Yingkui lüsui 瀛奎律髓

Yingkui lüsui 瀛奎律髓, compiled during the early Yuan period 元 (1279-1368) by Fang Hui 方回 (1227-1306), courtesy name Wanli 萬里, style Xugu 虛谷, is a critical anthology of poetry from the Tang 唐 (618-907) and Song 宋 (960-1279) periods. The title of the book of 49 juan length means "The marrow of regular [poems] of the Island of Yingzhou [where the eighteen scholar assemble] and the Lunar Lodge Kui [where the Five Planets conjoin]". Fang hailed from Shexian 歙縣 in the prefecture of Huizhou 徽州, Anhui, and served both the Song and the Yuan dynasty.

The anthology included 3,014 poems of 385 writers of which 22 are listed twice. They are arranged in 49 different genres or themes, with one theme per fascicle. Each poem is accompanied by a brief commentary pointing out the particular character of the piece. Fang Hui tried to establish a kind of "genealogy" of poems, with Du Fu 杜甫 (712-770) as the oldest progenitor, and Huang Tingjian 黃庭堅 (1045-1105), Chen Shidao 陳師道 (1053-1101), and Chen Yuyi 陳與義 (1090-1138) as founders of three lineages (yi zu san zong 一祖三宗).

The combination of original texts with commentaries proved substantial help for Li E’s 厲鶚 (1692-1752) poetry critique Songshi jishi 宋詩紀事. Fang Hui grew up when the famous Siling 四靈, Jiangxi 江西 and Jiang-Hu 江湖 "poetry schools" (shipai 詩派) of shi-style 詩 poetry experienced a fading out in popularity, and tried to preserve their spirit. He was convinced that these two schools of poets were veritable successors of the great Tang-period writers.

The anthology was finished in 1283 and printed in the same year. During the early Qing period 清 (1644-1911), Wu Zhizhen 吳之振 (1640-1717) edited a new version, in which he included the preface of Long Zun 龍尊 from the late Ming period. Another print was published by Chen Shitai 陳士泰 (jinshi degree 1544), but this edition eliminated the original punctuation of the main text and the commentaries.

Fang Hui’s anthology was an important instrument in the fight of Qing-period writers about the literary value of Tang and Song poetry.

Ji Yun 紀昀 (1724-1805) compiled a critical edition, Yingkui lüsui kanwu 瀛奎律髓刊誤. A modern critical edition is Li Qingjia’s 李慶甲 (1933-1985) Yingkui lüsui huiping 瀛奎律髓匯評, published in 1986.

The Yingkui lüsui is included in Fang’s collected writings Tongjiang ji 桐江集, and the series Wanwei biecang 宛委別藏 and Siku quanshu 四庫全書.