Xinshangbian 欣賞編

Xinshangbian 欣賞編 "A compilation of enjoyable texts" is a series of collectanea (congshu 叢書) compiled by an unknown author. According to Xu Zhongxing's 徐中行 (1517-1578) preface the compiler was Shen Runqing 沈潤卿, who is identical with the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) scholar Shen Jin 沈津, courtesy name Runqing.

Shen hailed from Changzhou 長洲 (close to modern Suzhou 蘇州, Jiangsu) and was an employee in the Imperial Academy of Medicine (taiyiyuan 太醫院) during the Zhengde reign-period 正德 (1506-1521). Shen wrtoe the books Deng Weishan zhi 鄧尉山志 and Liyinlu 吏隱錄. In 1511, he compiled the series Xinshangbian that includes ten texts with a total length of 14 juan.

The most important of these texts are Jigu kaotu 集古考圖, Han-Jin yinzhang tupu 漢晉印章圖譜, Chaju tuzan 茶具圖贊, Yanpu 硯譜, Guju xiangqi tu 古局象棋圖, Pushuang 譜雙 and Damatu 打馬圖. The books are numerated according to the Ten Celestial Stems. The compilers of the imperial series Siku quanshu 四庫全書 made use of a fragmentary copy presented by the governor of Zhejiang. This shows that in the late 18th century, the Xinshangbian was already lost, except 8 booklets.

Fortunately enough, Shen Jin's uncle Shen Jie 沈傑 wrote a preface enumerating the texts that were originally been included in the series. They cover the fields of culture and leisure-time as brought into a textual form between the Tang 唐 (618-907) and the Ming period. Yet other sources list different texts. Quite reliable is the listing of the modern scholar Wang Zhongmin 王重民 (1903-1975) as presented in his catalogue Zhongguo shanben shu tiyao 中國善本書提要.

The Ming-period scholar Mao Yixiang 茅一相 printed the Xinshangbian during the Wanli reign-period 萬曆 (1573-1619) and compiled a supplement, the Xinshangbian xu 欣賞編續 that includes ten texts, and a separate series entitled Chongding Xinshangbian 重訂欣賞編 that includes 53 texts, part of which are also included in the two other series.