Preface to Xinkan Taiyin Daquanji ¹
by Zha Fuxi²
Qinqu Jicheng, Original Series, Vol. 1, pp. 31 - 68;
Beijing, Zhonghua Bookstore Publishing Co., 1963 ³

The Beijing Library's Taiyin Daquanji, from the old Shugu Tang collection⁴ of the early Qing dynasty, was an edition of the Taigu Yiyin by Yuan Junzhe of the early Ming dynasty. In 1961 the Zhonghua Book Company already printed a copy of this volume in their Zhongguo Gudai Banhua Congkan.⁵

As a result, this edition has selected a different volume from the Beijing Library, the Xinkan Taiyin Daquanji by Zhu Quan.⁶ The original of this book was published in 1413, but the present edition is a re-print made during the Jiajing period (1522 - 1566) by the Wang family's Golden Terrace Forest of Books (i.e., Wang Family Bookstore). The book altogether has six folios, its contents being almost completely the same as that of the Taiyin Daquanji attributed to Yuan Junzhe, there being only some very small revisions.⁷ The five qin melodies included in this volume (five modal preludes) are also basically the same as those in the Yuan volume. Yuan Junzhe's Taiyin Daquanji and Zhu Quan's Xinkan Taiyin Daquanji are clearly the same book. Both books have a section called Qincao Bianyi, and both of them, after the Qincao Bianyi have a note inscribing the words "Recorded by Junzhe";⁸ from this one can see that what Zhu Quan used was still Yuan Junzhe's original materials. However, the number of mistaken characters in the tablatures for the five melodies in the Zhu volume is rather a lot; also, from looking at the various parts of each of the melodies, the origin of the five melodies does not seem to be completely the same as those in Shilin Guangji and the Yuan volume of Taiyin Daquanji.

This book was originally a book transmitting essays about the qin. Zhu Quan's preface clearly explains that it was compiled in the Song dynasty by Tian Zhiweng,⁹ its original name was Taigu Yiyin, and during the Jiading reign (1208 - 1225) Yang Zuyun called it Qinyuan Xu Zhi and presented it to the palace. At the beginning of the Ming dynasty Yuan Junzhe made annotations and commentary for this book, and also attached the five small qin pieces as demonstrations. As a result Guoshi Jingji Zhi¹⁰ by Jiao Hong¹¹ and the Ming Official History consider Yuan Junzhe as the author of Taigu Yiyin, but one must make these distinctions.

Return to Taiyin Daquanji index page,
to the annotated handbook list
or to the Guqin ToC.

 
Footnotes (Shorthand references are explained on a separate page)

1 新刊太音大全集 Xinkan Taiyin Daquanji. As mentioned here in the text, it is included in both 中國古代版畫叢刊 Zhongguo Gudai Banhua Congkan and Qinqu Jicheng, Original Series. Both of these volumes are available in some university libraries in the U.S.A. (Return)

2 查阜西 Zha Fuxi. See also Zha Fuxi, "Taigu Yiyin Kao" in Yinyue Yanjiu, 1958, no. 1, pp. 70-77. (Return)

3 This is the Zhu volume referred to by Tong Kin-Woon and used for the missing parts of the Taigu Yiyin in his Qin Fu (QFTGYY). (Return)

4 述古堂 Shugu Tang 39650.5: Library of the Qing dynasty's 錢曾 Qian Ceng of 常熟 Changshu; there is a published 書目 index. (Return)

5 中國古代版畫叢刊 This is also the volume re-printed in Qinqu Jicheng Vol.1, New Series (see TKW essay). (Return)

6 According to the findings of Dr. Tong Kin-Woon, the Beijing Library edition is actually only a copy of the original, which is in Taiwan. (See also his footnote.) (Return)

7 Although the contents of the two are very similar, the editions are somewhat re-organized. (Return)

8 Both 琴操辨議 Qincao Bianyi (Distinguishing the Meaning of Qin Melodies) come just before the modal preludes, with 均折識 Junzhe Shi at the end. The Yuan volume reference can be seen on p. I/92; the Zhu volume reference is p. I/67 (original series). (Return)

9 田芝翁 Tian Zhiweng (Return)

10 國史經籍志 Guoshi Jingji Zhi 4896.95 (Return)

11 焦竑 Jiao Hong 19585.56; Hanlin Academy during Wanli (1573 - 1620) (Return)