Gui'erji 貴耳集

Gui'erji 貴耳集 "Collections for dear ears" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279) by Zhang Duanyi 張端義 (1179-?), courtesy name Zhengfu 正夫, style Quanweng 筌翁.

He originally hailed from Zhengzhou 鄭州 (today's Henan province), but lived for a long time in Suzhou 蘇州 (Jiangsu). He was a disciple of Xiang Anshi 項安世 (1129-1208) and was befriended by the scholars Yang Jian 楊簡 (1141-1225), Chen Xun 陳塤 (1197-1241) and Wei Liaoweng 魏了翁 (1178-1237). During the Duanping reign-period 端平 (1234-1236), he was charged with indecent words in his memorials to the throne and was banished to Yunzhou 韶州 (modern Yunguan 韶關, Guangdong).

During that time, he began to compile his semi-historical book. The product of this work was finished in 1246 (complete book, the first part being finished in 1241). The Gui'erji has a length of 3 juan, each constituting one collection (ji 集) with an individual preface, so each collection can be seen as a separate text. The title is explained in the preface by the fact that the ear is the most essential organ of man because words enter it to reach the mind, where men can be instructed, persuaded, and change their behaviour. The text includes stories about the imperial court, as well as some poetry critiques.

Zhang Duanyi used to play a lot with persuasion and sometimes made errors and generalisations to underline his arguments, leading to several wrong statements in his book. For instance, the writers Tao Gu 陶穀 (903-970) and Xu Xuan 徐鉉 (916-991) were not ministers of Emperor Li Yu 李煜 (r. 961-975) of the Southern Tang 南唐 (937-975). He also quotes wrongly from the Classic commentary Guliangzhuan 穀梁傳, saying that the tribes of the "Taller Di" (Chang Di 長狄) called "good grain" (shandao 善稻) yihuan 伊緩, but in fact, the Guliangzhuan says that in the state of Wu 吳, the expression "good commander" (shanyin 善伊) was called douhuan 稻緩. He mixes up Yang Xiong's 揚雄 (53 BCE-18 CE) divination book Taiyuanjing 太玄經 with the Classic Yijing 易經 and calls it the "Changes" from the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE). A further error is his statement that Hu Yuan 胡瑗 (993-1059) had called Wang Anshi's 王安石 (1021-1086) commentary on the Chunqiu 春秋 with the name Chunqiu jie 春秋解, but Hu Yuan had lived earlier than Wang.

A pretty strange misinterpretation is Zhang's classification of bears (xiong 熊) as monkeys (hou 侯[=猴]) and not as "beasts" (shou 獸). He ascertains that the encyclopaedia Yiwen leiju 藝文類聚 quotes from Ouyang Xun 歐陽詢 (557-641) the explanation that the word ji 雞 "(wild) chick" is explained as "viscount of Mt. Jishan" (Jishan zi 稽山子), and donkey (lü 驢) as "duke of Mt. Lushan" (Lushan gong 廬山公), but the Yiwen leiju does not say so. Zhang's argument that the office of court entertainer (ling 伶) originated when Dongfang Shuo 東方朔 (154-93 BCE) became the court jester of Emperor Wu 漢武帝 (r. 141-87 BCE) of the Han dynasty, but the office was already known during the Spring and Autumn period 春秋 (770-5th cent. BCE), and Dongfang Shuo was a high official, namely Superior Grand Master of the Palace (taizhong dafu 太中大夫). Despite all these strange statements, the Gui'erji is a valuable book for the history of Song period literature and history.

There are many different editions in circulation. The series Jindai mishu 津逮秘書, Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Xuejin taoyuan 學津討原 and Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編 include a 3-juan version, the series Baoyantang miji 寶顏堂秘笈 only 2 juan, the Lidai xiaoshi 歷代小史, Yingyin Yuan-Ming shanben congshu shi zhong 景印元明善本叢書十種, Shuofu 說郛 (Wanwei Shantang 宛委山堂 edition 宛委山堂) and Wuchao xiaoshuo 五朝小說 1 juan, and the Shangwu Yinshuguan 商務印書館 edition of the Shuofu only a few selected paragraphs. In 1958 the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局 published the Gui'erji as part of the series Zhonghua wenxue cankao ziliao congshu 中國文學參考資料叢書.