Chuanshan yishu 船山遺書

Chuanshan yishu 船山遺書, also called Wang Chuanshan yishu 王船山遺書, are the collected writings of the early Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) philosopher Wang Fuzhi 王夫之 (1619-1692). In his later years Wang Fuzhi, a loyal supporter of the Ming dynasty 明 (1368-1644), retired from office after the conquest of China by the Manchus, refusing to serve the new dynasty. Wang settled down at Chuanshan 船山 in the prefecture of Hengyang 衡陽, Hunan, where he dedicated himself to writing. He was therefore also styled Chanshan Laoren 船山老人 or Chunshan Xiansheng 船山先生.

Most of his numerous writings (until recently, 104 texts are known) were not printed during his lifetime. Wang's son Wang Ban 王攽 later decided to publish a dozen of writings. In 1839 (1842) Wang Fuzhi's descendant Wang Shiquan 王世佺 finally compiled the book Chuanshan yishu "Master Chuanshan's literary remains". They were edited by Deng Xianhe 鄧顯鶴 (1777-1851) in Changsha (called the Xiangtan Wanshi edition 湘潭王氏刻本 or Deng Xianhe edition 鄧顯鶴刻本). The collection had a length of 151 (161) juan included 18 (20) texts of Wang Fuzhi, an also a book written by Wang Jiezhi 王介之 (1606-1686), Fuzhi's older brother. Apart from the 10-fascicles-long Jiangzhai wenji 薑齋文集, the other writings are all of scholarly nature.

Shortly afterwards the Tingyu Studio 聽雨軒 published a book with two commentaries on historiographical themes, Chuanshan shilun 船山史論.

In 1865, Zeng Guofan 曾國藩 (1811-1872) and his brother Zeng Guoquan 曾國荃 (1824-1890) added to the collection 42 further writings of Wang's literary remains and had this new edition published by the Jinling Office 金陵節署 (the Jinling Zengshi edition 金陵曾氏刻本 or Jinling edition 金陵本). It included 60 or 61 or 67 texts, with a total length of 172 (288) juan, and added the a number of scholarly books to the collection (as well as some collections of prose and poetry, and historical critique).

In 1887 Yu Kun 俞焜 (d. 1860) of the Chuanshan Academy 船山書院 published a collection of five further writings of Wang Fuzhi not found in earlier compilations (the Hengyang xueshu edition 衡陽學署本).

A new, enlarged edition was edited under the supervision of Tan Yankai 譚延闓 (1880-1930), Hu Hanmin 胡漢民 (1879-1936) and Yu Youren 于右任 (1879-1964) and published in 1933 by the Taipingyang Press 太平洋書店 in Shanghai. The texts were newly arranged by Liu Renxi 劉人熙 (1844-1919) according the four traditional literary categories (sibu 四部). The edition includes 68 (70) texts with a total length of 358 (398) juan. Compared with the two older editions, this modern one included also texts of literary critique on prose writings and poetry.

Even if this edition the largest collection of Wang Fuzhi's writings, it is by no means a complete collection. For instance, Sishu jianjie 四書箋解, which was published in 1894 in a stand-alone edition, is not included because of its many typographic errors. The 1933 version of Chuanshan yishu also includes a critical commentary called Wang Chuanshan congshu jiaokanji 王船山叢書校勘記.

In 1972 the Chuanshan Study Group 船山學會 in Taibei republished the Republican edition and enlarged it by a critical preface, discussions, and a text critical essay and a collection of essays by the Study Group. This edition is called Chuanshan yishu quanji 船山遺書全集 and comprises 22 volumes.

The most recent edition was published in 1982 by the Yuelu Press 岳麓書社. It is a commented edition in 16 volumes.

Apart from these editions, four core writings of Wang Fuzhi's were published in 1898 as Wang Chuanshan Xiansheng si zhong 王船山先生四種 (or Chuanshan jingshi wenchao 船山經世文鈔). This collection includes the books Emeng 噩夢, Huangshu 黃書, Sijie 俟解, and Siwenlu 思問錄.