Jinwenya 金文雅

Jinwenya 金文雅 is a collection of Chinese-language poetry and prose writings from the Jin period 金 (1115-1234) compiled by the Qing period 清 (1644-1911) scholar Zhuang Zhongfang 莊仲方 (1780-1857), courtesy name Zhijie 芝階. He hailed from Xiushui 秀水 (today's Jiaxing 嘉興, Zhejiang), obtained the juren degree in 1810, and served as 中書舍人.

In his older years, Zhuang collected a huge amount of writings in his Yingxuelou Studio 映雪樓, and published the collections Wenfan 文範, Bixuelu 碧血錄 and Guwen lianyao 古文練要.

His Jinwenya, finished in 1841, has a length of 16 juan and assembles the writings of 80 persons from the Jin period quoted in 23 different sources. The 96 writings of the collection are arranged according to literary genres, with 27 different classes, namely rhapsodies (fu 賦), five-syllable porms (wuyan gushi 五言古詩), seven-syllable poems (qiyan gushi 七言古詩), imperial decrees (zhaoling 詔令), imperial orders (cewen 冊文), memorials (zoushu 奏疏), manifestos (biao 表), letters (shu 書), admonitions (zhen 箴), inscriptions (ming 銘), hymns (song 頌), eulogies (zan 贊), inscriptions on temple steles (miaobei 廟碑), laudatory compositions for use at the setting up of the main cross-beam of a new building (shangliangwen 上梁文), records (ji 記), introductions and prefaces (xu 序, yin 引), discussions (yi 議), discourses (lun 論), analyses (yuan 原), sacrificial texts (jiwen 祭文), laments (aici 哀辭) and inscriptions on tomb steles (mubei 墓碑).

Among the authors, many were officials and writers of high standing, like Han Fang 韓昉 (1082-1149), Yuwen Xuzhong 宇文虛中 (1079-1146), Gao Shitan 高士談 (d. 1146), Cai Songnian 蔡松年 (1107-1159), Zhao Bingwen 趙秉文 (1159-1232) or Yang Yunyi 楊雲翼 (1170-1228).

The oldest surviving edition of the Jinwenya, published by the Jiangsu Press 江蘇書局, dates from 1891.