[Dissertation] The Imperial Collection of the Former Han and the Origins of Philology in China: A Study of the Bielu, Qilüe and Hanshu Yiwenzhi

Author:
Max Jakob Fölster

School:
Universität Hamburg

Defended:
2016

Abstract:

The imperial library of the Former Han dynasty (206 BCE–9 CE) is the first collection about there is substantial information in form of a catalog. This is the Yiwenzhi chapter of the Hanshu, the dynastic history compiled by Ban Gu (32–92). As is well known this catalog goes back to two earlier sources, the Bielu and the Qilüe, which originate from the collation project started in 26 BCE. This grand project was not only about making an inventory, but also encompassed producing editions of the different texts. In the beginning the project was headed by Liu Xiang (79–8 BCE), who wrote editorial reports on each of the edited texts, all of these reports are believed to have been brought together in the Bielu. After Liu Xiang’s death the work was continued by his son Liu Xin (ca. 50 BCE–23 CE), who summarized the reports in the Qilüe, which Ban Gu indicates as his direct source. The Bielu and the Qilüe have only come down to us in fragments. The present work brings together all extant fragments as well as the Yiwenzhi in translation for the first time.

The first part investigates in which relation the three sources stand to each other precisely. On the one hand, it can be shown that the Bielu only came into being after the Qilüe. On the other hand, it becomes clear that the marked changes found in the Yiwenzhi, which traditionally are attributed to Ban Gu, go back to Liu Xin. The latter had continued the collation project under the reign of Wang Mang and produced a revision of or sequel to the previously finished Qilüe.

Ban Gu does not mention this deliberately because he denies Wang Mang any legitimacy and makes him responsible for the fall of the Former Han-dynasty. The second part is devoted to the history of the imperial collection. There are good reasons to assume that the assembling of manuscripts only began under Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BCE) and that there existed various collections at different places within the palace. The collation project led to the production of new manuscripts and thus created a new collection, which is what the Yiwenzhi describes. It is evident that administrative documents and judicial texts were not part of the collection, these were rather stored in special archives. The initial motivation behind the collation project cannot be reconstructed entirely, but, Liu Xiang, in any case, used his editorial reports as a means to try exerting influence on the emperor.

The third part is on the philological methods developed by Liu Xiang to make editions of the text. Despite the innovative nature of the methods it is clear that Liu Xiang resorted to procedures in the production of documents and copying of texts that had been employed in the bureaucracy before. At the same time, different types of editions have to be distinguished. In some cases these are compilations of texts by Liu Xiang; others are editions on the basis of a body of texts attributed to a certain author, which before had been circulating individually; finally there were already stable editions, which probably did not need much editing. Without a doubt, Liu Xiang’s editorial work had a significant influence on all received texts as we know them today.