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Kunxuezhai zalu 困學齋雜錄

Aug 16, 2013 © Ulrich Theobald

Kunxuezhai zalu 困學齋雜錄 "Miscellaneous records of the Study of Difficulties in Learning" is a "brush-notes"-style book (biji 筆記) written during the Yuan period 元 (1279-1368) by Xianyu Shu 鮮于樞 (1256-1301), courtesy name Boji 伯機, style Xunxue Shanmin 困學山民 or Jizhi Laoren 寄直老人.

He hailed from Dadu 大都 (modern Beijing) and was manager of registration (dianbu 典簿) under the Chamberlain for Ceremonials (taichang 太常). Xianyu Shu was a famous calligrapher and poet and was highly admired by master Zhao Mengfu 趙孟頫 (1254-1322). His collected writings are known as Kunxuezhai ji 困學齋集.

The short book Kunxuezhai zalu is a draft-like collection of poetry critique and miscellaneous themes. The personal name of author was not recorded in the original edition, but only his style (Boji). Cao Rong 曹溶 (1613-1685), compiler of the series Xuehai leibian 學海類編, assumed that the author must have been Xianyu Shu. However, it is without a doubt that the book was written by a person of a high eduction, although the book itself is arranged in a rather loose way. The Kunxuezhai zalu is of a certain value because it includes interesting statements on poets in the Jin empire 金 (1115-1234) that are not to be found, for instance, in Liu Qi's 劉祁 Guiqianzhi 歸潛志 (1203-1250).

The Kunxuezhai zalu is also to be found in the series Siku quanshu 四庫全書, Jifu congshu 畿輔叢書 and Zhibuzuzhai congshu 知不足齋叢書.

Sources:
Dai Liqiang 戴立强, Xianyu Shu 鮮于樞 (2002). "Kunxuezhai zalu qianlun 《困學齋雜錄》淺論", Wenxian 文獻, 2002 (1): 73-81.
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 2, 1963.
Mu Gengcai 母庚才 (1996). "Kunxuezhai zalu 困學齋雜錄", in Jiang Zuyi 蔣祖怡, Chen Zhichun 陳志椿, eds. Zhongguo shihua cidian 中國詩話辭典 (Beijing: Beijing chubanshe), 388.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. (1987). Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe), 417.