“Forged Anthologies” of Tang Poetry in the Late Ming Period: Tangshi xunjie attributed to Li Panlong and Yuan Hongdao

Abstract

Selections of Tang Poetry (Tangshi xuan) is an influential anthology compiled during the Ming dynasty conventionally attributed to Li Panlong (1514-1570). Around thirty editions of this anthology published in the seventeenth century are extant today. During the late Ming, this anthology was edited and reprinted by a number of publishers making false authorial claims. This paper will examine these forged editions with a close textual analysis. I will focus on the anthology entitled Explicated Tang Poetry (Tangshi xunjie), said to have been revised by Yuan Hongdao (1568-1610). Based on this case study, I will investigate how booksellers attempted to attribute claims and comments under the name of well-known literati, and show how commentaries were added to explicate the meanings of the poems. In addition, I will explore how the compiler restructured his text and manipulated the authorship of the commentaries. With a detailed examination of the textual history of this anthology, this paper aims to illustrate the intricate relationship between poetics and cultural developments in the late Ming.