Xiaoxue gouchen 小學鉤沉

Xiaoxue gouchen 小學鉤沉 "Rediscovering lost ancient books on minor learning" is a series of collectanea (congshu 叢書) concering elementary learning compiled by the mid-Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Ren Dachun 任大椿 (1738-1789) and commented on by Wang Niansun 王念孫 (1749-1832).

Ren Dachun, courtesy name Youzhi 幼植, style Zhitian 芝田, hailed from Xinghua 興化, Jiangsu, and took part in the compilation of the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書. The collection Xiaoxue gouchen includes 44 texts with a total length of 19 juan. The texts are not easily to be found in other collections and that are for a great part only surviving in fragments assembled from quotations in ancient encyclopaedias. This is particularly true for dictionaries from the Han 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE), Wei 曹魏 (220-265) and Southern Dynasties 南朝 (420~589) periods that received only minor attention by traditional Chinese scholars.

The books of the first twelve juan have been commented on by Wang Niansun, while the commentaries to the books of the last seven juan were arranged by Wang Tingzhen 汪廷珍 (1757-1827).

The collection was first printed in 1817 and republishied in 1884. At least part of the books is also included in the series Xiaoxue leibian 小學類編 (part Fubian 附編), Cuilangganguan congshu 翠瑯玕館叢書, and Yuyuan congshu 芋園叢書.

There is a sequel called Xiaoxue gouchen xubian 小學鉤沉續編. This series of 8 juan length served as a supplement, but also rectifies some texts of Ren Dachun's series. The Xubian was compiled by Gu Zhenfu 顧震福 (b. 1869 or 1872-after 1936), courtesy name Zhuhou 竹侯, who hailed from Shanyang 山陽 (modern Huai'an 淮安, Jiangsu).

It is interesting to note that some of the supplementary paragraphs included in Gu Zhenfu's edition were to be found in books only preserved in Japan. The Xubian was printed in 1892.