Qingshi biecai ji 清詩別裁集

Qingshi biecai ji 清詩別裁集, original title Guochao shi biecai ji 國朝詩別裁集, is a collection of regular poems (shi 詩) of the early Qing period 清 (1644-1911) compiled by Shen Deqian 沈德潛 (1673-1769), who also compiled a collection of old poems, Gushiyuan 古詩源.

The anthology has a length of 36 juan and includes 3,952 poems of 996 writers. It was finished in 1757 and first printed two years later, with a reprint of the same edition in 1760. In 1757, an enlarged edition (zengdingben 增訂本) was printed. In the same year, the Qianlong Emperor 乾隆帝 (r. 1736-1795) ordered the Nanshufang 南書房 to produce an abbreviated edition of 32 juan. In this edition, some authors were, for political reasons, completely sorted out, such as Qian Qianyi 錢謙益 (1582-1664), Wu Weiye 吳偉業 (1609-1672), Gong Dingzi 龔鼎孳 (1616-1673) and Dai Shiming 戴名世 (1653-1713).

The poems selected were, according to the preface, expressing “gentleness and honesty” (wenrou dunhou 溫柔敦厚), while “fancy and flowery" (tubian fuhua 徒辨浮華) , or “yelling” (jiaohua 叫號) poems or such reminding a boudoir (xianglian 香奩, e.g. Wang Cihui’s 王次回 Yiyu ji 疑雨集) were not included. This was also true for poems of Ming 明 (1368-1644) loyalists (yilao shi 遺老詩). Because Shen Deqian was very fond of Tang-period 唐 (618-907) poems, many of the pieces he selected show traces and influence of the writers from that period.

All editions begin with the principles of compilation (liyan 例言), followed by short biographies of all authors. All poems are briefly commented. The 36-fascicle edition was partially reprinted in 1975 by the Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局. This edition focuses on social aspects, and presents poems related to that topic, for instance, Wu Weiye’s Yonghegong ci 永和宮詞, Gu Mei’s 顧湄 (fl. 1653) Ganhuai 感懷, Zheng Shiyuan’s 鄭世元 (1671-1728) Guanzhen yao 官賑謠, Wu Jiaji’s 吳嘉紀 (1618-1684) Qiqian xing 一錢行 or Zhu Yizun’s 朱彝尊 (1629-1709) Yue Zhongwuwang mu 岳忠武王墓.

The anthology is very important because it includes quite a few poems that are only preserved in this collection.