Liuchao wenxie 六朝文絜

Liuchao wenxie 六朝文絜 is a collection of couplet-style (pianwen 駢文) prose literature from the Six Dynasties period 六朝 (222~589). The anthology of 12 juan length was compiled by Xu Lian 許櫣 (fl. 1825), courtesy name Shuxia 叔夏, style Shanlin 珊林, from Haining 海寧, Zhejiang. He lived in the early and mid-19th century and was tax grain intendant (liangchudao 糧儲道) of Jiangsu. Xu was fond of paleography and ancient literature, and rhymed prose in particular.

He started with his anthology in 1806 and finished the book on 1825. The title is derived from a word of the literary critic Liu Xie 劉勰 (c. 460 or 480-c. 522 or 538), author of the literary theory Wenxin diaolong 文心雕龍, who had maintained that the language used to analyse the world must be brief and logical.

The anthology includes 72 writings of 35 persons. It is divided according to genres.

Xu’s selection criteria were to present short texts relatively easy to read, so that his anthology was able to be used as a kind of textbook. It therefore includes famous writings of notable persons in order to show the styles of literature and topics of discussion between 300 and 600 CE. Of the whole Jin period 晉 (265-420), only one text of Lu Ji 陸機 (261-303) is included – the title of the book is therefore somewhat misleading. For many texts, Xu Lian added commentaries.

The original arrangement of the book was 4 juan, but the most common edition (1888) includes commentaries by Li Jinggao 黎經誥 (Liuchao wenxue jianzhu 六朝文絜箋注), and therefore has a length of 12 juan. A modern edition was published in 1962 by the Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局, and in 1982 by the Shanghai Guji Chubanshe 上海古籍出版社. The anthology is also included in the series Saoye shanfang congchao 掃葉山房叢抄 and Sibu beiyao 四部備要.