatise of the Jiu Tang shu [OMITTED] [Old Tang History],
among the standard histories, while the Wu guo zhi [OMITTED]
(also with Pei's commentary) and Shu guo zhi [OMITTED] (Pei's commentary
not mentioned) are listed, peculiarly enough, in the biannian
[OMITTED]/zawei [OMITTED] (chronologically arranged histories/miscellaneous
unauthorized histories) group.[41] But note that the earlier bibliographical
treatise of the Sui shu [OMITTED] [Sui History] already contains an entry
for Chen's Records of the Three States with Pei's commentary in the
same number of fascicles (sixty-five) as today.[42] The introduction by
the Zhonghua shuju editors in the first edition was ambiguous on this
point, indicating on one page that the three sections were first combined
in a Northern Song edition, while mentioning on the very next page
the Sui History bibliographical entry. In response to research by Miao
Yue proving that the work has had its present title since Western Jin
times, the Zhonghua editors dropped this statement from the revised edition.[43]
The earliest extant block-printed edition of Records of the Three
States is one published by the Directorate of Education (Guozijian [OMITTED]
[OMITTED]) in the sixth year of the Xianping [OMITTED] reign period (1003) in
Northern Song times.[44] There is also a re-engraving dating from the
Shaoxi [OMITTED] reign period (1190-1194), as well as one from the Shaoxing
[OMITTED] (1131-1163) period.[45] The former, which lacks three juan
of the Wei zhi, was supplemented by the latter and photomechanically
reprinted to produce the Bona [OMITTED] edition, one of the four editions
on which the Zhonghua shuju redaction is based.[46] The second of these
four editions, one that has been the basis for various subsequent
typographic and lithographic editions, is the so-called Palace edition
(Wuying dian block-printed edition [OMITTED]) from the Qing
dynasty.[47] This was a redaction of a Ming edition published by the
Directorate of Education at Beijing.[48] The third text used by the
Zhonghua shuju editors is the Jinling movable-type edition (Jinling
huozi ben [OMITTED]), which in turn is a revision of the Feng Mengzhen
[OMITTED] (1546-1605) edition published by the Directorate of
Education at Nanjing.[49] Finally, the Zhonghua editors also consulted
the Jiangnan shuju [OMITTED] redaction, which is a revision of Mao Jin's
[OMITTED] (1599-1659) Jigu ge [OMITTED] edition.[50] Although there are differences
among these and other editions, they are minor, and Chen's text
appears to have been transmitted basically intact.
Anhan was in the vicinity of modern Nanchong [OMITTED], Sichuan. Chen Shou,
whose appellative is Chengzuo [OMITTED], has two early biographies. One is the
official biography in Js, 82.2137-2138. The other is in Hygz, 11.849-852. The
biographical sketch that follows here draws on these two sources and is also
much indebted to Miao Yue's work on Chen's life published in various sources
cited below.
Qiao Zhou compiled a Hou Han ji [OMITTED] [Later Han Annals] and a Gu shi
kao [OMITTED] [Investigations in Ancient History] (Bielenstein, The Restoration
of the Han Dynasty, 12). As Sima Biao points out in his preface to Xu Han
shu, Gu shi kao was a commentary to the pre-Han sections of Sima Qian's
Shi ji (Js, 82.2142; Mansvelt Beck, The Treatises of Later Han, 31). Other
titles attributed to Qiao are a Shu ben ji [OMITTED], San Ba ji [OMITTED], and Yizhou
zhi [OMITTED] (see Sgz, 38.975 n; Sui, 33.983; Wx, 4.22b; Mansvelt Beck, The
Treatises of Later Han, 30). He was also noted for his knowledge of the
prophetic-apocryphal textual tradition and for his ability to predict the future.
Medieval China," 117.
Hygz, 11.849. Js, 82.2137 says that Chen Shou was a guan'ge lingshi [OMITTED]
[OMITTED]. Miao Yue thinks guan'ge simply refers to the Dongguan, or Eastern
Lodge, the main library of the Later Han and the location of the archivists'
offices. This would mean Chen was a foreman clerk (lingshi) of the Eastern
Lodge. Miao conjectures that perhaps Chen was first a foreman clerk and later
rose to be a gentleman (lang) in the library (Miao, San guo zhi daodu, 12).
On the "synthesized title" sanji Huangmen shilang, see Rogers, The Chronicle
of Fu Chien, 201.
Js, 82.2137; Miao, San guo zhi daodu, 2; de Crespigny, The Records of the
Three Kingdoms, 3, 32. De Crespigny thinks Chen was criticized "both for
his unfilial concern with his own comfort and also for his casual relationship
with the woman."
On "filially pious and incorrupt" see Chapter 3, note 35. Chen may have had
to take an examination to gain office.
Here we adopt Qian Daxin's [OMITTED] (1728-1804) emendation of the Jin
History text of Chen Shou's biography. See Js, 82.2160, and Miao, San guo
zhi daodu, 2. Miao also thinks that while serving as assistant gentleman editor
and gentleman editor, Chen was named an impartial and just (zhongzheng [OMITTED]
[OMITTED]) from Baxi commandery (Miao, San guo zhi daodu, 2, 12, 13). Holders
of the office impartial and just ("rectifier" in Hucker's translation) nominated
and classified candidates for government service from their home areas. On
this system, see Holzman, "Les débuts du système médiéval de choix et de
classement des fonctionnaires," 387-414; Hucker, A Dictionary of Official
Titles in Imperial China, 22 and no. 1534; and Miyazaki, Kyūhin hanjin hō
no kenkyū.
Sgz, 35.929, 931; Miao, "Chen Shou yu San guo zhi," 313; Miao, San guo
zhi daodu, 2; Wen Xuchu [OMITTED], "Bian jiao shuoming" [OMITTED] [Editorial
Explanation], in Duan and Wen, Zhuge Liang ji. Chen's edition was lost by
Song [OMITTED] times (960-1279).
Records of the Three States was not Chen's only historical work. He also
authored Yibu qijiu zhuan [OMITTED] [Accounts of the Elders of Yi Region]
in ten juan and Gu guo zhi [OMITTED] [Records of Ancient States] in fifty sections,
both now lost (Hygz, 11.849; Js, 82.2138; Miao, "Chen Shou yu San guo zhi,"
315; Miao, San guo zhi daodu, 3).
The Jin History states that when the Jin general Wang Jun [OMITTED] captured Jianye
[OMITTED] on the day renyin [OMITTED] in the third month of Taikang [OMITTED] 1 (1 May
280), he seized the charts and records of the Wu government (Js, 3.71). If Chen
utilized these materials in writing his history, it would probably have been a
year or more after the fall of Wu before he was able to complete the work.
The "Preface" to the Harvard-Yenching index to the San guo zhi concludes
that Chen must have begun writing the Records after the fall of Wu (280) and
completed it no later than 289, the year Xun Xu died (San guo zhi Pei zhu
zonghe yinde, ii-iii).
Js, 82.2137; Miao, San guo zhi daodu, 4; Miao, "Chen Shou yu San guo zhi,"
315-316. Xiahou Zhan was from an important family that had had close ties
with the Caos. He was noted for his literary talent and was sometimes
mentioned together with the famous poet Pan Yue [OMITTED] (247-300). See Js,
55.1491. Two hundred years later, the great literary critic and theorist Liu Xie
[OMITTED] (ca. 465-ca. 522) also praised Chen Shou's San guo zhi highly (Fan,
Wenxin diaolong zhu, 4.285). Cf. Luo, Wei Jin Nanbeichao wenhua shi, 433.
Hygz, 11.849. Changguang was a commandery that lay in the region of
modern Shandong that includes Qingdao [OMITTED].
Js, 82.2138; cf. Hygz, 11.849; Zztj, 80.2543-2545; Han, Wei Jin Nanbeichao
shigang, 111; Rogers, The Chronicle of Fu Chien, 272 n.
See Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 3-19; Miao, "Chen Shou yu
San guo zhi," 315; Miao, San guo zhi daodu, 3.
See Shen, San guo zhi zhu suo yin shu mu, 1.16b; Miao, San guo zhi daodu,
3; Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 11; Kroll, "Portraits of Ts'ao
Ts'ao," 120-121.
Miao, San guo zhi daodu, 3-4. Wei Zhao is called Wei Yao [OMITTED] in his
biography in Sgz, 65.1460-1464. Pei Songzhi notes that the change was made
in Jin times to avoid a tabooed personal name (Sgz, 65.1460). The name to
be avoided would have been that of Sima Zhao [OMITTED] (Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao
and the Rise of Wei," 11). But Qian Daxin shows that Records of the Three
States is not at all rigorous in its avoidance of rulers' names and lists a number
of people named Zhao who appear with their names unaltered in the history.
His conclusion is that Wei must have had two names (Sgz jijie, 65.9a).
Yu Huan was a gentleman-of-the-household (zhonglang [OMITTED]) under the Wei.
St, 12.13a indicates that the Wei Epitome stopped with the reign of Emperor
Ming, but this is an error, for Zhang Pengyi [OMITTED] shows that events of the
time of Cao Huan are included (Sgz jijie, 1.86a; Miao, San guo zhi daodu,
4; Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 15).
Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 12; Sgz, 33.902. The assertion that
"no one was in charge of note-taking and record-keeping" (zhu ji wu guan
[OMITTED]) may be a reference to the diaries of activity and repose (qiju zhu
[OMITTED]). At any rate, the celebrated Tang [OMITTED] dynasty (618-907) historian and
historiographer Liu Zhiji [OMITTED] (661-721) and others have asserted that
Chen Shou is lying here. Chen's putative motive was a desire to defame Zhuge
Liang. Convincing arguments by scholars such as He Zhuo [OMITTED] (1661-1722),
Liu Xianxin [OMITTED], Lu Bi, Miao Yue, and Carl Leban, however, demonstrate
that Chen was simply stating the facts about the poor condition of Shu's records
(St, 7.9a, 11.7b; Sgz jijie, 33.21b; Miao, San guo zhi daodu, 4, 14n; Leban,
"Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 12-14).
Miao, "Chen Shou yu San guo zhi," 321, suggests that the absence of the
treatises was due to insufficient data. Although this may well be true, Leban
suggests that a further reason for Chen's format is that at the time Chen wrote
Records of the Three States, the great histories of Sima Qian and Ban Gu
notwithstanding, "the forms of historical writing were still in a state of
experimental flux" (Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 19-20). See
also Qian, "Zonglun Dong Han dao Sui de shixue yanjin." Many Qing dynasty
works attempt to supply zhi and biao for Records of the Three States. Such
works include those found in volumes 2 and 3 of Eswsbb.
Liu, Jiu Tang shu, 46.1989, 1992. See also Zhonghua shuju bianji bu, "San
guo zhi chuban shuoming," 2. Note that the Xin Tang shu [OMITTED] [New Tang
History] lists all three sections of Chen's work consecutively under the titles
Wei guo zhi, Shu guo zhi, and Wu guo zhi. Here mention of Pei's commentary
comes under the Wu guo zhi (Ouyang, Xin Tang shu, 58.1455).
Sui, 33.955. This entry also mentions a "Xu lu" [OMITTED] in one chapter, but this
has apparently been lost since Tang times (Zhonghua shuju bianji bu, "San
guo zhi chuban shuoming," 3; Sgz jiaogu, 5n). For additional, earlier evidence
that Records of the Three States was from the beginning one work, see Sgz
jiaogu, 298-300.
Zhonghua shuju bianji bu, "San guo zhi chuban shuoming," 2; Leban, "Ts'ao
Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 42. There are purported Eastern Jin (317-420)
manuscript fragments of San guo zhi. Two fragments of juan 57 were
unearthed between 1902 and 1904 at Tuyugou [OMITTED] in Xinjiang (Sgz jiaogu,
351; cf. de Crespigny, The Records of the Three Kingdoms, 28; Leban, "Ts'ao
Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 41; and Guo, "Xinjiang xin chutu de Jin ren xieben
San guo zhi can juan," 2, all of which give 1924 and simply Shanshan xian
[OMITTED] as the date and place of discovery). This manuscript has sometimes
been used as an illustration in various works, as in the first edition of the
Zhonghua shuju San guo zhi and, more recently, the San guo zhi cidian [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] (Sgz cidian). It was reproduced in the 1926 edition of Luo Zhenyu's
[OMITTED] (1866-1940) Han Jin shu ying [OMITTED] [Reproductions of Han
through Jin Manuscripts]. A photo reprint of the manuscript, with
contributions by Wang Shu'nan [OMITTED] (1851-1936), Luo Zhenyu, and Naitō
Torajirō [OMITTED] (Naitō Konan [OMITTED], 1866-1934), was published
in Japan in 1930 under the title Gu ben San guo zhi cancun san juan [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] (the title on the case is Gu ben San guo zhi can juan [OMITTED]
[OMITTED]). Doubts about the authenticity of this manuscript have been
expressed (see de Crespigny, The Records of the Three Kingdoms, 26-29, and
Leban, "Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei," 41-42; cf. Guo, "Xinjiang xin chutu
de Jin ren xieben San guo zhi can juan," 2). Two other Eastern Jin fragments
were discovered in Turfan (Tulufan [OMITTED]) in Xinjiang in 1965, and there
is one from Dunhuang [OMITTED] (Sgz jiaogu, 350-351; Guo, "Xinjiang xin chutu
de Jin ren xieben San guo zhi can juan").
Zhonghua shuju bianji bu, "San guo zhi chuban shuoming," 4. This Bona
edition is the one included in Sbck. Bona means something like "many
patches," "patchwork," or "pastiche." The title derives from the fact that the
series was pieced together from what were considered to be the best Song and
Yuan editions. The Bona ben histories were first published in installments
between 1930 and 1937 by the Commercial Press of Shanghai.
A set of dynastic histories was published by the Wuying dian, the imperial
printing office and bindery, during the Qianlong [OMITTED] era (1736-1796). This
edition is known as the Wuying dian, or Palace, edition of the histories. It has
been the basis for a number of other editions, including Ershisi shi [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] (Shanghai: Tongwen shuju, 1894); Ershiwu shi [OMITTED] (Shanghai:
Kaiming shudian, 1935); and Ershiwu shi (Taibei: Yiwen yinshu guan, 1956).
Zhonghua shuju bianji bu, "San guo zhi chuban shuoming," 4. Specifying it
as published by the Directorate of Education at Beijing (Bei jian [OMITTED]) suggests
that this Ming edition dates from 1421 or later, for it was in that year that
a Directorate of Education at Nanjing (Nan jian [OMITTED]) was established. See
Hucker, A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, no. 3541.
| 5 Records of the Three States Empresses and consorts | |