Wenti mingbian 文體明辨

Wenti mingbian 文體明辨 is a book on literary theory written during the late Ming period 明 (1368-1644) by Xu Shizeng 徐師曾 (1517-1571), courtesy name Bolu 伯魯, style Lu'an 魯庵, from Wujiang 吳江, Jiangsu.

The book of 84 juan length is based on Wu Ne's 吳訥 (1372-1457) Wenzhang bianti 文章辨體, which discerns between 59 literary genres and sub-genres. Xu expanded these genres to no less than 101 in the core part of his book, and a further 26 genres in the appendix (Fulu limu 附錄列目). The high number of sub-genres is the result of a classification into regular styles (zheng 正), alternate styles (bian 變), ancient styles (gu 古), and common or inelegant styles (su 俗).

The listing begins with ancient songs (guge 古歌) from predynastic times, and ancient sayings (yaoci 謠詞). Xu does not discern between originals and imitations, and errs in some attributions, e.g. the inclusion of a poem of Li He 李賀 (790-816). The next section are four-syllable regular poems (siyan shi 四言詩), without discerning between the length of stanzas. Next comes Poetry of the South (Chuci 楚辭), with ancient (elegiac) rhapsodies (gufu 古賦), prose rhapsodies (wenfu 文賦), and imitations (moni Chuci 摹擬楚辭). The genre of classic rhapsodies from the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) and later is divided into old rhapsodies (gufu 古賦), rhapsodies in paired-verse style (paifu 俳賦, also called pianfu 駢賦), prose rhapsodies (wenfu), and poem-style rhapsodies (lüfu 律賦). This section is followed by poetry of the music bureau style (yuefu 樂府). For this part, Xu copied adapted parts of Guo Maoqian's 郭茂倩 book Yuefu shiji 樂府詩集 and the chapters on music (126-142 Yuezhi 樂志) in the official dynastic history Songshi 宋史. The part on regular poetry (shi 詩) follows the structure established in the anthology Wenxuan 文選, with some new sub-genres. Xu omits discussion about regular poetry from after the classical age of the Tang period 唐 (618-907).

With the next section, prose writings begin: Old-style (guti 古體 ) edicts and proclamations (zhao gao 詔誥), and such in common, inelegant style (suti 俗體). In the field of memorials to the throne (shu biao 書表), Xu Shizeng discerns between old-style texts, such in the style of the Tang period (Tangti 唐體), and those written in Song-period 宋 (960-1279) style (Songti 宋體). Concerning stone inscriptions (beiming 碑銘), regular style (zhengti 正體), alternate style (bianti 變體), and others (bieti 別體) can be discerned. Concerning tomb inscriptions (muzhi 墓志), divisions are made according to the length of texts.

All in all, the classification of the book is not very consistent. The book was therefore neglected by later theoreticians and writers. The original print of the Shouhuai Hall 壽檜堂 served as the blueprint for the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書. In 1962 (repr. 1982), the Renmin Wenxue Chubanshe 人民文學出版社 published a modern edition, in which Luo Genze 羅根澤 clarified the 127 typical genres of Xu Shizeng. The edition also includes the book Wenzhang bianti of Wu Ne.