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Qianshou Qingren jueju 千首清人絕句

Feb 28, 2023 © Ulrich Theobald

Qianshou Qingren jueju 千首清人絕句 is an anthology of one thousand short poems (jueju 絕句) of the Qing period 清 (1644-1911) compiled by Chen Youqin 陳友琴. The collection was published in 1988 by the Zhejiang Guji Press 浙江古籍出版社.

It imitates earlier collections of short poems, namely Hong Mai's 洪邁 (1123-1202) Wanshou Tangren jueju 萬首唐人絕句 from the Song period 宋 (960-1279), and Wang Shizhen's 王士禎 (1526-1590) Tangren wanshou jueju xuan 唐人萬首絕句選, and Yan Changming's 嚴長明 (1731-1787) Qianshou Songren jueju 千首宋人絕句 from the the Ming 明 (1368-1644) and Qing periods. Chen Youqin argues that short poems were the most popular type of poetry and had always attracted wide readership. He therefore tried to select not just poems that were already published in anthologies, but also such included in prose writings of various forms like Pu Songling's 蒲松齡 (1640-1715) Gaozai 告災, Tianjian kouhao 田間口號 or Feichong haijia 蜚蟲害稼, or less known collections like Gong Zizhen's 龔自珍 (1792-1841) Jihai zashi 己亥雜詩.

The collection is based on an earlier endeavor, namely the collection Qingren jueju xuan 清人絕句選, published in 1934 by the Kaiming Shudian Press and compiled by Zha Mengji 查猛濟 (1902-1966). Chen's anthology adds commentaries to each poem, and provides short biographies of the authors. The collection discerns between five-syllable (wuyan jueju 五言絕句) and seven-syllable short poems (qiyan jueju 七言絕句).

Source:
Chen Youqin 陳友琴 (1988). "Bianyan 弁言", in Qianshou Qingren jueju 千首清人絕句 (Hangzhou: Zhejiang guji chubanshe), 1-2.