Dangsong Paljabaekseon

This is a printed edition of one hundred essays by the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song dynasties, personally selected by King Jeongjo and published around 1786, the tenth year of his reign. It is a copy of the king's own annotated volume, known as a sutaekbon, which was bestowed by royal grace on the licentiate (saengwon) Choe Myeong-jeong. Below the title on the opening page of Volume 1 are the book-collection seals Mangi and Hongjae, King Jeongjo's own private seals. At the time, scholars were neglecting classical prose (gomun) as their model and turning their attention instead to the poetry and prose of the Ming and Qing dynasties and to miscellaneous unofficial writings (paegwan japseo). Judging that leaving this trend unchecked would corrupt both literary style and scholarly conduct, the king selected and published one hundred essays of authentic classical prose that he considered important. By author, the selection comprises 30 works by Han Yu and 15 by Liu Zongyuan of the Tang dynasty, and, from the Song dynasty, 15 by Ouyang Xiu, 5 by Su Xun, 20 by Su Shi, 5 by Su Che, 3 by Zeng Gong and 7 by Wang Anshi. King Jeongjo criticised his contemporaries for discussing the classical prose of the pre-Qin era and the writing of the Han dynasty while merely imitating its outward form, and urged instead that people study the prose of the Tang and Song. What he particularly wished to draw from each writer was Han Yu's strangeness and grandeur, Liu Zongyuan's severity and precision, Ouyang Xiu's free and flowing expression, the vigorous, unrestrained quality of Su Xun and his sons, Wang Anshi's solemnity and discipline, and Zeng Gong's caution and rigour.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yuseong-gu, Daejeon

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산