Qingshiduo 清詩鐸

Qingshiduo 清詩鐸, original title Guochao shiduo 國朝詩鐸, is a collection of regular poems (shi 詩) writting during the early and high Qing period 清 (1644-1911). It was compiled by Zhang Yingchang 張應昌 (1790-1874), courtesy name Zhongfu 仲甫, style Ji’an 寄庵, from Gui’an 歸安 near Huzhou 湖州, Zhejiang. He was a drafter (zhongshu sheren 中書舍人) of the Grand Secretariat (neige 內閣). His collected writings are called Yishouxuan shichao 彝壽軒詩鈔. Zhang’s most famous literary collection is Yanbo yuchang 煙波漁唱. His collection Guochao zhengqi ji 國朝正氣集 is lost.

The word “bell” (duo 鐸) points at the political aspects of the collection found in a large number of pieces and reflected in the arrangement. The original sequence of poems was chronological, but Zhang later decided to sort the poems according to 152 matters of statecraft, from edicts concerned with the seasons, taxes, money, hydrology, weaving, military affairs, natural disasters, mining, and female affairs. Inside the categories, the poems are arranged according to academic status (kemu 科目, see state examinations), and then chronologically, with females and foreigners at the end of each category. Of particular interest is the section on the opium question (Yapian yan lei 鴉片煙類) that includes Chen Chunxiao’s 陳春曉 Yichuan lai 夷船來 and Zhu Qi’s 朱琦 Ganshi 感事.

The collection of 26 juan length was finished in 1869, after more than ten years of work. It includes several hundred poetry collections (shiji 詩集) and poetry discussions (shihua 詩話) of 911 persons, with an amount of more than 2,000 poems. These lyrics do not only hailed from the brushes of famous persons, but were selected according to literary quality. Some poems of Zhang Yingchang himself are also found.

The collection is of a certain historiographical value because of its arrangement. It was first printed in 1869 by the Xiulan Hall 秀蘭堂. A modern edition was published in 1960 by the Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局.