Qin Guan

Life

His grandfather was Qin Yong and his father Qin Yuanhua; his younger brothers were Qin Gou and Qin Di, his son was Qin Zhan, and his sons-in-law were Ge Zhangzhong and Fan Wen. A direct descendant is listed as Qin Shi, the wife of Zhang Ribi. Early in life he studied under Hu Jinhou and followed Su Shi; he was also a friend of Shi Daoqian and Wei Jing.

Having passed the jinshi examination in Yuanfeng 8 (1085), he was appointed registrar of Dinghai and soon afterward professor in Caizhou. In Yuanyou 2 (1087), he was recommended to sit for the xianliang fangzheng neng zhiyan jijian examination, but failed; in Yuanyou 5 he was summoned to proofread the Huangben books in the Secretariat, in Yuanyou 6 promoted to Corrector, concurrently serving as a compiler in the National History Institute, and in Yuanyou 8 appointed compiler there and Left Xuande Lang.

In Shaosheng 1 (1094), because he was listed in the Yuanyou faction register, he was sent out as assistant prefect of Hangzhou; after being charged with altering the Veritable Records, he was demoted to supervise the tax on salt and wine in Chuzhou (also described as supervising Chuzhou's wine tax). His subsequent punishments included loss of rank and transfer to Chenzhou, banishment to Hengzhou under administrative supervision, and transfer to Leizhou. After Huizong's accession, he was recalled and restored as Xuande Lang. In the eighth month of Yuanfu 3 (1100), he died at Tengzhou while returning north, aged fifty-two.

Literary career

He wrote shi poetry, fu rhapsodies, and policy essays, and was especially accomplished in ci, in the graceful wanyue style. With Huang Tingjian, Chao Buzhi, and Zhang Lei, he was counted among Su Shi's Four Scholars.

His other literary activities included writing a biography of Wei Jing, a tomb inscription for Ren Ji, and an account of a Five Hundred Arhats painting by Shi Faneng; he also wrote an account of Xu Dazheng's Xianxuan, for which Su Shi composed a poem. He wrote a critical appraisal of Shi Daoqian's works.

Works

His recorded works include the forty-volume Huaihai Collection (《淮海集》), the six-volume Later Collection (《後集》), and the three-volume Long-and-Short Lines (《長短句》), also known as Huaihai Jushi's Long-and-Short Lines (《淮海居士長短句》). Other works attributed to him include 《蠶書》, 《淮海題跋》, 《法帖通解》, and 《勸善錄》.

The base text for 《淮海集》 is the Song Qiandao Gaoyou Junxue edition; it was collated against the Shaoxi Xie Yu supplemented edition, the Meishan Wenzhong edition of 《淮海閒居集》, the Ming Ezhou Zhang Yan edition, the Qing Gaoyou Wang Jingzhi edition, and the Qing Wenyuange 《四庫全書》 edition. Many exchange poems in the original collection were mistakenly incorporated from other authors, and an additional compilation of poems outside the collection was arranged as volume 16.