The Research Of Qu Wei Jiu Wen By Zhu Bian

Qu Wei Jiu Wen is a historical notes book written by Zhu Bian,a scholar in the Song Dynasty,with a purpose to reflect on the reasons for the rise and fall of the Northern Song Dynasty and convey the homesickness of the author.There are more than 190 pieces in the book,covering politics,folklore,culture,geography,literature and other aspects of the Northern Song Dynasty,mostly of which came from the author’s personal experiences,seeing and hearing,thus of high credibility.With many materials making up for the lack of the official history,this book has important historical and literary values.However,the current academic circle has inadequate attention on this book,with sparse research results and inadequate comprehensive researches thereof.In view of such a situation,this paper will have a systematic and in-depth study on Qu Wei Jiu Wen from the perspectives of the version,content,values and others.Qu Wei Jiu Wen was roughly written by Zhu Bian during his stay in the Jin State,with an unknown writing process.The book was originally published in an edition of three volumes.In the late Southern Song Dynasty,an edition of ten volumes appeared.The editions currently preserved come from the edition of ten volumes because the edition of three volumes is now inexistent.In the circulation,the book also had special editions like that of one volume,of four volumes and others.From the aspects of the political and cultural background of the Song Dynasty and the author’s experience,this paper discusses the writing background of the book.By sorting out the major editions of Qu Wei Jiu Wen,this paper attempts to explore the relationships among various editions and clarify the developmental course of its editions.Qu Wei Jiu Wen has a wide range of contents,with materials mainly from three channels: the personal experiences of the author,the narrations of others and the transfer from other books.This paper divides its contents into seven categories,including royal family anecdotes,military affairs,literati anecdotes,poetry and prose reviews,customs textual researches,geographical produces,and strange gods and spirits.It then lists examples to expound them respectively,and summarize the political,academic and literary thoughts of the book.On the academic values of this book,this article will discuss from two aspects including the historical data and the literature.Qu Wei Jiu Wen records a lot of details neglected by the official history,and can be cross-referenced with historical books.Among them,the records of Henan and its surrounding products and temples are of high geographical values,which are often adopted by local chronicles of later generations.This book preserves the poetry and prose materials,quite some of which were previously regarded lost.Thus it is greatly helpful for us to collate and study the Song Dynasty literature.Zhu Bian was strict in academic research and liked to explore the sources by textual researches.This book also analyzes the writing and contents of some literature.Because of rich contents and important academic values in Qu Wei Jiu Wen,it was often cited by ancient books of the past dynasties and thus had certain influences on the later generations.In terms of artistic characteristics,Qu Wei Jiu Wen has a flexible and unconfined style,and relatively clear creative ideas and emotional tendencies.In its entirety,it is characterized by “a scattered form and an un-scattered spirit”.Its writing style,realistic and truthful,adheres to the principle of “veritable records”.Its language is plain and concise,natural and fluent,with spoken dialects from time to time.