Author: Liu Chang, Assistant Researcher, Ci Research Center, School of Literature, Nanjing Normal University
Picture provided by the author
Some pictures of Yu Xianhao's works are provided by the author
Some pictures of Yu Xianhao's works are provided by the author
Some pictures of Yu Xianhao's works are provided by the author
Biography of scholars
Yu Xianhao was born in Shanghai in 1933. In 1961, he graduated from the Chinese Department of Nanjing Normal University (now Nanjing Normal University) and stayed in the university to teach. He used to be the director of the Institute of Ancient Literature of Nanjing Normal University, the chairman of the Chinese Li Bai Research Association, the vice-chairman of the Tang Dynasty Literature Society of China, and a member of the national leading group for the collation and publication of ancient books. His works include "Li Bai Cong Kao", "Tang Ci Shi Kao", "Li Taibai's Complete Works", etc.
The library of Nanjing Normal University has a collection of the Annotation of Li Taibai's Complete Works donated by Mr. Yu Xianhao in May 2021. This book published in 2016 is the crystallization of Mr. Yu's lifelong research on Li Bai. When he opened the book, his handwriting was everywhere. It can be imagined that during the five years from the publication of the book to the donation, Mr. Yu, who was over 80 years old at that time, was still tirelessly revising his books.
In Nanjing Normal University, which has the reputation of "Jiangnan Literary Pivot", Mr. Yu Xianhao is one of the most representative experts in the study of ancient Chinese literature after Sun Wang, Tang Guizhang, Duan Xizhong, Qian Zhonglian and other old scholars. Starting from the study of Li Bai, he traveled in the study of Tang literature and Tang history and achieved fruitful results.
Zhang Huang Hou Xue
Mr. Yu Xianhao was born in 1933 in Shanghai. He was out of school as a teenager. At the age of 12, he became a worker in Shanghai Guanghua Electric Power Manufacturing Factory. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he has worked as a clerk, secretary, and journalist for several years, and has accumulated solid writing skills. In 1957, Mr. Yu was admitted to the Chinese Department of Nanjing Normal University (now Nanjing Normal University) and embarked on the academic road.
After the adjustment of the college and department in 1952, under the auspices of Mr. Sun Wang, the Chinese Department of NanNormal University gathered many famous classical writers. In his early years, Mr. Sun studied in Jinling University and was guided by Huang Kan, Hu Guangwei, Wu Mei, Shang Chengzuo, Hu Xiangdong, etc., laying a solid foundation of classical literature. Mr. Yu learned from Mr. Sun and was influenced by Mr. Sun in his direction and method of scholarship. Mr. Sun often teaches students: "You should choose one or two books for yourself, and be ready to spend your life's greatest energy on research. You should have the courage to make more achievements than others in the study of these two books, and have original ideas." Mr. Yu has studied Li Bai intensively all his life, and his choice of academic direction stems from this. Mr. Sun greatly appreciated the down-to-earth textual research method of the Qianjia School in the Qing Dynasty, and believed that "textual research is indispensable for the annotation and analysis of poetry and prose, or for the chronicles of poets and writers. To learn, you must set up a special project for every friend of a writer, find materials from relevant books, and rely on historical data analysis and textual research to draw correct conclusions and 'know people and discuss the world'. Only on this basis can you write a solid article. " (Yu Xianhao's "All Virtues and Essays Are My Teachers: Introduction to Mr. Sun Wang") Mr. Xu Fu, who teaches in the Chinese Department of the Southern Normal University, is a direct disciple of Zhang Taiyan and Huang Kan. He also attaches great importance to textual research and praises Dai Zhen, Qian Daxin, Duan Yucai, Wang Nian, Sun and Wang Yinzhi's father and son. Mr. Yu's study of Li Bai attaches importance to the communication of writers and the textual research of details, which is influenced by this style of study. In 1961, after graduation, Mr. Yu stayed in school to teach ancient Chinese. He continued to study the works of Pu scholars in the Qing Dynasty, and listened to Mr. Huang Cuibo of Nanjing University talk about "All Classics Sound and Meaning", and Mr. Hong Cheng talk about "Examples of Doubtful Meaning of Ancient Books", consolidating the basic skills of primary school. In 1963, at the recommendation of Mr. Xu Fu, Mr. Yu was invited to participate in the revision of Cihai, which was completed in 1965. In 1973, when Cihai continued to be revised, Mr. Yu participated in the revision and approval of the "Show" Department to the "Sheep" Department. Since then, Mr. Yu has participated in all the revisions of Cihai as a member of the editorial board and chief editor.
In 1978, Mr. Cheng Qianfan, a college classmate of Mr. Sun Wang and a famous literary historian, was hired to teach at Nanjing University. His residence was close to Mr. Yu's home. In the winter of that year, Mr. Yu followed Mr. Sun to visit Mr. Cheng. Mr. Yu introduced his research work at that time. Mr. Cheng told him: "To be a teacher, you can't just be a teacher. Teaching is to train people. To train people, you should first improve yourself, so you should also do knowledge. To do knowledge, you should first collect data on a down-to-earth basis and collate and verify the data. Your approach is right. The second step is to engage in theoretical research on the basis of textual research. ”"Some people can only do the first step and not the second step. Some people can only do the second step and not the first step, which is absolutely impossible." Mr. Cheng's "first step" here refers to a comprehensive and careful sorting of all the data of the research object. Mr. Cheng's encouragement filled Mr. Yu with confidence, and he often came to ask for advice.
Love Li Bai
Mr. Yu Xianhao has a special liking for Li Bai's research.
In 1971, Guo Moruo's "Li Bai and Du Fu" was published. Out of his interest in Li Bai and his poetry, Mr. Yu carefully read the part of the book about Li Bai several times. At that time, the study of Li Bai was mostly confined to the analysis of the ideological and artistic nature of his poetry, and his life stories and friends were not thoroughly examined, so he failed to know people and discuss the world. Therefore, his understanding of his works was mostly subjective conjecture and full of flaws ". At that time, academic circles had always debated about Li Bai's birthplace, whether he entered Chang'an once or twice, which directly affected the analysis and understanding of Li Bai's works. Therefore, Mr. Yu decided to take the study of Li Bai as his research topic, starting with the textual research of Li Bai's life story and his friends, in order to gradually solve the long-term doubts and difficulties in the study of Li Bai. He said: "If the macro theoretical research is not based on a large number of micro empirical research results, then the macro 'theory' will inevitably become empty and even lead to wrong conclusions."
After the reform and opening up, Mr. Yu successively published more than ten papers to study Li Bai's deeds and friends from different perspectives. In 1982, these articles were collected as "Li Bai Congkao", which was published by Shaanxi People's Publishing House as the first kind of "Tang Dynasty Literature Research Series", which is also Mr. Yu's first book. He himself commented on the book: "Through in-depth research, he solved some difficult problems, corrected some mistakes in previous studies, and laid a certain foundation for the correct in-depth study of Li Bai's life thoughts and works."
"Li Bai Congkao" confirmed that Li Bai "entered Chang'an twice" in his life. Before the 1960s, scholars generally believed that Li Bai had only visited Chang'an once in his life, that is, in the autumn of the first year of Tianbao (742), he received an imperial edict to enter Beijing to wait for the imperial edict, and in the spring of the third year of Tianbao (744), he left Chang'an. After 1962, some scholars gradually questioned this conclusion and put forward the view of "two into Chang'an". Mr. Yu's papers, such as "Research on Li Bai's Two Visits to Chang'an and Related Friendship" and "Exploration of Li Bai's Early Entry into Chang'an", analyzed the phrase "Go west into the Qin Sea and observe the national style" in Li Bai's History Book of Pei Chang in Shang'an Prefecture, analyzed the phrase "See Qin grass green three times" in Li Bai's poem "Answering Yuan Dan Qiu with poetry instead of book", and presented two pieces of Li Bai's "Princess Yuzhen's bitter rain away from the hall to Wei Wei Zhang Qing" The emotional expression of Zhang Jiuling and Zhang Jiuling's Epitaph of Zhang Shuo, and the time and path differences between the two visits to Chang'an were analyzed through many poems of Li Bai. The conclusion was that Li Bai first went to Chang'an in Kaiyuan, stayed for three years, and then went to Chang'an for the second time in Tianbao, only stayed for one year. Among the extant poems of Li Bai, some were written when Zhongnanshan lived in seclusion, and some were made when Binzhou and Fangzhou were entertaining. These works were all written when they first entered Chang'an in the Kaiyuan era. At that time, Li Bai did not seek an official position, so he freely traveled around Chang'an, not joining Chang'an during Tianbao's reign. Mr. Yu confirmed the time and path of Li Bai's dual entry into Chang'an from five aspects, which confirmed the theory of dual entry into Chang'an. Mr. Yu himself said, "The discovery and widespread recognition of Li Bai's dual entry into Chang'an not only solved a difficult problem in Li Bai's life story, but also had to re study the year of many of Li Bai's important representative works, and even Li Bai's creative path had to be rewritten." Before this, scholars, in the context of Li Bai's entry into Chang'an, had translated "Difficulty in Sichuan Road" and "Liang Fuyin" Poems such as "Will Drink", "Difficult Travel" and "Liang Yuan Yin" were written after the third year of Tianbao (744 years). With the establishment of the theory of "entering Chang'an twice", the academic community has a new understanding of Li Bai's poetry creation process.
The textual research on Li Bai's friendship is the most successful field in Mr. Yu's research on Li Bai. These studies mainly focus on the relationship between Li Bai and Song Zhiti, Taoist Wu Jun, etc. The article "Li Bai's Poem" Jiang Xia Farewell to Song Zhi "is a mistake of identifying the year", which overturns the mistake of attributing "Jiang Xia Farewell to Song Zhi" to the first year of Emperor Suzong's Qianyuan era (758 years), and points out that Song Zhiti was the younger brother of Song Zhiwen, a poet in the early Tang Dynasty, who died before the 29th year of Kaiyuan era (741 years). It can be seen that Li Bai had already created stable five character poems at this time, and his five character poems were not mature until the late life. The Old Book of the Tang Dynasty · Biography of Li Bai records: "At the beginning of Tianbao, people came to Kuaiji and hid in Shanzhong with Taoist Wu Jun. So the Emperor Xuanzong ordered Jun to go to the capital, recommended him to the imperial court, sent envoys to summon him, and treated the imperial court with Jun." Mr. Yu pointed out the mistake of "recommending Jun to the imperial court" and "treating the imperial court with Jun" in his article "Wu Jun Recommends Li Bai to Identify Doubts", combining Li Bai's own articles and other historical materials, It further points out that Li Bai was recommended by Princess Yuzhen when he was in the imperial imperial court during Tianbao's reign.
Mr. Yu's investigation of Li Bai's life stories and friends not only supplements and corrects the historical records, but also provides reliable materials for the study of the development of Li Bai's poetic style.
Based on the study of Li Bai's life and friends, Mr. Yu began to sort out Li Bai's poems and essays, deleting false addenda, collating, commenting, and commenting on them, so there was "Commentary on Li Taibai's Complete Works". This book is based on Li Taibai's Anthology, a book printed by the Institute of Humanities, Kyoto University, Japan, and collected in Jingjiatang Library. Mr. Yu integrated his new ideas and discoveries into the "annotations", "proofreading", "notes", "comments" and "notes" before and after each poem. According to the ancient wind, "In March of Tianjin, there were thousands of peaches and plums", Mr. Yu's note is: "This poem was written when he visited Luoyang in the spring of the 22nd year of Kaiyuan (734). According to the records in the Old Book of Tang · Xuanzong Ji, in the 22nd year of Kaiyuan, Xuanzong was lucky to the eastern capital, so it can be seen that all officials in the eastern capital were realistic. The first paragraph is about March, when thousands of households near Tianjin Bridge are in full bloom, with beautiful flowers and soul stirring... "This careful analysis cannot be separated from a profound foundation of history and philology.
From literature to history
In the process of studying Li Bai, Mr. Yu found that: "The friends mentioned in Tang poems often include an envoy of a certain state or a prefect, but they don't know their name, so it's difficult to understand poetry in depth because they don't know the writing age of poetry." He thought that he could compile a reference book for local officials in the Tang Dynasty, This academic plan was strongly approved by Mr. Cheng Qianfan: "This is really a book that is very needed by the academic community. In the Tang Dynasty, there were many poets who served as provincial governors, and more of them were mentioned in their poems. Some only knew their family names but did not know their names. If you can test their names and their deeds, it will be a great contribution to the academic community. Such a book is indispensable for people who study the literature, history and society of the Tang Dynasty. " Mr. Cheng also suggested that the book should be named "A Study of the History of Tang Princes".
In 1987, the Textual Research on the History of the Governor of the Tang Dynasty was published, and the name, tenure and deeds of the local administrators of the Tang Dynasty were investigated "all the time and all the place". In terms of time, the governor of the prefecture included in this book started from the first year of Wude, Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty (618) to the fourth year of Tianyou, Emperor Ai of the Tang Dynasty (907), which is equivalent to the national throne of the Tang Dynasty. In terms of geography, this book basically covers all the states and counties in the Tang Dynasty. In terms of compilation concept, Mr. Yu not only pays attention to the handed down documents, but also pays attention to the unearthed documents, and quotes a large number of rubbings of Tang epitaphs. In order to search for these epitaph rubbings, he went to the Nanjing Library to ask Mr. Du Xinfu, a version catalogist, for help. "After hearing my intentions, he quickly brought out the stone inscription materials I needed, such as the Monglu Tomb Relics. He also told me that there was a collection of Qiantang Zhizhai Stone in the museum Rubbings, almost no one has looked them up in recent years, so he enthusiastically moved out several bundles of rubbings covered with dust for me to read. Although more than 20 pieces of these rubbings are missing, I have gained a lot of important information from them. " In the summer vacation of 1983, Mr. Yu and his assistant Fang Yibing went to the Ancient Books Department of Shanghai Library to look up the rubbings of the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties epitaphs. They worked continuously for more than ten days, and read over 1000 rubbings of the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties epitaphs in the library and extracted a lot of materials. These epitaphs cited in the Textual Research on the History of Tang Princes have provided many conveniences for the academic community.
After the publication of the Textual Research on the History of Tang Princes, Mr. Yu began to supplement it. After more than ten years of hard research, he published the Complete Textual Research on the History of Tang Princes in 2000. This book supplemented and collected the newly unearthed documents of the Tang Dynasty in more than ten years, sorted, arranged and revised them, corrected more than 100 errors in the original book, and added more than 2000 new posts of the provincial governor.
Wei Yingwu, Bai Juyi, Liu Yuxi, Du Mu, Han Yu and many other poets of the Tang Dynasty were local officials. By means of the Complete Texts on the History of the Magistrates of the Tang Dynasty, the readers can easily get the biographies of these poets and examine their friendship. The Complete Textual Research on the History of the Governor of the Tang Dynasty has proved that Cui Xuanliang was the governor of Huzhou from the third year of Changqing (823) to the first year of Baoli (825), which can confirm that Cui Xuanliang is the "Cui Huzhou" in Bai Juyi's many poems. Therefore, although this book is a historical work, it is also very helpful for literary research.
In terms of literature research, the Complete Texts on the History of the Governor of the Tang Dynasty collected all kinds of historical materials of the Tang Dynasty, collected all the materials of many prefectures and prefectures of the Tang Dynasty, and compared and identified each of the cited documents to determine their authenticity, corrected some errors in the historical records, which made the book an important document for reading and studying the historical materials of the Tang Dynasty.
In Mr. Yu's works, he is called "Tang Jiuqing Kao" together with "Tang Ci Shi Kao". The compilation of the book is related to his textual research on the "Wei Wei Zhang Qing" in Li Bai's poem "Princess Yuzhen sent two poems to Wei Wei Zhang Qing through bitter rain outside the hall". He recalled: "At that time, I thought that the reference books of officials in the Tang Dynasty had the New Book of the Tang Dynasty, the Prime Minister's Table, the Prime Minister's Table, the Prime Minister's Table, the Stone Column Title Examination of the Provincial Lang Official in the Tang Dynasty, and the Chronicle of Tang Fangzhen. At that time, I was already engaged in the work of the Examination of the History of the Governor of the Tang Dynasty. If there was an Examination of Tang Jiuqing The reference book of the book can make it convenient for scholars to check Jiuqing, and can avoid the pain of checking all the classics. Since then, I have paid attention to the materials of Jiuqing of the Tang Dynasty. While engaged in the work of Examining the History of the Governor of the Tang Dynasty, all the materials of Jiuqing of the Tang Dynasty in the unofficial history, miscellaneous records, epigraphy, local chronicles and other documents have been made into cards. " Mr. Yu and his disciple Hu Kexian, on the basis of extensive collection of historical documents, epigraphy documents, literature, local chronicles and other materials, made textual research and analysis on the Zhengqing and Shaoqing of the nine temples in the Tang Dynasty, and studied the historical evolution, functional transformation, personnel adjustment, and relations with other government departments of Jiuqing, filling a gap in the study of the history of the Tang Dynasty.
In addition to literary and historical research, Mr. Yu Xianhao also collated the book "Yuan He Surname Compilation (with four proofreading notes)". Yuanhe Surname Compilation is an ancient book for studying the surnames of Tang Dynasty people. The original book has been scattered for a long time. Today, it was compiled from Yongle Grand Ceremony by the officials of the Siku Library of the Qing Dynasty. The historian Cen Zhongmian published the Four Corrections of Yuanhe Surname Compilation in 1948. The original text and the proofreading branch are very inconvenient for scholars to use. In March 1982, Mr. Fu Xuancong, then the deputy editor in chief of Zhonghua Book Company, sent a letter to Mr. Yu asking him to sort out Yuanhe Surname Compilation. Mr. Fu understands Mr. Yu's research on Li Bai and is sure that he is suitable for sorting out this book. Mr. Yu is well aware of the importance of "Yuan He Xing Bian" and "Yuan He Xing Bian Si Xiao Ji" to the study of Tang history, so he gladly accepted this task. After years of hard work by him and Professor Tao Min, in 1994, the collation of Yuanhe Surname Compilation (with four proofreading notes) reviewed by Mr. Sun Wang was finally completed. This book is still a necessary reference book for scholars of literature and history in the Tang Dynasty.
Simple style
As a postgraduates of Zhang and Huang, Mr. Yu pays attention to demonstration and literature no matter what field he studies.
When studying Li Bai, he first read Li Bai's poems and prose, and wrote down notes in the process of reading. Then carefully read all kinds of materials, from Tang Dynasty anthologies to various notes, from family name books to Song and Yuan local chronicles, from Buddhism and Taoism to stone rubbings. Once you find materials about Li Bai and his friends, write them into the card immediately. " In "Selected Works of Li Bai", Mr. Yu revised, annotated and dated more than 300 Li Bai poems and more than 10 Li Bai essays. Li Bai's poems are lyrical, and there are few clues that can be dated. But Mr. Yu carefully combed them to make comprehensive use of many documents, and combined with the theme of his poems, he dated many of Li Bai's poems.
For a period of time, many people in the academic circle believed that only macro theoretical research could be valuable, and they regarded textual research as a "small skill". Mr. Yu opposes this "one size fits all" view. In his opinion, the Qianjia School has too cumbersome shortcomings, but its idea of opposing empty talk and advocating positivism is still worth inheriting and carrying forward. The Chronicle of Li Taibai, written by Huang Xixuan in the Qing Dynasty, has three articles attached to it. The Huang family said that these three articles "are the real works of Li Bai, and there is no doubt about them". Mr. Yu found that these three articles were all found in Piling Collection, a collection of lonely Tang people, so he made in-depth research on the characters and events mentioned in the article, and finally concluded that these three articles were written by Lonely Tang. This solid textual research is an indispensable cornerstone of macro research.
When he went to college in the late 1950s, Mr. Yu often went to the Ancient Books Department of Nanjing Library on Yihe Road in Nanjing to read books. Later, he also often went to the National Library, Shanghai Library and other libraries with a large collection of ancient books. In 1963, he took the opportunity to participate in the compilation of "Cihai" in Shanghai and took time to copy books in Shanghai Library many times. As mentioned earlier, Mr. Yu has spared no pains to search for epitaphs everywhere in order to compile the Textual Research on the History of Tang Princes. In Mr. Yu's opinion, all kinds of literature are not isolated, but a whole with internal links. As Mr. Sun Wang said, "It is a good way to assess personnel by means of steles, but this is only one aspect of the textual research of Comrade Xianhao. In addition, with the different nature of the problem and the different information, he also took a variety of ways to solve the problem: to find the internal relationship from poetry, to find the external relationship from the historical background, or to find clues from the similarities and differences of time, place, and official title, or to consider from relatives and friends, separation and reunion, and sometimes to seek help from the edition collation, Wait, there are many ways. "
Comprehensive collection of literature, full excavation of new materials and literature ignored by predecessors, flexible use of literature, so that research and argumentation are scientific, full and original, which may be the secret of Mr. Yu's continuous breakthrough on the academic road.
(Editor in charge: Sun Kaijia, Huang Wei)
