Quanwudaishi 全五代詩

Quanwudaishi 全五代詩 is a complete collection of regular shi 詩-style poems from the Five Dynasties period 五代 (907-960). It was compiled by Li Diaoyuan 李調元 (1734-1803), courtesy name Gengtang 羹堂, Zan'an 贊庵, Hezhou 鶴洲, style Yucun 雨村 or Tongshan Chunweng 童山蠢翁 from Mianzhou 綿州 (today's Mianyiang 綿陽), Sichuan. He was xxx 廣東學政、直隸通永道 . His collected writings are called Tongshan quanji 童山全集. Li also wrote critical notes on aria-style poetry (qu 曲), Yucun quhua 雨村曲話, and on theatre plays, Yucun juhua 雨村劇話.

The collection was compiled in the 1770s and is arranged in different fascicles, depending on the edition. That in the series Hanhai 函海 - Li’s own publication - from the Qianlong reign-period 乾隆 (1736-1796) has a length of 90 juan, while later editions of the Hanhai are 100-juan-long because they are enriched by 9 fascicles of poetry from the monk Qiji 齊己 (863-937) who lived in the state of Jingnan 荊南 (924-963), and one from the Northern Han 北漢 (951-979) state, as well as a supplement (Buyi 補遺) of 1 juan.

The poems are based on collections of Tang-period 唐 (618-907) and Song-period 宋 (960-1279) poetry which do not make a difference between the political entities. Li Diaoyuan went so far to include poems of subjects of the Five Dynasties and the Ten States 十國 (902~979), but not of those who declared their loyalty to the (factually finished) Tang dynasty like Sikong Tu 司空圖 (837-908) or Wu Rong 吳融 (850-903). The collection is arranged geographically and begins with poets living under the Five Dynasties, and then proceeds to the Ten States in southern and northern China.

The second level or arrangement is the social status, with princes and state functionaries first, followed by "hidden worthies" (i.e. scholars not in public service), monks and women. On the personal level, the arrangement begins with Music-Bureau-style poems (yuefu 樂府), and proceeds to four-syllable (siyan 四言), five-syllable (wugu 五古) and seven-syllable ancient poetry (qigu 七古), five-syllable regular poems (wulü 五律), five-syllable long poems (wupai 五排), seven-syllable short poems (qilü 七律) and seven-syllable long poems (qipai 七排), and ends with five-syllable (wujue 五絕), six-syllable (liujue 六絕), and seven-syllable short poems (qijue 七絕等). Each person is characterized in a brief biography (xiaozhuan 小傳), and some verses are commented on (jianzhu 箋注). The largest amount of commentaries are taken from the book Wudai shihua 五代詩話 by Wang Shizhen 王士禛 (1634-1711). The poems themselves are based on more than 300 different sources.

Apart from the series Hanhai, the collection is also included in the series Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編.