Song-Yuan xue'an 宋元學案

Song-Yuan xue'an 宋元學案 "Scholarly annals of Song and Yuan Period [Confucians]" is a history of Song- 宋 (960-1279) and Yuan- 元 (1279-1368) period philosophy drafted by the late Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Huang Zongxi 黄宗羲 (1610－1695) and finished by his son Huang Baijia 黃百家 (1643-1709), and Quan Zuwang 全祖望 (1705-1755). Later on Wang Zicai 王梓材 (1792-1851), Feng Yunhao 馮雲濠 (1807-1855) and Ren Shaoji 任紹基 undertook a critical revision of the book. It has thus a compilation history of more than a hundred years.

The 100-juan long final version, compiled by He Wen'an 何文安, is divided into 87 chapters arranged as "scholarly cases" (xue'an 學案) reporting the main teachings of various philosophers and philosophical schools. Additionally, the book includes two "concise" descriptions (xuelüe 學略) and two "factional cases" (dang'an 黨案). The book describes, in the xue'an style, the lives and teachings of more than 2,700 scholars, most of them Neo-Confucians of the Lian 濂, Luo 洛, Guan 關 and Min 閩 schools, and their opponents of the Xiangshan 象山, Yongjia 永嘉, Yongkang 永康 and Jinhua 金華 schools. The author himself seems to favour the teachings of the Lianxi 濂溪 and Xiangshan schools.

At the beginning of the book, Quan Zuwang added a preface of 88 chapters that explains the connections and developments of the various Neo-Confucian schools during the Song period. The authors added their own comments and criticism to the various philosophers and so provide a coherent overview oft his period in the history of Chinese thought.

The history of the book's publication is likewise complicated. Planned to he printed in 1838 the final publication was delayed for four decades, until 1879, when it was printed in Changsha 長沙, Hunan, by Zhang Rulin 張汝霖.

Figure 1. "Genealogy" of Hu Yuan 胡瑗 (993-1059) from Anding 安定 and his disciples

From the punctuated version, edited by Chen Jinsheng 陳金生 and Liang Lianhua 梁運華 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986).

The Song-Yuan xue'an is included in the series Sibu beiyao 四部備要 and the specialized collectenaum Sichao xue'an 四朝學案 that also includes Huang Zongxi's other philosophical histories, the Mingru xue'an 明儒學案 and Yuanru xue'an 元儒學案 (the preface Song-Yuan ru xue'an xulu 宋元儒學案序錄 is preserved in the prelimiary matters of the Song-Yuan xue'an).

Wang Zicai added a supplement, Song-Yuan xue'an buyi 宋元學案補遺 that is included in the fifth series of the series Siming congshu 四明叢書. Modern reprints have been published by the Zhonghua Book Company 中華書局 and in Huang Zongxi's collected works, Huang Zongxi quanji 黃宗羲全集.