T’ang T’ai-tsung’s Poetry

Abstract

T'ang Studies 5 (1987) T'ang T'ai-tsung's Poetry HELLMUT WILHELM and DAVID R. KNECHTGES UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON The second T'ang emperor T'ai-tsung :**(reg. 626-649) is mainly known as a martial hero and a statesman. In spite of his reputation as a man of action, he was no anti-intellectual.! When he was still the Prince of Ch'in *,he surrounded himself with a brain-trust, organized in the Wen-hsueh kuan X ~ 1m (Academy of Literary Study), whose eighteen academicians (shih-pa hsileh-shih + j\ ~ ±) remained in high positions even after he had ascended the throne.2 They included some of the top-ranking scholars and writers of the period.3 T'ai-tsung's promotion of the polite arts is well known, and he was himself a skilled practitioner of several of them. Calligraphy, an art in high repute in his period, was one ofhis favorite pastimes.4 Specimens We would like to thank Professor Paul W. Kroll, for his comments and corrections to the original version ofthis article. I See Arthur F. Wright, "T'ang t'ai-tsung and Buddhism," in Arthur F Wright and Denis Twitchett, eds. Perspectives on the T'ang (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1973), pp. 239-63, for a discussion of some of the considerations that influenced T'ai-tsung's ideological stance. For other recent discussions ofT'ai-tsung, see Arthur F. Wright, "T'ang T'ai-tsung, The Man and the Persona," in John Curtis Perry and Bardwell L. Smith, eds. Essays on T'ang Society (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1976), pp. 17-32; Howard J. Wechsler, "T'ai-tsung (Reign 626-649) the Consolidator," in Denis Twitchett, ed. The Cambridge History of China, vol. 3, Sui and T'ang China, 589-906, Part I (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), pp. 188-241; Chao K'o-yao ;;M5l.:% and Hsu Tao-yun it ili wb, T'ang T'ai-tsung chuan m- :**{~ (Peking: Jen-min ch'u-pan-she, 1984); Yuan Ying-kuang :a~ 1t and Wang Chiehyun .:E W. i:;., T'ang T'ai-tsung chuan (Tientsin: T'ien-chin jen-min ch'u-pan-she, 1984). 2 See Robert des Rotours, Traite des fonctionnaires et traite de l'armee traduits de la Nouvelle Histoire des T'ang (chap. XLVI-L), 2 vols. (1948; rpt. Taipei: Chinese Materials Center, 1974), 1: 170-71; and Fukusawa Sokichi ~M ~, * S, "Bungakukan gakushi ni tsuite" X ~ fm ~ ± ,:."") ~"\ C::, Kumamoto daigaku kyoikugakubu kiyo 1 (1953), 35-41. 3 In addition to the eighteen academicians, the most notable scholar at T'ai-tsung's court was Wei Cheng ft ~ (580-643), on whom there is the admirable study by Howard J. Wechsler, Mirror to the Son of Heaven: Wei Cheng at the Court ofT'ang T'ai.tsung (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974). 4The Ch'iian T'ang wen ~ m- X (10.17a-18b) contains three short essays by T'ai1 T'angStudies5 (1987) T'ang T'ai-tsung's Poetry HELLMUT WILHELM and DAVID R. KNECHTGES UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON The second T'ang emperor T'ai-tsung 太宗 (reg. 626-649) is mainly known as a martial hero and a statesman. In spite of his reputation as a man of action, he was no anti-intellectual) When he was still the Prince of Ch'in 秦， he surrounded himself with a brain-trust, organized in the Wen-hsueh kuan 文學館 (Academy of Literary Study), whose eighteen academicians (shih-pa hsiieh-shih 十八學士） remained in high positions even after he had ascended the throne.2 They included some of the top-ranking scholars and writers of the period.3 T'ai-tsung's promotion of the polite arts is well known, and he was himself a skilled practitioner of several of them. Calligraphy, an art in high repute in his period, was one of his favorite pastimes.4 Specimens We would like to thank Professor Paul W. Kroll, for his comments and corrections to the original version of this article. 1 See Arthur F. Wright, "T'ang t'ai-tsung and Buddhism," in Arthur F Wright and Denis Twitchett, eds. Perspectives on the T'ang (New Haven and...